This is the soft money at work. And they have to do it early in the campaign now since the McCain/Feingold "reforms" were passed. I get a ton of soft money calls from out of state groups backing the various parties as my voter record states no party affiliation. Phone calls themselves can continue right on up to election day though. Expect more.
You can't do much about this. The telemarketing no-call list is exempt from charitable and political calls. Gee imagine that they would exempt themselves.
Second, telling one group not to call you is ineffective. These groups are prohibited from sharing any information as that is "co-ordinating" campaign efforts and prohibited by McCain/Feingold.
What can you do?
Write your representatives to get the stupid reforms dropped or really fixed.
Call the local campaign office for the candidates being backed and COMPLAIN about the harassment. Educate them that abusing the electorate is not effective but detrimental to their cause.
SEAL YOUR VOTER RECORD. This was surprisingly hard to do. The fact that you vote is public record apparently. Not who you vote for but that you vote. And your voter registration is also public but you can usually seal your registration so your phone number and address don't get distributed when the activists harvest the public records. It took me a number of phone calls and transfers to get mine sealed as no one in the county office knew how to do it; it's done so rarely.
Lastly, back non-incumbents for office. The main effect of the M/F reforms is incumbent protection. Most non-incumbents are willing to run on a reform platform to get this nonsense fixed as the laws are stacked against new-comers to office. PUblic office should be a service, not a career.
Oh, and trust me. Both parties are equally guilty. As Utah is generally a shoe-in for Republican candidates, I get far more calls backing Democrats as the national soft money groups campaign for more power for their philosophies.
Phil  |