As solicitors for more than a dozen initiatives hit California's streets for petition signatures to get the issues on next year's ballot, labor unions targeted by potential measures are starting to fight back.

The Service Employees International Union in California is urging members to call a hotline to deploy "Think Before You Ink" teams to talk voters out of signing a measure that would restrict their ability to automatically deduct dues from members' paychecks for political purposes.

Another union-backed effort has launched a website and radio ads under the name Californians Against Identity Theft, warning potential petition signers that, among other things, their personal information could be shipped to India.

Initiative backers and government watchdogs are crying foul, charging that the efforts are cynical and hypocritical attempts to tamp down California's storied direct democracy.

"It sounds like they're trying to intimidate people from exercising what is a constitutional right" to sign a petition, Derek Cressman, Western regional director for Common Cause, said of the radio spot.

The timing of the ad launch raised questions about whether the campaign is a veiled attempt to derail various local ballot measures or one of several controversial proposals currently circulating petitions to qualify for the 2012 statewide ballot. Those include an Amazon-backed effort to overturn a new law requiring some Internet retailers to collect sales taxes on purchases made by Californians.

The president of the state building trades union, one funder of Californians Against Identity Theft, said the campaign was not meant to intimidate voters or target a specific measure but rather to address concerns over a lack of regulation of the paid signature-gathering industry.

"They're all paid bounty hunters who go out and just gather a signature for a fee," State Building and Construction Trades Council of California President Bob Balgenorth said. "For me, the goal would be that there's some accountability for stuff like that. … I think the whole initiative process needs to be looked at."

Balgenorth said that while he helped think of the idea for the group, his union is not currently directly involved in the effort.

Californians Against Identity Theft, which does not appear to have any ties to established organizations dedicated to protecting consumers from identity theft, has not filed as a campaign committee. Tom Adams, the secretary-treasurer of the new group, declined to name additional contributors, citing the organization's status as a 501(c)4 nonprofit.

"We're not targeting any particular ballot measures. We're simply talking about the potential for abuse, particularly for paid signature gathering," said the retired attorney from Burlingame, who called the industry the "seamy underbelly of ballot measures."

The group's website says its mission is "to inform the public of the dangerous practices that allow for their identity to be stolen." The 60-second radio ad features a man chastising his wife for signing a petition at the grocery store, saying "Now we really need to watch our bank statements and credit information."

Representatives for the Identity Theft Resource Center and the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse denounced the claims as false and unmerited.

"There is as much risk of identity theft involved in signing a petition as there is in being listed in the phone book," Pedro Morillas, legislative director for the California Public Interest Research Group, added in a statement.

Center for Governmental Studies President Bob Stern called the ad an "outrageous" attempt to mislead the public for political gain.

"Basically, it's not just somebody saying we just don't like any petition. Obviously there is some petition they don't like," he said.

SEIU California, which denied involvement in the identity theft ads, defended its effort to stop people from signing the "paycheck protection" measure, which would also restrict labor and corporate campaign contributions.

Spokesman Christopher Calhoun said the campaign was launched in response to concerns that canvassers promoting the initiative were being deceptive in their pitches.

"We want to make sure folks get a chance to hear our side of the story," he said.

Cressman said while he is "hard pressed" to think of a case where signing a petition led to identity theft, there "is a legitimate fraud concern" when it comes to signature gatherers misrepresenting what they are circulating.

"People do have a legitimate First Amendment right to voice concerns about a particular (measure)," he said.

But Michael Arno, a veteran of the signature gathering industry, said so-called "blocking" campaigns meant to prevent measures from qualifying are a "growing problem."

"Sooner or later, there's going to be a very bad physical confrontation about this," he said. "I agree that everybody has their own right to free speech – just don't abridge mine."

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