Robocall from Shadowy Right-Wing Group Says Ohio Vote is Wednesday

[kpete]

Source: Mother Jones

Robocall from Shadowy Right-Wing Group Says Ohio Vote is Wednesday
—By Andy Kroll| Tue Nov. 8, 2011 9:00 AM PST

As Ohio voters head to the polls to cast ballots on two much-anticipated referendums—Issue 2, a referendum to repeal Gov. John Kasich's anti-union law, and Issue 3, a constitutional amendment to block the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate—a conservative outside spending group is blanketing the state with misleading robocalls that could potentially hurt turnout.

The calls, funded by the Iowa-based American Future Fund, urge Ohioans to vote yes on Issues 2 and 3 on Wednesday—Election Day is Tuesday—to uphold Kasich's law and pass the constitutional amendment. The message was received around 9:30 am Tuesday by an Ohio resident and employee of the Services Employees International Union, who recorded the message. The SEIU employee, Josh Schafer, said the caller ID listed the number the call originated from as "000-000-0000."

Here's the script of the call, followed by the audio itself:

Hi, I'm calling to remind you that tomorrow is Election Day. It is critically important that you go vote to protect the future of our country. Tomorrow, please go to the polls and vote yes on Issue 2 and vote yes on Issue 3. Paid for by American Future Fund and not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. 866-559-5854.


.......................



Read more: http://motherjones.com/mojo/2011/11/robocall-ohio-issue-2-american-future-fund

[PoliticAverse]

1. Notice how they use "tomorrow" rather than 'Tuesday' or 'Wednesday'....

this gives them a 'the wrong days tape was played' excuse.

[shraby]

2. I noticed that. Wonder if anyone googled the name of the group.

I just googled it.
<http://www.factcheck.org/2010/10/american-future-fund/>


American Future Fund was founded in 2007 by Nick Ryan, a longtime political adviser to former Iowa congressman Jim Nussle, a Republican. Ryan ran Nussle's successful congressional campaigns in 2000, 2002 and 2004, his political action committee and his failed gubernatorial campaign in 2006

(more at the link)

[starroute]

20. I've got plenty of stuff on them in my files

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/right-now/2010/05/swift-boating_rand_paul.html

The Republican establishment has been frustrated again and again by the campaign of Rand Paul, whose insurgent bid for the GOP's U.S. Senate nomination in Kentucky has won the endorsements of Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and retiring Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.).

But while Republicans like Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) are doing their best to aid Paul's struggling opponent, Trey Grayson, few are really taking it to Paul, the son of Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.).

That's being left to the American Future Fund, a conservative 501(c)4 based out of Iowa that usually -- which is to say, in every other election -- backs Republicans over Democrats and attacks Democratic policies. In Kentucky, it's trying to tear down Rand Paul with a six figure buy.


http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2010/05/04/conservative_group_used_tweet_strategy_against_coakley/

A conservative group in Iowa was behind a viral attack on Coakley during her race against Republican Scott Brown, according to a new paper by Wellesley College researchers that analyzed Twitter activity during the special election. . . .

In the course of the research, they found that one of the more active accounts was that tied to the American Future Fund, a conservative organization based in Des Moines that also ran television ads critical of Coakley. But because messages were done anonymously through a social networking site, it would have been difficult for any voter to tie the messages to the group.

The American Future Fund apparently set up nine accounts that sent 929 tweets over the course of about two hours — a method the study calls “Twitter-bomb.’’

Those messages would have reached about 60,000 people before Twitter realized it was spam and shut it down, according to the authors.


http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/shadowy_gop-linked_group_plans_barrage_of_2010_rob.php

A shadowy conservative group with ties to the operatives behind a host of GOP dirty tricks is working to undermine state restrictions on political robo-calls, as it gears up to unleash a barrage of such calls in 2010 races. . . .

That’s worth paying attention to in itself. But behind the robo-call effort is a team of high-powered GOP operatives behind a slew of sleazy campaign tactics over the years.

You might remember Torchinsky, AFFPA’s lawyer, as one of the architects of the American Center for Voting Rights (ACVR), the bogus “voting-rights” group that was set up by GOP operatives in 2005 to “give ‘think tank’ academic cachet to the unproven idea that voter fraud is a major problem in elections,” as election law expert Rick Hasen has written. . . .

As for AFF itself, the group already has earned a reputation for trafficking in vicious and misleading shots against Democrats. A typical recent ad alleged that the government “planned to give flu shots to detainees at Guantanamo.”

[Demstud]

3. Hard to say it's intentional...

But it would be a sneaky way to intentionally cause confusion if it was only sent to voters in Democratic districts. Just let the previous day's recording keep on doing its thing into morning. I guess the key to knowing if it was likely intentional or not would be to investigate what areas they had it calling. Certainly wouldn't be the first time a conservative group intentionally tried to prevent Democrats from voting. It's win at all costs for the corporations and wealthy conservatives.

[kpete]

4. yeah right...

: A spokeswoman for the American Future Fund told Politico the erroneous phone call was the result of "gross incompetence by our phone vendor." The spokeswoman, Mandy Fletcher Fraher, added, "If they don't get a live caller, the person gets a recorded message and our phone vendor produced that message. Obviously, we support Issues 2 and 3. It was not intended to be misleading."

http://motherjones.com/mojo/2011/11/robocall-ohio-issue-2-american-future-fund

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. I wonder if they are 'blanketing the state' with that

or if the misleading call goes to the areas more likely to vote 'No'? Their denial would be a bit more convincing if they could show they called areas likely to vote 'Yes', the way they want.

[rfranklin]

6. They only made that mistake 425,000 times...be fair!

It's something I've done more times than I can remember.

[liberal N proud]

7. They try this shit every election

Hopefully people are smart enough or at least turned on their TV before believing this shit.

[SoapBox]

8. This shit needs to be illegal. Period.

You cannot, under any circumstances, mislead voters.

EVEN if they claimed an "error", that the message was sent out
on the wrong day, you are STILL gonna pay a hefty fine. Period.

F*cking with Americans voting RIGHTS, should carry a very BIG penalty.

[glinda]

9. Exactly why can they not trace where and who originated them?

[muriel_volestrangler]

11. I don't understand why you think they can't trace who originated them

The call itself names "American Future Fund" (that's in the OP), and that organisation does admit they paid for it (just claiming 'incompetence' on the part of their phone vendor).

[glinda]

13. There are no mistakes. These happen too often. Bet they cannot track the exact person and

affiliations that did it. All a white wash. Same old. Same old.

[iamthebandfanman]

10. i really dont understand how this stuff isnt illegal..

i mean seriously?

youd think lying/misleading about how/when to vote would be election tampering/fraud

really surprised there werent laws that took care of this after the civil war

[AverageJoe90]

19. Or after the Civil Rights Era for that matter.

Honestly, this DOES kinda remind me of the Deep South from a half-century back when corruption of all sorts was practically a part of everyday life, as far as political figures went. Hell, some places were practically run by the Klan!

[Kingofalldems]

12. This has been done before. A RW specialty.

[KamaAina]

14. Got vote suppression?

:grr: :banghead:

[otohara]

15. Also saying polls open until 9pm

Just heard on Ed Shultz

[jtrockville]

16. AGAIN? Can't they even come up with fresh election fraud?

[valerief]

17. Why can't someone be prosecuted for this crap? nt

[plumbob]

18. Or failing that, can we at least slap someone around a bit?

please?

[freshwest]

21. Typical GOP fraud and disruption of elections. What does the DOJ about this?