Perhaps this is a good time to tell (or remind) folks about Snopes and their Urban Legend Reference Pages. This particular hoax is discussed here.

I'd also like to point out that ANY e-mail petition is automatically junk in my book. They have absolutely no legal standing, and given how easy it would be to compile a list of "real-looking" names and e-mail addresses, any official with an ounce of sense (yeah, yeah, I know) is going to dismiss them out of hand. They make great "manual viruses", though!