Just to note - the robocall that is actually from Jim Webb starts with Jim identifying himself. This call was NOT ours.
after telling us that she received a robocall, grannydoc goes on to write:
Unfortunately, coming as they did a 12:30am and 1:45am this morning, I was so pissed I just slammed the phone down. I promise, if any more come in I will take notes.Both calls started, "I'm calling with information you need about Jim Webb."
I'm in Southside.
Granny Doc posted this today, Mon Nov 06, 2006 at 10:52:19 AM EST
The New Hampshire Attorney General became involved because there were complaints that these calls were going to people on the Do Not Call list. This may be a way to stop the calls for today.
Here's the group doing it:
5. Opposes Candidate: KELLAM FOR CONGRESS
Office Sought: House of Representatives, Virginia District 02
Payee: CONQUEST COMMUNICATIONS GROUP
Date Expended = 11/03/2006 Amount Expended = $4128.84
Purpose: Phone Banks
Payee: CONQUEST COMMUNICATIONS GROUP
Date Expended = 11/02/2006 Amount Expended = $3049.74
Purpose: Phone Banks
Payee: CONQUEST COMMUNICATIONS GROUP
Date Expended = 11/02/2006 Amount Expended = $3049.74
Purpose: Phone Banks
Payee: CONQUEST COMMUNICATIONS GROUP
Date Expended = 11/01/2006 Amount Expended = $4089.42
Purpose: Phone Banks
and more GOP dishonesty--TPM's polling page is showing a "McCulloch" poll showing Santorum just four behind -- only problem -- he's a GOP operative with a bad legal record --
This is the pattern across the country.
And they waited until this weekend to crank it up hope to run it enough under the radar that there would not be time to get the news about it out to protect people from the misinformation. I would not be surprised that the insistence on getting the Saddam sentence out (evn though the verdict will not be released before Thursday) is less about Iraq per se as it is to suck up news oxygen to keep the robocalling from getting covered.
It may backfire. There is now enough discussion, including Andrew Sullivan linking to both TPM and Dkos on this, that I think it will be covered.
The Washington Post is working on the story, and I presume various electronic outlets are as well. If it gets covered, it could backfire big.
In 2002 Sununu benefited from the phone jamming in NH. Yes, someone went to jail for it, but Sununu kept his seat. If Webb loses by 0.5% or Feder loses by 0.5% and the robocalls were the margin of difference, there may be some chastising the Republicans in the press, but doubt anyone will go to jail, doubt anyone will pay a fine, and Wolf & Allen will not have to give up their seats.
The only way for us to make them pay is to find a way to surmount this and win and then change the laws to make this type of stuff illegal. However the Republicans are always looking for legal loopholes. They don't say that they are calling on behalf of Jim Webb, they are calling with information about Jim Webb.
Case in point - what happened with Andy's complaint about Tom Davis's illegal mailing when he sent out a campaign flier franked using congressional privilege? Nada.
Republicans make me want to puke.
-Fred
But what about calling at 2am? What kind of a PRANK is that?
And you want them to vote for you in return? What a bunch of kids running Capitol Hill! Where is the issue in that?
Robo Caller Conquest Communications, the company that's been conducting hundreds of thousands of often harrassing calls on behalf of the National Republican Congressional Committee, has taken down its "Contact Us" and "About" pages, including its phone number.
According to TPM, "the company works exclusively with Republican clients . . . one of the founding partners, David Johnson, is a veteran operative of the NRCC and the former Executive Director of the Republican Party of Virginia."
George Allen's on its list of clients as is a lot of the Virginia GOP political establishment.