So tomorrow is election day. I am a crazy, nutty, full-throttle political junkie, so election day is like crack cocaine for me. Although the conventional wisdom for the past several weeks has said that Democrats were going to take control of the House of Representatives, there were
several polls that came out this weekend that seemed to show the race tightening. However,
other polls are showing the Dems holding their lead or even widening it. The Congressional race in my district, CO-5, isn't supposed to be competitive. Colorado Springs is full of religious evangelicals and military personnel, two groups that are pretty solidly Republican. But, the Congressional seat is being vacated by incumbent Joel Hefly, who has refused to endorse the Republican candidate, Doug Lamborn, because of the dirty tactics Lamborn used to win the Republican primary. This, coupled with the fact that the Democratic candidate, Jay Fawcett, is a military veteran, a former lieutenant colonel at the Air Force Academy, has made the race potentially within reach for the Dems.
Depending on which poll you believe, Fawcett is within striking distance of Lamborn heading into election day. Another interesting race to follow is the question of whether to write a ban on gay marriage into the Colorado state constitution. According to
the polling on this question, listed as Referendum 43 on the ballot, it's virtually a dead heat between those for and those against the Referendum. The big news for me, however, heading into tomorrow is the latest dirty tactics being employed by the Republicans to try to steal whatever votes they can. The House GOP committee has hired a company to
make robocalls in competitive districts which begin by sounding like they are sponsored by the Democratic candidate, saying something like, "Hello, this call is to give you some information about
Name of Democratic candidate..." If you hang up at that point, the automated system will continue to call you over and over and over until you listen to the whole message, which turns out to be a criticism of the Democratic candidate. The calls are often placed during dinnertime or early in the morning, and Democratic and Independent voters are targeted. The net effect is that the people receiving the calls who always hang up will assume that the Democrats are harassing them with neverending robocalls, and the people who give in and listen to the entire message will be forced to listen to criticisms of the Democratic candidate. These robocalls are probably illegal, but the Republicans are counting on the fact that no action can be taken until after the election is over. Make no mistake, this whole thing is despicable. They are not trying to win voters over by argumentation, they are trying to harass voters into changing their vote or not voting at all. Here is how
an emailer at Talking Points Memo puts it:
"I like to think of myself as not easily surprised when it comes to the GOP's dirty tricks, but the onslaught of robo-call incidents you've mentioned in your latest posts somehow jarred me out of my comfortable cynicism. I think it's useful to take a step back and examine, in the simplest terms, what the Republicans are doing here: they are attempting to sabotage the American democratic process because it's inconvenient for their candidates.
Of course these robo-calls are only one manifestation of a consistent theme, but when I approach the calls without the cynicism of a political news junkie, I find them breathtakingly despicable. The people behind this aren't schoolyard bullies, or even college kids. These are adults with years of political experience and a comprehensive understanding of what exactly their acts amount to. The NRCC simply does not believe that Americans should be able to make informed choices about their representatives in the voting booth. They are perfectly willing to dismantle the democratic process, which cannot function properly when voters are harassed (or even worse, harassed under false pretenses). I think it's fair to say that their behavior in this instance is "profoundly immoral and malevolent," which is how the Oxford English Dictionary describes "evil." Despite our desensitization to these types of transgressions, we cannot afford to take them lightly."
I am registered as an independent, and though I consider myself a liberal, I tend to agree with many conservatives on topics like economics and free trade. Heck, I was even in favor of the Iraq War. So, I am not going to assume that Democrats are always right and Republicans are always wrong, but, in this case, these tactics make me sick. These guys deserve to not only be voted out of office, but thrown in jail. Elections that are free from fraud and sabotage are the cornerstone of our government, and for the past three elections Republicans have done as many questionably legal and definitely illegal things they can do to subvert voter's ability to choose their government representatives without hindrance. Two senior Democrats have written a letter to the Attorney General calling for an investigation into these robocalls:
Dear Chairmen Martin, Toner and Attorney General Gonzales:
We write to demand an immediate investigation concerning allegations of unethical and possibly illegal prerecorded phone calls designed to confuse voters in Tuesday’s election. These misleading calls are made late in the evening, or during the night, in an effort to generate anger at the Democratic candidate, who is in no way associated with this harassment. In fact, the calls are being funded by the National Republican Campaign Committee, which has reportedly provided $600,000 to fund this deception.
There have been numerous media reports about these calls, which appear to be occurring in dozens of districts. It is also our understanding that the Republican Party has been forced to stop the calls in New Hampshire.
According to the Associated Press, one individual “received three prerecorded messages in four hours. Each began, ‘Hello, I’m calling with information about [Democratic candidate] Lois Murphy [in the Philadelphia area].’” The Philadelphia Daily News reported that “[t]he calls, which begin by offering ‘important information about Lois Murphy,’ are designed to mislead voters into thinking the message is from her.”
The New Hampshire Union Leader reported that 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 Illinois, The Barrington Courier-Review reported that a resident received the following phone call – “Hi. I’m calling with information about [Democratic Candidate] Melissa Bean.” She received the same call a total of 21 times since October 24. Others reported receiving the same calls, none of which were paid for by Ms. Bean or any Democratic group.
If true, these allegations could violate a number of federal laws and legal requirements. Among other things, 47 CFR 1200 (b)(1) provides that prerecorded telephone messages must “[a]t the beginning of the message, state clearly the identity of the business, individual, or other entity that is responsible for initiating the call.” Section 441h of the Federal Election Campaign Act provides that no agent of a federal candidate shall “fraudulently misrepresent himself or any committee or organization under his control as speaking or otherwise writing or acting for or behalf of any other candidate or political party.” Section 441d(d)(2) specifies that communications must provide a statement as to the party responsible for it, and the campaign finance laws generally prohibit fraudulent and deceptive activities. A number of state laws also appear to be applicable, such as New Hampshire’s which prohibits calls to individuals on the federal Do Not Call registry.
Given the magnitude and seriousness of these charges, we ask that you immediately investigate and take action to protect the integrity of our electoral process and hold the culpable parties responsible.
Sincerely,
___________________________
John Conyers, Jr.
___________________________
John Dingell
Update: Josh Marshall at
Talking Points Memo gives an
excellent summary of the robocalls story, and what it is that distinguishes what the Republicans are doing from your ordinary, run-of-the-mill political robocalls.
