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Monday, November 07, 2005
VA-Gov: Republican Governor's Association Misleads for Jerry Kilgore
Posted by Bob BrighamUPDATE (David): An MP3 of the call is available here. (Thanks for hosting it, Markos.) The sound quality isn't exactly great, so make sure you check out the transcript while you listen.
UPDATE (David): Folks, do NOT contact VPAP (the site we link to which has the Honest Leadership/RGA information). VPAP is just a campaign info database, like Tray.com or OpenSecrets.org. They have nothing to do with this.
In the final days of the Virginia gubernatorial campaign, the Republican Governor's Association is resorting to disgusting tactics in their support of Jerry Kilgore, even going so far as use robo-calls pretending to come from Tim Kaine.
These Republican Governors' Association prerecorded telephone calls are misleading and violate Federal law intended to prevent such political dirty tricks. Consider that "The Honest Leadership for Virginia PAC" is not just a front group, it is the Republican Governors Association's Virginia political committee. The "Honest" Leadership for Virginia PAC received just three contributions totaling $1,860,000 in 2005 – all from one donor, the Republican Governors Association.
RGA's Pre-Recorded Telephone call misleads recipients by implying that it is sponsored by Tim Kaine and fails to disclose the actual entity paying for the call – the Republican Governors Association. Using Tim Kaine's voice implies that he sponsored the call. Using a misleading name, like Honest Leadership for Virginia PAC, for their Virginia political committee, the RGA further misleads recipients that this entity is something other than what it is – an arm of the RGA. In fact, just check the contact info, the Treasurer's email ends in @rga.org.
Here is a transcript of the ad:
[Voice of Tim Kaine] I am running for Governor and I am not afraid to tell you where I stand.I am conservative on issues of personal responsibility. As a former Christian missionary, faith is central to my life. I oppose gay marriage. I support restrictions on abortion: No public funding and parental consent. And I've worked to pass a state law banning partial birth abortion.
Paid for and authorized by Honest Leadership for Virginia PAC.
Registration number 05-034.
Now I'm no big city lawyer, but a former Hill staffer sent me an email that lays out a convincing case against the RGA:
Federal law requires disclosure of the entity that is responsible for initiating a pre-recorded telephone call to disclose its true identify at the beginning of the message. 47 CFR Sec. 64.1200(b)(1).• The Federal regulation states: "All artificial or prerecorded telephone messages shall:
(1) At the beginning of the message, state clearly the identity of the business, individual, or other entity that is responsible for the call. 47 CFR Sec. 64.1200(b)(1).
• Neither the RGA, nor its shadow organization, Honest Leadership for Virginia PAC, is identified at the beginning of the prerecorded message.
• RGA violated Federal Communication Commission regulations by failing to identify the entity responsible for initiating the prerecorded message.
4. Federal law requires the entity making prerecorded telephone calls to provide a telephone number in the message. 47 CFR Sec. 64.1200(b)(2).
• The FCC regulation states: "All artificial or prerecorded telephone messages shall:
(2) During or after the message, state clearly the telephone number (other than that of the autodialer or prerecorded message player that placed the call) of such business, other entity, or individual. The telephone number provided may not be a 900 number or any other number for which charges exceed local or long distance transmission charges. For telemarketing messages to residential telephone subscribers, such telephone number must permit any individual to make a don-not-call request during regular business hours for the duration of the telemarketing campaign. 47 CFR Sec. 64.1200(b)(2).
• No telephone number is provided in the RGA's prerecorded message for the RGA or its shadow organization, Honest Leadership for Virginia PAC.
• RGA violated Federal Communication Commission regulations by failing to clearly state telephone number during or after the prerecorded message.
Lies and distortion, the Kilgore campaign is clearly desperate.
Posted at 04:45 PM in 2005 Elections, Culture of Corruption, Republicans, Scandals, Virginia | Technorati
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Comments
Definitely desperate.
However, I'm pretty sure the regulations cited above apply to telemarketing, sales and solicitation, and not to this call.
