MILWAUKEE MAN GETS 'CEASE AND DESIST' LETTER FROM US SENATOR
Source: Associated Press
Mar 8, 3:32 PM EST
MILWAUKEE (AP) -- A Milwaukee man who acknowledges aggressively contacting U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson's office - including calling 83 times in one day - has received a "cease and desist" warning.
Earl Good says the letter from the Wisconsin Republican's office tells him to communicate only in writing and to stop "unwarranted telephone calls and office visits." Johnson's staff members also warn in the Feb. 17 letter that they will contact U.S. Capitol police if Good doesn't comply.
Good tells WDJT-TV (http://bit.ly/2lurzQK ) that he's a Democrat and a concerned citizen. He says he started placing scores of phone calls to Johnson to voice his opinion after President Trump's inauguration.
Johnson spokesman Ben Voelkel said Wednesday he's unaware of any further incidents involving Good.
Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_CEASE_AND_DESIST_JOHNSON?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-03-08-15-32-15
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Sherman A1
(38,958 posts)He has a constitutional right to contact his governmental representatives to seek redress of grievances.
iluvtennis
(21,496 posts)
Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)Even public officials have a right not to be harassed. Over 80 phone calls in one day is excessive. A court apparently agreed.
He's not doing any good by such contact, except to harass someone. He's tying up their phone lines, using time from staffers, and interfering with the running of the office.
murielm99
(32,972 posts)He should have found eighty people to call the senator, one after another. Maybe he can still do that.
Bradical79
(4,490 posts)Try to organize a campaign of contacting their reps since he's obviously enthusiastic about it. It'd be a good way to "get back" at the guy.
Occulus
(20,599 posts)There is no constitutionally defensible limit upon the number of times per day one may speak freely to any particular individual, especially our elected officials.
Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)It's like ticking off a neighbor by letting the airs out of his tires. Then he does something to retaliate. Then you do something to retaliate. Then it just devolves into a juvenile harassment situation between two supposed adults.
The purpose of contact is to convey a message or request something. 83 calls isn't for that purpose. Even a celebrity, who puts himself out there to the public, is protected from some invasive behaviors by the public. People don't lose their rights when they take public office or become celebrities.
The politician has more contacts, I'm sure, and could find hundreds of people to call the constituent. Then the harasser would find out what it's like for the shoe to be on the other foot.
Occulus
(20,599 posts)You are not and hopefully, for all our sakes, will never be any arbiter of what is considered "purpose of contact".
Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)All those stating that harassment is okay because you dislike the person being harassed, would be singing a different tune if it were someone you liked on the receiving end, or if it were you.
I take no stance of liking or disliking the recipient. Harassment is harassment, and actually works against anything the harasser hopes to gain. It's nonproductive, and is not a Constitutional right.
Cease and desist letter is the first step in a legal action. It's against the law. It's that simple. I'm not sure why people are unclear on this. The harasser may have a mental issue or OCD. He doesn't have a job, I guess. Who would have time to call someone that many times during the day?
LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)In this particular case, what then is the relevant and precise difference between free speech and harassment, regardless of who your arbiter is...?
csziggy
(34,189 posts)He did NOT speak to staffers in the office eighty three times in one day. Same for all the other days he attempted to call his senator's office and had to try multiple times - his calls were not being answered.
Posted: Mar 02, 2017 12:09 AM EST
Updated: Mar 02, 2017 12:13 AM EST
By Kate Chappell
<SNIP>
He started calling Senator Johnson's D.C. office to voice his opinion after President Trump's inauguration. He says his goal was to influence how his U.S. Senator votes. Good admits he's persistent; so persistent, on one occasion he called Senator Johnson's office 83 times until someone picked up.
"The day before was 40 to get through. The day before that was 8. The day before that was 29, so they’re very aware of who I am by my cell phone number,” says Good.
Good says he's been to Johnson's Milwaukee office on two occasions. He calls the local office "accommodating," but takes issue with the response in D.C.
“I have been aggressive, but the reason I call multiple times is the issue of the day and also because I am a concerned citizen. And I will keep calling, and the reason I continue to dial is until I talk to someone in the office," says Good.
http://www.cbs58.com/story/34644360/milwaukee-man-receives-cease-and-desist-letter-from-senator-johnsons-office
From what he said, he picked one issue a day to express his opinion and attempted to contact the office until he got through to exercise his rights to free speech to be heard by his elected official.
The staffers at the senator's office are denying him his right to give his opinions to his elected representative.
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)My bad. The letter is the first step.
Bradical79
(4,490 posts)Rather than a court ordered restraining order.
rurallib
(64,684 posts)he is talking to an office staffed by numerous people that get paid to answer calls from constituents.
Contact from constituents is one of the main jobs of a congressional office.
If they restrict quantity, why not content etc?
What he could do is spread his calls around to the various offices around the state.
Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)to restricting political content. But yeah...content IS restricted. Try calling your local senator's office for sex talk and see where that gets you.
Come on...the guy is trying to harass and tick off the politician. He's having a hissy fit. Or maybe he has OCD or another mental issue.
There are laws to protect us all against harassment. Even politicians. He can call his representative for a legitimate reason. He can't harass his rep. Harassment is against the law.
rurallib
(64,684 posts)Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)until you change your mind.
rurallib
(64,684 posts)Norbert9
(494 posts)
Eliot Rosewater
(34,285 posts)
gopiscrap
(24,719 posts)doing that to a private citizen or even a public servant at his home would be harrassment, but this is the repukes office I say go for it, it should be done to ALL repukes
onenote
(46,135 posts)you think that's okay?
If a group of RW'ers, knowing that a call-in campaign was being launched, started tying up the lines of a Democratic legislator so his/her other constituents couldn't get through, would you be opposed to the Democratic legislator trying to stop the abusive tactic?
Occulus
(20,599 posts)Occulus
(20,599 posts)- Onenote
onenote
(46,135 posts)-- Occulus
A better description of my position: Harassing speech can be limited.
If this guy wants to send 83 letters or emails or 183 letters or email every day, he's welcome to. He has a right to speak. But speech can and often is subject to time, manner, and place regulation.
I'll give you another example. If a some repub website posted the home phone number of Elizabeth Warren and she started getting calls all night long, would that be okay? Of course not. It's not just about the volume of speech, it's the time, place and manner.
Occulus
(20,599 posts)and aren't what he did.
Your comment is completely irrelevant and amounts to a Trumpian goalpost move.
You want to limit the number (not the time, not the place, not the origin, only the number) of times we can speak freely to our elected officials.
Own it.
onenote
(46,135 posts)if you can't understand how allowing this guy to send as many emails and letters as he wants but not allow him to tie up the phone or staff time is a restriction on the manner of speech not the number, you're totally hopeless. In fact, I'd say you're Trumpian hopeless.
Occulus
(20,599 posts)is guilty of harassment for calling upon its members to "blow up his phone".
Is that what you mean? Or are you attempting to justify limits on the amount of free speech per day toward elected officials as it applies only to individuals, and not to groups?
Response to Honeycombe8 (Reply #15)
Occulus This message was self-deleted by its author.
Response to Honeycombe8 (Reply #15)
Occulus This message was self-deleted by its author.
Occulus
(20,599 posts)Are you absolutely certain that you want to argue this point?
csziggy
(34,189 posts)The multiple calls were not completed calls. They were the constituent's efforts to reach someone at his elected official's office.
Posted: Mar 02, 2017 12:09 AM EST
Updated: Mar 02, 2017 12:13 AM EST
By Kate Chappell
<SNIP>
He started calling Senator Johnson's D.C. office to voice his opinion after President Trump's inauguration. He says his goal was to influence how his U.S. Senator votes. Good admits he's persistent; so persistent, on one occasion he called Senator Johnson's office 83 times until someone picked up.
"The day before was 40 to get through. The day before that was 8. The day before that was 29, so they’re very aware of who I am by my cell phone number,” says Good.
Good says he's been to Johnson's Milwaukee office on two occasions. He calls the local office "accommodating," but takes issue with the response in D.C.
“I have been aggressive, but the reason I call multiple times is the issue of the day and also because I am a concerned citizen. And I will keep calling, and the reason I continue to dial is until I talk to someone in the office," says Good.
http://www.cbs58.com/story/34644360/milwaukee-man-receives-cease-and-desist-letter-from-senator-johnsons-office
The inference I am making is that the staffers know his phone number and refuse to answer his calls. I also believe that he is not being represented - that the office of his senator is restricting his right to be heard by his elected official.
Kashkakat v.2.0
(1,940 posts)the lines between those things get kinda murky.
He certainly has gotten our attention, hasnt he? Well done I sayy! Ive been trying to call RoJo myself, local nos as well as DC, and no one ever answers.
Response to Honeycombe8 (Reply #3)
Name removed Message auto-removed
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)to not be continually harassed by this man, who knows he made his point long ago but continues anyway.
During the election period, harassment of politicians, delegates, journalists and other voters by some groups became very damaging to the candidates they supported, but even that didn't stop this kind of behavior. The need to act out seemingly more important than avowed goals.
Mr.Bill
(24,906 posts)that he should actually speak to the man.
Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)Mr.Bill
(24,906 posts)he got a letter saying to only contact the Senator in writing?
busterbrown
(8,515 posts)By the way...The “Harassment” word? We actually care about a non physical form of Harassment to a Republican member of congress who currently is Harassing millions by promising to take healthcare away from them?
Thats Harassment taken to it’s ultimate definition... Fxxk him
Occulus
(20,599 posts)Those two individuals have a history here, and to judge their unwillingness to reply to my posts, apparently also both have me on ignore.
By their replies here, they've tipped their hands. They believe there is such a thing as "too much free speech" (one argument given is that it ties up the phone line, DUH, that's the point), and that's aggressively Trumpian in the worst of all possible ways.
busterbrown
(8,515 posts)I think the current climate of Dems being the aggressors these days.. is a great sign..Republican’s have always (at least in the past 25 yrs) have been highly aggressive and for the most part have been very successful in marginalizing
Progressive and Dems. Go get em Dems.!
Occulus
(20,599 posts)We really have to stop being "nice liberals". We've been "nice" for at least forty years.
That has gotten us here.
I have grown a lot less nice and a lot less "tolerant" and a LOT more willing to get dirty and bloody (metaphorically speaking) over the years.
These people have been playing a very long game, at least since the New Deal (and very likely since the Business Plot failed), and they have been playing for keeps.
Want a conspiracy theory? The idea that the conspirators in the Business Plot (aka Business Coup) actually never gave up and never ended their conspiracy is the mother of all of them.
I don't think they were ever actually halted. I think they and their co-conspirators went dark after they were exposed by General Butler, and they've been with us all this time, working in the background.
It fits. It fits exactly. Everything we see today works as an outgrowth of their original plan.
Frightening if true, plausible even if it's not.
GWC58
(2,678 posts)"Hey Senator Johnson, you were re-elected, how I have no idea, to serve the people, not just those who voted for you, but the people of Wisconsin. Take his call and he might stop calling. Ever think of that, Senator?"
AllaN01Bear
(29,422 posts)LuckyLib
(7,052 posts)district), I call, make my plea about doing something about the mentally unbalanced person in the WH, that the House silence is deafening, then state "While I am not in _______'s district, he can vote on issues that affect me, so I should not be shut out from email contact."
certainot
(9,090 posts)UW broadcasts sport on 5 limbaugh stations and 3 hannity stations and all those stations work for Wis republicans and ron johnson
if he, and other dems, spent the effort trying to get UW to start honoring their mission statement and start looking for apolitical alternative radio stations the gop, and johnson, would notice and freak out and then media would notice and advertisers would start dropping those stations.
