Republican "fake phone call" scandal spreads - now in Philly too

[Jcrowley]

Republican "fake phone call" scandal spreads - now in Philly too
by John in DC - 11/05/2006 09:39:00 PM

This is turning into a big story. They're doing it across the country - Kansas, NH, and now PA. This is the Republican October Surprise, launched in November. It's to cheat, pretend that they are Democrats calling voters and then piss the voters off so much that they don't vote for the Democrats.

That's called lying and cheating in order to suppress the vote, and it's illegal. And the Republican party admits they're doing it.

States in which GOP fake calls are happening so far:
• Philly
• Kansas
• NH
• CT
• NY

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/11/republican-fake-phone-call-scandal.html

[babylonsister]

1. I guess they plan on sorting out the lawsuits later. nt

[wholetruth00]

36. At a minimum, this should make ALL the local news outlets in these areas.

Dems should be calling in to make sure this is covered.

[oasis]

2. "Big story" but the corporate media is not reporting it. No surprise.

:grr:

[babylonsister]

13. Jonathan Alter, MSNBC, reported on this earlier, so they know. nt

[oasis]

29. Thanks.

:hi:

[wellstone dem]

3. Someone posted this is happening in MT and AZ too,

I didn't do a search, but the posts are on DU.

[Jcrowley]

4. Example

I was handing out leaflets for John Hall yesterday at a grocery store. There were two tables, a democratic one and a Republican one.

When I was handing out palm cards, several people said to me something like, "I WAS going to vote for John Hall, until I got all those phone calls. I got seven or eight, right at dinner time."

The guy from the Republican table, who was a local district leader-- friendly and chatty, actually came over to me and said, "You know, most of those are coming from Sue's office, but don't tell anybody."

I don't know how high his connections are to the Kelly campaign, but that's the information he volunteered.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/010827.php

[phylny]

30. It's being reported in the Times Herald Record (Orange County, NY)

http://www.recordonline.com/

[myrna minx]

5. I just received an email from my friend in San Francisco

saying that he received a "Democratic voter guide" in the mail. He writes:


"I'm so ready for this election to be over! I got a flyer in the mail saying it was a voter guide for Democrats, but it opposed Proposition 87, which the Democratic Party strongly favors. The opposition is actually sending out fraudulent guides billed as guides for Democrats."


The repubs have found new lows to sink.

[Jcrowley]

7. More of the scam calls from the NRCC- In CT

I was canvassing in Stamford, CT for Lamont and Farrel yesterday... some of the canvassers were talking about a nasty robocall hit on Farrell, which they said people at the doors had talked about. I didn't hear that at the door personally, but I wasn't focusing on the congressional race - i was talking about Lamont primarily.

Apparently the call starts with something along the lines of "Diane Farrell has some information for you," then pauses, waiting for annoyed people to hang up, and then delivers a negative message about Farrell. The canvassers say the call has hit some people as much as 6 times, and at 5 - 6am as well. Presumably, the intent is to annoy people and stick Farrell with the negative name ID as somebody who keeps robo-calling them.

We won't be able to get to the bottom of this operation until after Tuesday, which is the point. They'll happily pay the fines for breaking the federal regs on misidentifying calls.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/010829.php

[myrna minx]

18. This is just unbelievable. n/t

[elehhhhna]

39. So arrogant they put their lies in writing!

[ourbluenation]

8. I got it too...Had Dianne Feinsteins photo on it even!

It's been reported to the authorities.

[myrna minx]

16. Thanks! I'll pass that along to my friend.

He is just fuming. :hi:

[Ezlivin]

9. Mail fraud is a felony

These fraudulent mailers should be traced back to their source.

http://www.usps.com/postalinspectors/fraud/MailFraudComplaint.htm

[Jcrowley]

10. Call the FCC

You can complain to the FCC if you think the calls are illegal, as some Murphy supporters have done. (202-418-1440, phone; 202-418-0232, fax.)

Or you can do what I briefly considered yesterday: Send the NRCC your own robocalls telling it to STOP IT!

Try www.voiceshot.com - 12 cents a call, no minimum. The NRCC's number is 202-479-7000.

http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/news/local/15898729.htm

[Jcrowley]

11. Just "informing the voters"

In the past week alone, FCC records reflect $22,119 for anti-Murphy phone-bank expenses, said NRCC spokesman Ed Petru.

