A meeting to train petition collectors in Albany last month was under covert surveillance by a private investigator working for the secretary of state.

The Aug. 20 meeting at the Lum-Yuen Restaurant had been organized by Americans for Prosperity, one of the groups circulating referendum petitions against tax hikes approved by the 2009 legislature.

Matt Evans, a spokesman for the group, said they had expected someone hired by the secretary of state's Elections Division to be there to make sure petition gatherers were complying with the law. But when they asked the person to identify him or herself, no one spoke up.

The surveillance was revealed only when Secretary of State Kate Brown made public the first report from Carroll Consulting LLC, the Salem firm she hired for $135,000 to monitor petition collectors.

The investigator's refusal to come forward has led to a complaint with state regulators on the grounds that private eyes are supposed to act with honesty, Evans said.

The investigator reported doing "research" on Americans for Prosperity and finding that it was led in Oregon by Jeff Kropf, a former legislator from Linn County.

As for the meeting on Aug. 22, the report says: "Twenty-two people were in attendance. The meeting was led by Richard Burke and also facilitated by Eric Winkler, attorney, and Nancy West, Linn County AFP coordinator ...

"Burke advised attendees that Secretary of State has 'spies' out at the meetings to catch them doing something wrong. He referred to the people hired by the Elections Division as the opposition ...."

The report omits any mention of the request for the investigator to come forward.

Even while maintaining his covert role, the investigator found: "The training was very thorough and was consistent with the training provided by the Elections Division."

The complaint about this, along with another one about an incident elsewhere, was filed by Ross Day, head of Vote Oregon, a canvassing company, the Oregonian reported today. It was filed with the state Department of Public Safety, Standards and Training, which regulates private investigators.

Evans said Americans for Prosperity, meanwhile, had collected about 25,000 signatures on a referendum petition against the tax hikes. Other groups also have collected signatures. The deadline to get more than 56,000 is Sept. 25.