Was Someone Collecting Progress Dallas And Green Party Petitions At the Same Time?

For the last couple of days — in the comments, via e-mail and even voice mail — I’ve been hearing that toward the end of Progress Dallas’s petition drive to get the wet-dry vote on the ballot, some signature-gatherers were also gathering names on behalf of the Green Party’s GOP-funded efforts to get on the Texas ballot for the November election. Several Friends have said they did not sign the Progress Dallas petition because of the one-two punch.

Not true, says Texas Petition Strategies, which was hired by the Kroger-led Progress Dallas to collect signatures. A little while ago I received from TPS an e-mail its co-founder, John Hatch, dispatched to one local grocery-store owner last month, in which Hatch warned that the two groups of signature-gatherers were not to be confused:

From: John Hatch
Sent: Friday, May 14, 2010 9:33 AM
To: [Name redcated]
Subject: FYI–Green Party in Texas
 
We have heard the National Green Party has sent as many as 100 petition circulators to Texas. They are trying to qualify for the November ballot. We believe as many as 50 of the circulators are in Dallas/FW.
 
[Neither] TPS nor Project Dallas is working with these people and our petition gatherers should only be circulating the beer/wine and restaurant petitions and should be wearing name badge ID and the “Petition Official–Progress Dallas” yellow T-shirt.  Please contact us if anyone shows up to your store not in proper attire and please ask them to leave.  We would also like a description and license plate of anyone showing up with the Green Party petitions–if possible.
 
This will be our last weekend to collect signatures.  We will notify all locations when we have officially suspended signature gathering so you can alert your stores. Please call if you have any questions.
 
John Hatch