Here in Pennsylvania too:
http://www.loismurphy.org/index.asp?p=5&r=956th District calls prompt complaints to FCC
Saturday, November 04, 2006
Some Democrats say Republican automated telephone messages criticizing candidate Lois Murphy are deceptive.
From the Reading Eagle
By Kori Walter
November 4, 2006
The answering machine in Leslie A. Rebmann's Union Township home has been filling up with messages lately.
They're not from friends or relatives.
Not even with messages from irate constituents in the southern Berks County township where Rebmann serves on the board of supervisors.
The campaign for the 6th Congressional District, one of the most expensive and tightest races in the country, has been keeping Rebmann's answering machine full.
Rebmann said she has been getting as many as three calls a day about the race between Republican incumbent James W. Gerlach and Democratic challenger Lois Murphy.
Most of the calls are automated messages also known as “robocalls” from the National Republican Campaign Committee trashing Murphy, said Rebmann, who is a also Democrat.
“I just ignore them now, but it's annoying,” Rebmann said. “More and more I have been letting the answering machine just take care of it.”
The Republican committee has launched hundreds of thousands of automated telephone calls in at least 53 competitive House races, The Associated Press reported.
The automated messages in Berks start by claiming to offer important information about Murphy, a Montgomery County lawyer making her second attempt to unseat Gerlach.
But the messages go on to criticize Murphy's positions on taxes, the war in Iraq and other issues.
Only callers who listen to the entire message find out that the calls are coming from Republicans, not Murphy's campaign.
“I felt they were very deceptive,” Rebmann said.
About a dozen Berks residents have filed complaints about the calls with the Federal Communications Commission, according to Murphy's campaign.
FCC rules say all prerecorded messages must begin by stating clearly the identity of the business, individual, or other entity that is responsible for initiating the call.
During or after the message, they must give the telephone number of the caller.
Wyomissing resident Jane B. Palmer said her caller identification system shows all zeroes when the automated calls come into her home.
Palmer, a registered Democrat, said she has received about 30 of the calls. She is among those who have filed complaints with the FCC.
“What pushed me over the line was the sense that it was a dirty trick,” Palmer said. “I talked to some of my friends and they thought the calls were coming from the Murphy campaign, and it's annoying.”
Palmer said she filed a formal complaint with the hope that the FCC will crack down on such tactics in future campaigns.
Amy Bonitatibus, Murphy's campaign spokeswoman, said the tactic appears to be backfiring against the Republicans.
“We have more than 30 people in the district who have filed FCC complaints and have said as a result that they are not voting for Jim Gerlach,” Bonitatibus said.
John Gentzel, a Gerlach campaign spokesman, stressed that the calls have not been coming directly from the two-term lawmaker's campaign.
“I understand what people are saying,” Gentzel said. “This isn't part of our campaign. The NRCC is doing them, apparently.”
The 6th District includes part of Berks, including sections of Reading, and Chester and Montgomery counties and two precincts in Lehigh County.