I slowed down to make sure the guy with the clipboard outside the Brookside Price Chopper would see me. It worked.</p><p>&#x201C;Hi,&#x201D; he said. &#x201C;Are you a registered voter in Jackson County?&#x201D;</p><p>&#x201C;Well, yes I am,&#x201D; I said heartily. I was hoping he would ask.</p><p>&#x201C;How would you like to save three-and-a-half million dollars by taking control of the police department away from the state and giving it to the city?&#x201D; he asked.</p><p>&#x201C;Sure!&#x201D; I replied. Who wouldn&#x2019;t? </p><p>He inched closer with the clipboard. I could see a page of signatures and addresses. </p><p>Ah, but because I get paid to pay attention to these things, I know no campaign is under way to remove the Kansas City Police Department from state control. The push to gain enough signatures of registered voters to put a question on the statewide ballot is all about local control for the St. Louis Police Department.</p><p> &#x201C;So this would put the Kansas City Police Department under local control?&#x201D; I asked my new friend. Just testing.</p><p> &#x201C;We&#x2019;re starting in St. Louis,&#x201D; he said, &#x201C;and then we&#x2019;ll bring Kansas City in.&#x201D;</p><p>A very dubious claim.</p><p>For the record, I favor local control of the police in both of Missouri&#x2019;s largest cities. What I object to is misleading messages put forth by paid petition gatherers who work for an out-of-state service hired by a political action committee funded by &#x2014; you guessed it &#x2014; St. Louis multimillionaire Rex Sinquefield.</p><p> And I fear this is only the beginning. Over the next few months, people will be seeking signatures for myriad causes. And nothing in state law says they have to be upfront with prospective voters.</p><p>Some petition drives are genuine grass-roots efforts. An attempt to regulate payday loans in Missouri, for instance, is being driven by churches and community groups.</p><p>But other efforts, like the St. Louis police initiative, are handled by hired guns. </p><p>Last year, Sinquefield donated $300,000 to his PAC, A Safer Missouri. Reports with the Missouri Ethics Commission show the St. Louis-based group paid about $56,000 to National Petition Management of Rosedale, Calif.</p><p>National Petition Management hired the guy I talked to.</p><p>Petition gatherers generally get paid by the signature. Brooke Foster, a spokeswoman for A Safer Missouri, declined to say how much National Petition Management was paying its workers. </p><p>So you are probably wondering, as I was, how we in Kansas City will save $3.5 million a year if the city of St. Louis runs its police department. </p><p>No surprise, we won&#x2019;t. That&#x2019;s the amount St. Louis officials estimated their city would save by consolidating functions now carried out by both the police force and the city. </p><p> &#x201C;Right now, two-thirds of the money you spend on public safety goes to St. Louis,&#x201D; my petition gatherer told me earnestly.</p><p> I had no idea what he was talking about and neither did Foster.</p><p> Later she emailed me to say that &#x201C;the KC crew is now aware&#x201D; that questions had been raised. I am eager to run into another gatherer to see whether they&#x2019;ve changed the script.</p><p>A Safer Missouri is gathering signatures here because state law requires a certain number of valid signatures from two-thirds of the state&#x2019;s congressional districts. </p><p> But to understand that this is a St. Louis issue, you either have to know the backstory or read the fine print on the petition.</p><p>This spring will be signature-hunting season in Missouri. Civic groups, Rotary Clubs and the like can do a real public service by informing people as to what they&#x2019;re actually supporting when they sign a petition.</p><p> I declined to sign outside the Price Chopper. My friendly petition gatherer didn&#x2019;t push the point. I&#x2019;m pretty sure he had made me as a journalist or something. </p><p> As I walked away, he cheerfully approached another shopper.</p><p>&#x201C;Hi! Are you a registered voter in Jackson County?&#x201D;