GOP sends letter appearing to be census form

[Divine Discontent]

Source: AP

DENVER – The Republican Party is seeking input and money from GOP voters — seemingly under the guise of the U.S. Census Bureau.

"Strengthening our Party for the 2010 elections is going to take a massive grassroots effort all across America. That is why I have authorized a Census to be conducted of every Congressional District in the country," GOP Chairman Michael Steele says in a letter mailed nationwide.

The letter was sent in plain white envelopes marked "Do Not Destroy, Official Document." Labeled "2010 Congressional District Census," the letter uses a capital "C," the same as the Census Bureau. It also includes a "Census Tracking Code."

The letter makes a plea for money and accompanies a form asking voters to identify their political leanings and issues important to them. There are no disclaimers that participation in the GOP effort is voluntary; participation in the government census is required by law. Failure to participate carries a $5,000 fine, though it is rarely enforced.

Sara Sendek, a Republican National Committee spokeswoman, said the letter was not an attempt to mislead voters.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100125/ap_on_el_ge/us_gop_census

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Don't get duped - tell your friends and family members as it is being sent to BOTH Democrats & Republicans, and as Karynnj says in a comment below, it is being used to data mine information about what people support to then turn around and use that as a tool to seek donations - also -

I saw a Columbus Dispatch article that says,

"Lantry is a Democrat, as is her husband, to whom the letter was addressed, but she said her anger goes beyond partisanship. "The census is supposed to be nonpartisan, and the city is doing a tremendous amount of work to get people to participate," she said. "This doesn't help our cause."

She wrote to the U.S. postmaster general Thursday urging an investigation into possible fraud and impersonation of a federal agency.

Wil Nichols of Maple Grove, Minn., isn't a Republican, but she received one of the "very official-looking" documents and said she found it to be deceptive.

Dennis Johnson, director of a census bureau regional office in Kansas City, Kan., said: "My biggest concern is that it might be confusing to some residents who get this and then get the real one in a couple of months."
http://www.dispatchpolitics.com/live/content/national_world/stories/2010/01/24/copy/Census_GOP_MST.ART_ART_01-24-10_A10_IPGD2DO.html?sid=101

[Wabbajack_]

1. They only send it to their own voters so who cares

[Divine Discontent]

6. being sent to all types of voters

[Wabbajack_]

8. I thought they only send stuff to their own- My bad

I don't feel sorry for Repukes if are duped out their money though.

[Divine Discontent]

9. also many registered repubs have been voting for Dems the past 3 cycles

due to the gop fraud and shame involving W & Cheney with the wars, Blackwater, torture, bank bailout of 08, etc... I'm sure millions haven't changed their affiliation.

[Old Codger]

31. I am

registered republican, I do so just to skew the numbers as much as I can, I have never voted republican and never will, they sent me one and it indeed comes across as if it is a real census paper, but a quick look tells you that it isn't and that it is in fact a plea for donations...

[Ian David]

29. They send ME one every year. Once even sent me a GOP platinum card. n/t

[TheCowsCameHome]

2. Here's a good chance to get rid of your expired coupons.

[Divine Discontent]

4. my friend's mom is registered Repub, but voted for Obama, so she'll get one.

She'll want to fart in it and mark it 'large donation' or something of the sort...

[peace13]

5. LOL! n/t

[Divine Discontent]

7. ;) I kid you not, she very well would say exactly what I wrote, I know her well. She told a caller

who asked for money for the RNC, just after W's '04 inaugural, that maybe they should have told Georgie to not spend so many millions on a second inaugural instead of hitting up old ladies on S.S. and slammed the phone down.

[Xipe Totec]

3. Does it come with a postage paid return envelope?

And do you have any bricks you can spare?

[BreweryYardRat]

46. Oooh, I was hoping someone else knew that one.

Everyone (who doesn't vote Republican) who gets one of these in the mail definitely needs to mail it back with a brick inside/attached.

If the RNC's mailing campaigns wind up costing them more in post-paid than the donations they bring in...

[shraby]

10. Monopoly money is always good to put in the envelopes.

[truthisfreedom]

11. Fucking con artists.

No scruples. No morals. No decency. No conscience.

No souls.

[Divine Discontent]

12. sums it up NICELY! "CENSUS TRACKING CODE" - for that alone they should be charged.

[John1956PA]

15. Could be mail fraud of the "solicitation " or impersonation" variety.

Wikipedia, which discusses several mail fraud varieties such as "solicitation" and "impersonation," defines mail fraud as follows:

Mail fraud is an offense under US federal law, which refers to any scheme which attempts to unlawfully obtain money or valuables in which the postal system is used at any point in the commission of a criminal offense.

[Divine Discontent]

16. wow. ya know, since it involves the recruitment of cash under the guise of census, would it not be

FLIPPING great to see them get charged for this clear offense! they're so damned scummy!

[LiberalFighter]

27. Wouldn't it also be a criminal violation to impersonate a govt agency?

[No Elephants]

40. My thought exactly. If this is not against any law, it certainly should be. Damn con artists.

[karynnj]

13. Wow - this is an attempt to get an amazing data base throygh disception

Having people's interests listed would make tailored appeals real easy,

[Divine Discontent]

14. 'Having people's interests listed would make tailored appeals real easy'

THANK YOU! exactly...