If the robocalls cost a dime, which is a high estimate, that would be 220,000 calls right there.

Petru said the agency wouldn't be spending its money on robocalls if they weren't working.

"We don't think there's such a thing as an overinformed voter."

http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/news/local/15898729.htm

Do not be nice. These people are scum.

[BrotherBuzz]

14. The mailers are not fraudulent

Deceptive as hell, but not fraudulent. They cover all their bases with small print and asterisks and cool "legalese" that would make any shyster lawyer proud.

[myrna minx]

19. I'll pass this along to my friend. Thanks. n/t

[drmom]

34. Yup...I got that one too. Sad thing is that I bet it works on some people...

What can be done about this?

[Hell Hath No Fury]

38. Yup, I got one too...

I had to really look at it -- it has all the Dems faces on it, but it was the Prop. recommendations that caught my eye.

it also says in very fine print that this is NOT an official Democratic Party mailer.

If you weren't careful and up on the Props. you could easily get suckered.

Fuckers. :mad:

[williesgirl]

6. k&r

[Auggie]

12. I heard Florida as well

[Norquist Nemesis]

15. Illinois too!

Tammy Duckworth and Melissa Bean are targets.

[mikeiddy]

17. Washington too

Goldmark calls still a mystery
Spokesman says calls weren't made by campaign

Jim Camden
Staff writer - Spokane WA Spokesman Review
October 25, 2006

Some Eastern Washington residents got recorded calls late at night or early in the morning last weekend, urging them to vote for Democrat Peter Goldmark for Congress.

Others got the same call, over and over. Others got an obscene call, or a call with no sound except the click of a hangup, with the campaign's caller ID.

Some recipients are irate, but finding the responsible party could prove difficult.

A Goldmark spokesman said those calls weren't generated by the campaign.

The campaign did hire a company to call some 88,000 Eastern Washington voters to deliver prerecorded political ads over a half-hour period last Friday evening, spokesman Dave Bullock said. But someone else seems to have "hijacked" the messages and ID to make calls after that.

John Jameson, the president of Winning Connections, which has the contract to make the calls for Goldmark, said he's sure that his company isn't responsible. The machines that are programmed to make the calls were shut off after 7:17 p.m. Friday when the last of the authorized calls were made, he said. They weren't turned on again until the next day, when calls for other campaigns were made.

"The program just doesn't start up by itself," Jameson insisted. "We absolutely, unquestionably, unequivocally did not make these calls."

Even though people reported the calls came with a caller ID from the Goldmark campaign, Jameson said that can be manipulated by someone familiar with call center programming. "That is not NSA technology," he said.

Telephone calls occasionally have been a form of campaign dirty tricks. In November 2002, Republican officials hired a Sandpoint firm to make repeated calls to a Democratic operation in New Hampshire, jamming its lines and preventing it from making "get out the vote" calls on Election Day. The culprits were tracked down and eventually sent to jail.

But sometimes the cause is less than sinister. In 2000, an effort by Washington Democrats to call voters and encourage them to cast ballots for Al Gore, Maria Cantwell and other Democrats went awry when the machines apparently were programmed for the wrong times.

"It was a definite glitch, not a dirty trick," said Michael Meehan, a campaign strategist for Cantwell this year and in 2000.

The Goldmark campaign filed a police report and notified the FBI on Monday, Bullock said. He refused to blame Rep. Cathy McMorris' campaign, saying only that it was "an unknown harasser."

McMorris spokeswoman Jill Strait said the McMorris campaign workers have heard about the Goldmark calls from people who called them to complain.

"We know absolutely nothing about what's happening or why," Strait said. "It's good that they filed a police report, to maybe get to the bottom of it."

[Jcrowley]

24. Idaho also

Deceptive Political Phone Calls Are From Sali Campaign, Not Grant


By Jill Kuraitis, 10-13-06

A torrent of complaints is pouring into the Grant for Congress campaign about harassing, annoying, computer-generated telephone calls.

“It’s not us! We, too, have been getting them and find them just as annoying as everyone else,” said campaign spokesman Don Rosebrock.

