Last Minute Dirty Trick--Harassing Robo Phone Calls in Pombo, Doolittle, and Bilbray Congressional Districts That Appear to be from Democratic Opponent

By Frank D. Russo

If you live in one of the California Congressional Districts with a close race, based on national news reports, you may receive a pre-recorded phone call that appears to be from one of the Democrats challenging the Republican incumbent. The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) has launched hundreds of thousands of these calls in at least 53 competitive House races, according to a story in the Washington Post.

Complaints about this practice, have surfaced in not only in California, but around the nation. It is designed to disgust voters and keep them from going to the polls, i.e., it is "voter suppression."

And, according to the Washington Post article, it is illegal:

FCC rules say all prerecorded messages must "at the beginning of the message, state clearly the identity of the business, individual, or other entity that is responsible for initiating the call." During or after the message, they must give the telephone number of the caller.

The NRCC is spending $2.1 on their robophone call program.

In some states, prerecorded phone messages are altogether illegal with or without proper identification under that state's laws. Nevertheless, they are being made in these states that have outlawed them. The San Diego Union reports that there has been no move in California to ban these calls. This should be a ripe subject for legislation next year in Sacramento, but damage may be done and from this story, we learn that another source is behind robo calls. The Union reports:

Last week, a federal judge ruled that the state could prohibit a California company from making robocalls against a Democratic congressional candidate. The company, FreeEats.com, was hired by the Economic Freedom Fund, which was supporting the candidate's Republican opponent.

The Economic Freedom Fund referred to by the Union is now headquartered in California and is funded by Bob Perry, who was behind the infamous Swift Boat attacks in 2004.

Another Associated Press article reports the following:

The National Republican Congressional Committee has agreed to stop its automated calling campaign to New Hampshire residents on the federal do-not-call list, according to the state Democratic Party. But a spokesman for the NRCC said Sunday that there are no plans to curtail the campaign that has resulted in a flood of calls to the state Democratic Party from angry voters who think the messages are made on behalf of Paul Hodes, the Democratic challenger of incumbent Republican Charles Bass.

Comments

Posted by: Chet at November 6, 2006 08:28 PM

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