Posted by: Kagro X ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.swingstateproject.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at November 7, 2005 04:24 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
So, what now? The deed is done. What legal steps can be taken, by whom, and what effects would they have? It is indeed a horrible deed, but perhaps the damage is irreversible this close to the election.
Posted by: FieryProgressive at November 7, 2005 04:53 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
That's why it gets done at the end of a campaign, FieryP. May I call you P?
The penalty is a fine. And the fine will be quietly paid after it doesn't matter anymore. On top of that, should Kilgore win, Virginians won't have an opportunity to punish him once the fine becomes a matter of public record, because we've so wisely deprived ourselves of the opportunity to review anyone's performance by limiting governors to one term.
Posted by: Kagro X at November 7, 2005 05:03 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
we've so wisely deprived ourselves of the opportunity to review anyone's performance by limiting governors to one term.
Yeah, what's up with that? Why only one term? Are there any other states in the nation that do that?
Posted by: DavidNYC at November 7, 2005 05:11 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
Virginia is the only state I know of that does this. Why? I don't know. Probably an outgrowth of term limits hysteria, from back when it was a Republican-fueled mania.
I'm sure it was sold with all sorts of promises about how it'd embolden governorns to "do the right thing" rather than play politics with the tough decisions. Instead, though, the most obvious impact of the term limits has been in motivating the passage of tax cuts that are either themselves back-loaded, or that are back-loaded in their effects on the budget. That way, governors are long gone before the bills come due.
Posted by: Kagro X at November 7, 2005 06:34 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
Well, I just got another version of that call, which I already received yesterday.
This time, it starts with, "This is a Pro-Choice Voter Alert," and goes on to say that NARAL has refused to endorse Kaine. Then, after playing the above excerpt, it ends by saying that the only true pro-choice candidate in the race is Russ Potts -- the former Republican turned independent.
Posted by: Kagro X at November 7, 2005 06:53 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
This makes no sense. If Tim Kaine stands for the same things as the classical Republican, such as restrictions on abortion, being against gay marriage, etc., then how can the GOP use that against him? If the GOP is using these "selling points" against Tim Kaine, then what the fuck does the GOP *really* stand for?
Posted by: jurassicpork at November 7, 2005 07:41 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
They're only using it against him with Democrats whom they think will be alarmed and/or offended.
Posted by: Kagro X at November 7, 2005 08:44 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
Kagro: In 2009, please be sure to hook your phone up to a non-stop digital recorder and turn it into a live feed on the Internets, okay? :)
Posted by: DavidNYC at November 7, 2005 09:46 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
I've been thinking I'd just stop answering and let the machine record everything, but it always cuts off the beginning of the messages.
Posted by: Kagro X at November 8, 2005 07:50 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
Actually, the RGA has given over $2.9 million to "Honest Leadership for Virginia PAC". The 1.86 million figure is up until the end of the September reporting period. VA law requires immediate reporting of large donations (over 10K) after that date, and the [Dis]Honest PAC reported more than a million in additional contributions just in the last few weeks -- obviously to fund these robocalls.
The sad thing is, they are definitely working. I've heard from three pro-choice former co-workers in NoVA in the last 24 hours saying that they were going to vote for Potts. Of course I told them the robocalls were lies paid for by the RGA...but I think there are countless other women who could just sit this one out or vote for Potts because of them.
Dirty tricks work. I'd love to be wrong, but I think this whole RGA scam could win the election for Kilgore.
Posted by: Maura in VA at November 8, 2005 03:35 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
In the interests of helping to document this... I received both the 'kaine' voice mail and the 'naral' voice mail in Falls Church VA. I saw local press (Fredricksburg paper) on the first voice mail, but no press yet on the second. I have some question that the second voice mail is authentic, because the mixed abortion stance of Potts and Kaine is very similar.
Posted by: okfine at November 8, 2005 05:46 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
Using pre-recorded calls in an election campaign IS telemarketing and sales.
Posted by: LindyH at November 8, 2005 07:32 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment