Repeated 'robocalls' Called Karl Rove Dirty Trick

GOP "Robocalls" Raise Voter's Ire

BBSNews Politics 2006-11-06 -- One of the ghosts that haunts Democrats is another Karl Rove dirty trick campaign and the GOP effort to keep power has done just that with thousands of "robocalls" that mislead voters into thinking a Democrat is calling when it is really a Republican trick recording.

The trick started getting some press around the first of November, in the BarringtonCourier-Review in Illinois it was reported that one woman who had gotten 24 calls since October, 24th about Melissa Bean. The article also reported:

"Brian Herman, a spokesman for U.S. Rep. Melissa Bean, D-8th, said the calls are a campaign trick meant to kill the Democrat vote on Nov. 7.

'Voters ought to make their decision based on merit and facts, but this about suppressing the vote,' he said."

In New Hampshire the Attorney General got involved reports the New Hampshire Union Leader:

"A national Republican group yesterday scuttled a pre-recorded phone call effort the state Attorney General's Office said may have violated New Hampshire law by contacting residents listed on the federal Do Not Call registry."

In New York the Times Herald-Record reports:

"Republicans say they are not behind a barrage of calls to voters over the weekend that Democrats say are part of a campaign of 'dirty tricks' to steal tomorrow's election in the 19th Congressional District.

The automated calls attacking Democratic congressional candidate John Hall started sometime Saturday and rolled through Sunday, interrupting football games and family dinners throughout the region.

But what might have been a minor election-season annoyance approached harassment, when the machine repeatedly called back — as many as seven times — until its entire message was heard, several recipients said."

In Pennsylvania voters have complained to the FCC about the GOP robocall tactics, the E-Commerce Times reports:

"Bruce Jacobson, a software engineer from Ardmore, Pa., received three prerecorded messages in four hours. Each began, 'Hello, I'm calling with information about Lois Murphy,' the Democrat running against two-term incumbent Rep. Jim Gerlach in the Philadelphia-area district.

'Basically, they go on to slam Lois,' said Jacobson, who has filed a complaint with the FCC because the source of the call isn't immediately known.

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 way they're sent is deceptive. The number of calls is harassing. The way her stances are presented in these stories is deliberately misleading and deceptive,' said Karlyn Messinger, another Murphy supporter from Penn Valley, Pa., who filed a complaint with the FCC."

Using dirty tricks are not a new tactic for Republicans, but using the hated telemarketing style strategy is annoying to voters. Misleading voters by tryng to make them think the calls originate with the Democrat they are meant to criticize is sleazy, but repeating calls many times up to a couple of dozen closely resembles the kind of trash that the Do Not Call Registry was designed to prevent.

The Democrats have sent out an alert to their subscribers describing this practice:

"Karl Rove has been bragging for weeks about his '72-hour program' to swing the elections, which predict a Democratic takeover of Congress.

Now we know what it is: a dirty trick campaign using robocalls.

The calls are made to Democrats and swing voters at all times of day or night to make them angry. And they pretend to be from the Democrat ('Hello, I'm calling with information about Lois Murphy'). If you hang up, they call back 7-8 times, and each time you hear the Democrat's name, to get you angry at him or her. If you stay on, you get to hear a scathing attack on the Democrat."

No one knows yet whether there will be any serious investigation and possible criminal charges into this "robocall" tactic on the part of the Republicans, but it sure reminds everyone of the usual kind of tricks perpretrated by the dreaded Karl Rove.

Josh Marshall over at Talking Points Memo is keeping close tabs on the issue, we'll have to wait until after the election to see if there will be any type of legal or civil action against the Republicans for trying to skew an election right before it is time to vote.