Most petition drives aim to change public and political opinion, and arise from populist impulses.
But the Pew Environment Group, a division of the multibillion dollar Pew Charitable Trusts, the philanthropic outgrowth of e Sun Oil Co., has launched an Internet petition drive pushing a new fishing industry and regulatory scheme that, by all accounts, is fait accompli.
From the Care2 petition Web site, signers — there were 1,129 yesterday — would have no way of knowing that they were betting on as close to a sure thing as there is in modern American government.