I would HOPE the White House would instruct someone to look into the possibility of criminal action here pretending to be a Gov't Census form!

[karynnj]

20. Years ago, I think back in 2005, there was a Commerce committee

hearing that Choicepoint was a witness at. They were a company that had a huge data base where they got information from several sources, the warranty cards people think they need to fully fill out, information on credit, and any thing else they could get.

The hearing was pretty interesting to hear al the stuff they had, but at the end there were real fireworks. Senator Kerry came in late, having been at another hearing - and said his staff told him what had been asked already. He asked teh company representative if he thought it was right to sell all this information on people - pointing out that while they provided the information to get credit etc, they never thought they were approving that all their information could be available for marketing etc. Then he got the attention of every Senator ... by asking if the data was ever given to political campaigns. The exec answered that "the typical customer" was a Bank or CC company - Kerry repeated was it ever sold to a political campaign. The man continued to equivocate before saying he did not know. (Now, in early 2005, there was an article praising the Republican campaign for targeted marketing like appeals.)

This would go beyond that. Consider this - if they know that your issues are A, B, C - and their candidate matches only on C - They can do a nice bio piece and then have a nice just detailed enough description of the position on the matching issue.

[No Elephants]

41. Yep, and also makes the list very saleable to any number of advertisers.

[jimlup]

17. is the postage paid on the return envelope?

If so return it empty or better yet, over weight.

[Doctor_J]

33. Yes. A good thing to do is

fill it full of pennies and send it postage-paid

[progressoid]

44. Not pennies but a heavy sheet of steel.

[starroute]

18. This sort of thing has been going on for years

It regularly comes up in DU threads -- not the census because there hasn't been one since 2000, but official-looking documents of all sorts. Certain direct-mail firms specialize in this sort of thing -- I recall that Libby Dole was using a scam of this sort at one point.

[sudopod]

19. Could part of this be a strategy to discourage participation in the real Census? nt

[LiberalFighter]

28. If it is I hope a lot them are from states that tend to go Republican.

[SpiralHawk]

21. Republicon Family Values are too putrid even for the cesspool

as the republicons prove again and again and again

[damntexdem]

22. This is fraud and misrepresentation; and should be prosecuted.

But I doubt that it will be.

[time_has_come]

23. phone them and ask them to send you another one. And then do it again.

[SlingBlade]

24. Yep. But I see Right Wing Blowback ...

These Rethugs having been brainwashed for years about the evil Gubmit Census will immediately throw it into the trash thinking they have struck another blow for democracy.

Idiots, Let 'em throw their money away, From what I hear there's more on its way thanks to the
Supremo's. :)

K & R

[bergie321]

25. I hope they send me one of these.

I will even donate $1 to them.

How much do you think it would cost them in postage for 100 pennies?

[izquierdista]

26. "Not an attempt...:"

You're right, that was not attempt to step over the line, that was blatantly ignoring the line, knowing that your base is a bunch of easily deluded morons who vote against their own interests.

[Jefferson23]

30. How ironic, when we have recently listened to their Pig in Chief, Limpbaugh

falsely accuse Obama for sneaky actions regarding contributions for Haiti.

I can't stand these fucking creeps.

[geckosfeet]

32. Is this not blatantly illegal?

[XemaSab]

34. Impersonating a census worker is a crime

n/t

[BlueIdaho]

35. How low can they go?

Just when you think these scum bags have hit bottom, they find a new way to fuck America.

[applegrove]

36. They're creeps.

[Guilded Lilly]

37. Utter B.S.

"Sara Sendek, a Republican National Committee spokeswoman, said the letter was not an attempt to mislead voters."

Everything Republicans have done in the last nine years has been an attempt to mislead voters.

[Divine Discontent]

38. love your line! so very effing true!!! misleading is their key to power.

we all know they're scam artists cloaked as a political party!

[No Elephants]

43. The letter was not an attempt to mislead voters? So the RNC is actually an official census taker?

Sara Sendek follows in the great Republican tradition of lying through one's teeth to brazen it out, when caught in the act.

It's like the spouse caught in bed naked with another, who cries out, "This is not what it looks like."

Hey, Sara, you suck at the Jedi mind trick as much as Steele does.

[Betty Karlson]

39. God damn Steele to Hell!

This is fraud.

[No Elephants]

42. When Steele ran for office, he tried to make it seem he was a Democrat (much as Scott Brown did).

Fraud seems to come naturally to Republicans, just ahead of outright lying.

He's trying to save his damn job by fundraising. He knows many Republicans would just love to get rid of him.

[Lifelong Protester]

45. I received one... and used it to give them an earful

on their dime. It was pretty fun. I was "chosen as the ONLY person from my congressional district" to have this honor! And if you could not donate a huge amount, they asked for $15 to 'defray the costs of the census and survey'. To which I replied: "I hope it DOES cost you $15 to have some poor schmuck read and tabulate this"...
There are other choice things I said, but I gotta get back to work here.

[yellowcanine]

47. Mikey the empty suit strikes again. What does Mikey know about the bugging case?

Inquiring minds want to know.