These 88 universities are Trump allies. Students and scientists can protest right on campus. http://www.democraticunderground.com/10111680
then republicans would start losing their most important media tool
Kashkakat v.2.0
(1,940 posts)is due to lose most or all govt support in the not too distant future. By running all univ sports on WPR and getting sponsors which would be thanked on the air (really, thats a form of advertising - a more palatable form, but advertising - which sponsors would want to pay for) they could really make some sorely needed $$$$.
certainot
(9,090 posts)be able to argue it's a political move
it is anyway, just not one the general public would easily rationalize. liberals/dems need to consider every one less RW station the better. every one out there getting a free speech free ride is doing huge damage.
at $1000/hr pro trump/anti dem infomercial each station is worth 1000 x 15/day x 5 days = $75,000/ week FREE for GOP/trump. x 54 = about $4MIL/yr
and every station that opens now is a possible liberal station in the future after the monopoly is destroyed.
Kashkakat v.2.0
(1,940 posts)that aren't owned by monopolistic corporations that also run a RW talk station or two. Or are Christian prosletyzers. Besides, just because the far RW thinks public radio is communist or leftwing propaganda doesn't make it so.
certainot
(9,090 posts)otherwise they'll complain it's just a liberal plot and then be able to argue in terms of money and 'market demand'.
i suspect as over 1/3 or 400+ rw talk stations depend heavily on those and other schools and pro teams to sell advertising and if a few unis start pulling out other schools will follow and they couldn't maintain the advertising to keep up the monopoly.
without the monopoly/psyops the lies hate and racism that gave us trump would start to fade
milestogo
(23,060 posts)Maybe this guy was over the top, but I understand the frustration.
A brick of cheese would make a better Senator.
They could have had a real champion in Russ Feingold. Instead they re-elect a real POS in Ron Johnson. Keep voting for these tea party types you shouldn't be surprised when shit roll down hill. I guess this asshole now has a seat for life. No way I thought he was getting re-elected! Oh well.
milestogo
(23,060 posts)GWC58
(2,678 posts)Andy Harris! Another one I thought would bite the dust! I was hoping he would lose the primary, to a pro cannabis Republican no less. He won in a landslide. Same for the General. So I still have Andy "marijuana is a dangerous, addictive gateway drug" Harris. Another seat for life asshole. I'd vote for scrambled eggs if that was on the ballot against him.
ManiacJoe
(10,138 posts)deserves to be placed on the blocked caller list, regardless of his political leanings.
He knew better and misbehaved anyway.
csziggy
(34,189 posts)http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=1723852
He called until his calls were answered. It should not take 83 calls to get an answer!
ManiacJoe
(10,138 posts)Apparently he talked to them once per day and just kept calling until the staffers did their job of answering the phone.
LOL Lib
(1,462 posts)Might not have needed to call back so much. 
moonseller66
(430 posts)So, getting 20 to 30 political, inane, ROBO Calls every day during campaign insanity requesting my vote and/or to contribute to some politician to my number and every other listed voter by this same kind of hypocrite is not too much free speech? Those calls can tie up and stop my ability to use my phone for my choice of uses including possibly having to wait for the idiocy to stop before I might need to make a call for a real emergency. But those are ok?
Someone needs to look back at what the republicans have been doing to us since 1980 and quit the BS of "if we do that, we're no better than they!" TS!
Time to play by their rules.
moonseller66
(430 posts)Maybe the guy was just using a "public filibuster!" You know, what Senators do when they don't like what is proposed? What's good for the goose...
Justice
(7,257 posts)csziggy
(34,189 posts)Though Snopes has not labeled it one way or another:
that it had indeed been received by Milwaukee resident Earl Good, a Vietnam veteran, after he made multiple attempts to personally contact the senator. Good admitted that he had been aggressive in his efforts and had once called Senator Johnson’s office 83 times in one day before someone answered the phone:
http://www.snopes.com/2017/03/02/ron-johnson-cease-and-desist/