City rejects divestment signatures
by Andrea Gregory

Almost 1,000 signatures has not brought the question of divesting Somerville’s financial holdings from Israeli bonds any closer to the November ballot, but that is not stopping activists on both sides of the debate from trying to educate the public.

Ron Francis heads up the Somerville Divestment Project (SDP). He said the organization still plans to reach its goal of almost 4,000 registered voters’ signatures – 10 percent of the city – by the Sept. 26 deadline. If SDP does collect all the signatures the question would go to the voters.

But getting the city to accept any of these John Hancock’s may be as hard, if not harder than, collecting them. The city has turned down the first batch of signatures. According to Nick Salerno, election commissioner, the city refused to certify them since they were not done on official petition forms supplied by city hall.

"We don’t agree with that opinion," said Francis. "If you feel that way you seek legal remedies."

Francis would not say what kind of legal action SDP might seek in the future or when that could happen. But the dozens of people gathering signatures will continue to use the original forms, not the ones drafted by the city, he said.

"We are well on our way to reaching (our goal.) I feel that there is a large number of people in Somerville that want to control their investments," he said. "There are no morally sound reasons for continuing to invest in funds connected to frequent, often violent attacks on Palestine families."

SDP has been operating in Somerville for almost two years, said Francis. He said the group is trying to take action that will have an effect on the far away conflict. Francis said one way to do it is to pull any financial investments tied to Israel. Francis can name several organizations that have pulled similar investments. For Somerville to do the same, it will take a yes to a ballot question, following a successful signature collecting campaign.

"A large number of people understand that we are targeting something directly related to ongoing, violent attacks. This type of Behavior is not going to fly with Somerville residents," he said. "And we are not going anywhere until it ends. There are no difficulties finding socially responsible companies," he said.

On Aug. 19, SDP’s 999 signatures were handed over to the city in supporting of the question making its way to the voters.

"We have rejected all petitions that they sent in on the improper forms," said Salerno

Salerno said the city felt residents should see a straight forward and clear question, attracted to the paper on the clipboard before picking up a pen. Salerno said SDP wanted to use a long narrative instead of a simple question. The city came up with "Shall the retirement Board of the City of Somerville divest of publicly administered financial holdings in Israeli bonds?"

Salerno said the city produced enough forms for SDP to collect all the signatures they needed. They were made available Aug. 10 – the day SDP was told they could start collecting signatures. Salerno said only a few samples of the officials forms were picked up.

Since then, members have picked up copies of the petition using language crafted by city officials. But using these forms would mean starting from scratch. It is not an easy task, said Salerno about the number of signatures needed to get a question on the ballot. The last time it was attempted was 1949, but even then, there were not enough signatures gathered.

The Somerville Coalition for Middle East Peace was formed to counteract the mission of SDP. Adam Bovilsky, president of the coalition, said SDP’s mission seems too one sided, and he does not see it as a way of promoting peace.

“This divestment petition is a bad idea because of the finger pointing and the rhetoric,” said Bovilsky “This is really bad for the city itself. This is something that really distracts the city.”

Bovilsky said his group is working on an "educational campaign," warning people about the petition floating around the city. He said it is “unfair and improperly worded.”

“Don’t be fooled. Educate yourself before you sign the petition, and check out our Web site,” he said.

He was also glad to see the city rejecting signatures that were not collected on the official forms.
“This is about the integrity of the political process. We support the integrity of the political process,” he said. “This is sort of a continuing trend where they are
ignoring the law. They should be following the rules.”