The computer-generated calls (robocalls, in political parlance) began Thursday, Oct. 12, and are continuing, apparently, across the First District.

The Grant campaign believes two versions are being used, one that begins “When you go to the polls on Nov. 7 you’ll see the name ‘Larry Grant’ on the ballot. Let me tell you a little about Larry Grant….”The other opens with “Larry Grant needs a lesson in Economics 101…”

http://www.newwest.net/index.php/city/article/deceptive_political_phone_calls_are_from_sali_campaign_not_grant/C108/L108/

[Jcrowley]

20. New Hampshire

CONCORD, N.H. -- It turns out that some of the political phone messages Granite Staters are receiving as Election Day nears may be illegal. The issue revolves around the national Do Not Call registry.

A homeowner in Hillsboro received the same message several times in one day. It began by stating it had information about Paul Hodes, the Democratic challenger for the 2nd Congressional District.

After a few seconds, the ad turns on the attack. It isn't until the end that you find out it was sponsored by the Republican National Congressional Committee.

"I think this is wrong," said Martha Child. "When you go out to campaign, you say what you believe. You use radio, TV and other things. I don't think you call up and say, 'So-and-so is nasty' on someone's private line."

[Jcrowley]

22. Deceptive "Robo Calls" are from Melissa Bean's Opponents

Alert:
Deceptive "Robo Calls"
are from Melissa's Opponents

District residents have been harassed by misleading automated calls that begin, "Hello, I'm calling with information about Melissa Bean," leading recipients to believe that they are from the Bean for Congress campaign. Some have noted that they have received numerous calls in the same day.

These calls are NOT from Melissa Bean:
• Congresswoman Bean's opponents are paying for these harassing phone-spam "robo calls."
• The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) paid for these deceptive calls -- and they actually attack Congresswoman Bean.
• The NRCC has spent nearly $50,000 (Federal Election Commission filings) on obnoxious phone calls, which could account for over one million calls.

These misleading messages deliberately imply they are from Melissa Bean:
• These annoying messages are intentionally designed to make people -- especially those who hang up without hearing the whole message -- believe they are coming from Melissa Bean's campaign.
• Since a large percentage of people hang up without listening to the entire call, they only hear the name "Melissa Bean" and naturally assume it is from her campaign.
• Those who do listen to the entire robo call hear a message smearing Congresswoman Bean.

http://www.melissabean.com/index.php?Path=Public/%5B01%5D%20Home/%5B20%5D%20roboCalls

[drm604]

21. I've gotten their Lois Murphy calls here in the Philly suburbs.

Two or three times a week they are waiting for me in my voice-mails when I get home. If they're trying to turn me against Lois they're barking up the wrong tree. But I could see less politically knowledgeable people getting taken in by this. :grr:

[Warren DeMontague]

23. It'd be nice if the press would cover this. nt

[Quantess]

41. I saw Olbermann talk about it.

But, that's about it.

[Clinton Crusader]

25. Upstate NY as well..

calls advise Dems their polling place has changed!
:puke:

[yellowcanine]

26. Maybe not the same thing but they are "push polling" for Steele in MD.

If one answers "no" to the question "Are you going to vote for Michael Steele?" one gets a whole lot of garbage questions about using babies for research, etc.

[Jcrowley]

27. Michigan

Renier Denounces Fake Robo Calls

Sharon Renier (D) released a press release today. Apparently, someone's been impersonating her in the "robo calls"-- recorded phone messages-- that we've been flooded with this election.

November began in the Michigan 7th Congressional race with automated "robo" calls from a toll-free 800 number from a woman posing as Democratic candidate Sharon Renier. The calls contained nasty, unkind remarks about Renier's Republican opponent Tim Walberg.

Renier said, "Throughout the campaign I promised voters that I will not resort to these automated 'robo' calls. It disgusts me that someone or some group has stooped so low as to impersonate my voice while reciting vile comments. I did not authorize these calls, and I do not know who authorized this campaign dirty trick. I apologize to anyone who has been upset after receiving one of these filthy calls. I also call on my opponent, Tim Walberg to denounce them, especially if we find that the calls are from either Republican organizations in Washington or groups like the Club for Growth that used negative tactics in the primary against Congressman Schwarz."

