Nixon will “aggressively” pursue the purveyors of the “Unattributed Robo-Call”
September 2nd, 2008 . by Ed RicciottiYou all know the feeling. You’re in bed and then someone’s recorded voice posing as a candidate asked for your vote. No “Paid for by” tag line, nothing. To the culprit of this dastardly deed, an attempt to get you to believe that their opponent had called you 2 in the morning and that you would then vote for them. Let us not forget the candidate bashing, followed exactly 10-12 minutes later by that candidate’s opponent. Being the AG of Missouri, he can’t stop these calls from happening, but he can enforce the law that requires robo-callers to identify themselves. During the last primary for the 9th US Congress, only Ken Jacob and Judy Baker attributed their calls. All the others were drive-by calls, there only to injury and then anonymously scurry away into the void.
Robo callers are put on notice. Campaigns, don’t be fooled by the inexpensive method of communication this represents. It is campaign snake oil and you are better off calling with live people and sending direct mail. Robo calls by any empirical standard that I can find, don’t work
September 3rd, 2008 at 8:35 am
You are right. Robocalls don’t work. But I don’t think that the AG can do anything about the “drive by” calls. Heck, if you don’t want to be found and don’t ID yourself how will he find you?
As I testified at the US. Senate these calls are an epidemic and are invading the privacy of All American Voters.
Our members are taking a stand and saying enough is enough at the National Political Do Not Contact Registry at StopPoliticalCalls.org.
Here is a quote from a member recently:
“I’m a shift worker, working variable shifts. I depend on my sleep to be able to do my job safely and efficiently. I’m a locomotive engineer. Imagine the disaster were I to fall asleep, operating a freight train carrying hazardous materials in your neighborhood, due to fatigue from being awoken in my middle of the night on a continuous basis during election season. Please stop..”
Regards,
Shaun Dakin
CEO and Founder
http://www.stoppoliticalcalls.org
September 3rd, 2008 at 10:16 am
I disagree that robo calls are ineffective, especially given how cheap they are.
But yea they don’t really add anything to democracy, outside of maybe some last minute GOTV benefits.
September 4th, 2008 at 9:15 am
All calls leave a electronic and paper trail… its might be difficult but its not like robocalls are sneaky. I’m not sure Nixon can do something about the calls before November or not, but I’m confident that its entirely possible to make prosecutions if an AG has the will to do so.
Stopping all sorts of political calls does seem to go overboard. The phone can be a productive tool. Voter contact is an important part of democracy. Political speech rightly has the strongest 1st amendment protections.