The Renier campaign has contacted the Federal Elections Commission and the phone company to trace the calls.
This is a big deal. Hopefully more information will come forward soon.

http://walbergwatch.blogspot.com/2006/11/renier-denounces-fake-robo-calls.html

[Jcrowley]

28. NRCC Robo Calls Hitting 20 Districts

NRCC Robo Calls Hitting 20 Districts
By Paul Kiel - November 6, 2006, 11:15 AM

Over at TPM, we've been keeping tabs on the robo calls being done by the National Republican Campaign Committee all over the country.

In each case, the calls begin with "Hi, I'm calling with information about ," and then continues to provide negative information about the candidate. Counter to FCC rules, which require that the caller identify themselves early on in the call, the calls only reveal that they are paid for by the NRCC at the end of the call. You can listen to one of these calls (from New York's 19th district) here. There are more than a few reports of voters getting frustrated by repeated calls they believe to be from the Dem candidate.

The firm conducting the calls is Conquest Communications, http://www.conquestgroup.com/ and reviewing the NRCC's independent expenditures filed with the FEC over the past week shows Conquest active in 20 different House races. The full list of expenditures, which includes the incredibly cheap price tags for these calls which reach hundreds of thousands of voters, is below the fold.

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/001940.php

[quiet.american]

31. So this is what Rove "saw" that no one else could see. n/t

[Ian David]

32. An interesting retaliation tactic that you shouldn't use...

because it's possibly illegal, would be if someone signed-up to volunteer for the GOP get-out-the-vote telephone campaign.

And then, if that person called Republican voters, and the conversation went something like this:

Repuke: Hello?
You: Achmed! Praise Allah, the wedding will be tomorrow!
Repuke: Wedding?
You: You will deliver the special cake for the wedding on-time?
Repuke: Uhm... I think you have the wrong number.
You: Who is this? Is Achmed there?
Repuke: No, you have the wrong number.
You: Is this (read their number back to them)?
Repuke: Yes, that's my number. But there's nobody named Achmed here.
You: Achmed's been compromised?
Repuke: I don't know. You've got the wrong number.
You: Uhm... uh... do not tell anyone I called you. Do you understand?

<click>

You know, if the terrorists are calling you, then the government wants to listen-in on the call. And if you've got nothing to hide, why should you care, right? Well, what if "the terrorists" have a wrong number?

In any case, there is probably a law somewhere that this would break, so you probably shouldn't do it. But I'm not a lawyer.

[TornadoTN]

33. ADD TENNESSEE TO THE LIST!

We are having the same type of calls - purporting to be for Ford but then turning into an anti-Ford diatribe. In addition, a few have reported calls giving false information in predominately black districts.

[Imagevision]

35. And our free press feel the american voters shouldn't be made aware of this scam?!!

I guess it's the good ole American way. (republican-style)

[Junkdrawer]

37. Add Pittsburgh and Jason Altmire...

At least one call a day...

"Hi, I'm calling with important information about Jason Altmire..."

It goes on to claim Jason Altmire will oppose making the tax cuts permanent. I never listened to the end. Once it came as I was trying to make an outgoing call, and the robocall wouldn't hang up until the the script ended (seemed like a minute...I remember thinking it was odd I couldn't get a dial tone). My caller id shows "Data Error" for the calls.

Funny thing is I'm not even in the same district.

[Jcrowley]

40. Virginia

Republicans are so afraid to run on their merits that they continue to resort to dirty tricks.

Listen to this robocall (.WAV) being sent to Virginia voters:

Tim Daly from Clarendon got a call saying that if he votes Tuesday, he will be arrested.  A recording of his voicemail can be found online at: www.webbforsenate.com/media/phone_message.wav

The transcript from his voicemail reads:

"This message is for Timothy Daly.  This is the Virginia Elections Commission. We've determined you are registered in New York to vote. Therefore, you will not be allowed to cast your vote on Tuesday. If you do show up, you will be charged criminally."

Daly has been registered to vote in Virginia since 1998, and he has voted for the last several cycles with no problem. He has filed a criminal complaint with the Commonwealth's attorney in Arlington.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/6/1717/68014

[malaise]

42. CSpan and CNN spoke about this

earlier. The Rethugs are desperate.