Thank god someone is looking into it. No offense to NC or the AG, but can the process be trusted to be rigorous? Is there a reputation of partisanship, or pre-prostitute Spitzer pit bullishness

Actually, not all of those 24 states are being targeted this month. Those are the 24 states they're targeting, period. They targeted some of them in November, some in February, some in March, and some in April. As far as I can figure, they really picked up the pace after Super Tuesday, which is when Virginia and Wisconsin got the 'donut hole' applications.

Why is the press release undated? To whom did they release it, and when? By which manner did they release it.

It's certainly not among their website's press releases: http://www.wvwv.org/wvwv-press-releases

And it seems at least to have been dated after April 11.

Was this just something they created today to cover their asses? Why not just date it and make that plain?

THIS IS WEIRD!

Before we blame it on Hillary, let's consider that maybe we had gasoline (WVWV) and a match (a shoddy telemarketer).

The evidence:

WVWV's "Sarah" has spent a lot of time in the comments section claiming "best of intentions" and an innocent mistake.

WVWV has done telemarketing in the past. In 2005-2006 they used an organization called Integral Resources. Integral received $770k for its work.

Integral has also been doing work for Barack Obama's campaign.

Integral's work has been characterized by call recipients as shoddy. One lady believes she was racially profiled as Latino by the Obama campaign.

So, based on this evidence, is it possible, just possible, that WVWV could be a sucky organization and they hired a sucky telemarketer?

But wait, here's some more (potential) embarrassment:

WVWV President/Founder Page Gardner and Integral Resources CEO (telemarketer) Ron Rosenblith are MARRIED. That's right, the nonprofit is using a family firm for it's telemarketing. And paying a ton of money for it ($770k in 2006).

Might that just further cloud the story?

Sure, bad judgment and operations all around, but just how is Hillary involved here?

Since Sarah is off the case, I wonder if their lawyer now will haunt TPM message boards saying, "We're all so sorry. It was an accident."

Because if a company screws up that badly, you don't keep using them.

There have been complaints about WVWV activity this cycle in 11 states, including Virginia. The State Police were called in to investigate their actions here in VA- our primary was Feb 12.

If the call house was the problem, and it was potentially killing the organization they could've figured it out in less than 2 1/2 months and rectified the situation.

If they wanted to.

Paul, can you please point out that the WVWV "press release" is extremely fishy, since it is:

1) undated, unlike every other WVWV press release ever;

2) not posted on the WVWV's media page;

3) seems to make it seem like they were telling people all along that they knew this was past the primary deadline, and yet saw no problem with the massive confusion this would cause;

4) was not actually released to any media.

Thanks.

1. Is Sarah Johnson a real person.

2. Who is making donations to this outfit, does it have a major patron or patrons

3. Is there any evidence of coordination with the Clinton campaign. Assuming these folks are for Clinton, are they pure freelancers.

Ronald Rosenblith used to work for Kerry and hasn't been much heard from since.

What else happened around Super Tuesday? Oh yeah, Hillary was not coronated. Makes you wonder.

Forget the legalities. A robocall message like this that does not identify the organization making the call; does not provide instructions that account for the possibility that the person is already registered (and therefore shouldn't worry if he doesn't receive the promised mailing in time to register for the primary) is to my mind inherently misleading and sleazy. As is using the pseudonym.

Sleazy.

You are a filthy pirate hooker.

Anyone else think this might be, in addition to a relatively straightforward voter-confusion/suppression operation, a caging operation as well?

Someone needs to ask WVWV (and *not* that insipid troll/flak who's been regurgitating their PR boilerplate) what their rate of "undeliverable" return is, and what they're doing with that information.

This is bad all around. Bad for voters. Bad for democracy. Bad for Clinton (it was her supporters, possibly her campaign manager, perhaps her campaign- time will tell, I hope). Bad for Obama (it's misleading and suppressing his voters). I guess McCain can't bitch. So sad this happens....

Let's hope this leads to the end of robocalls, especially when it comes to politics.

PS. I'm not a Clintonista. I was but now I'm an Obama man, in case there's any confusion. :)

Trying to stay on the high road until we get all the details..... that said, I want some answers!

Glad the NC attorney general is on this...

Bonus- they're a 501c4. So no pesky donor limits or reporting requirements (the organization is not subject to income tax and offers no tax benefit for donors)

Given the amount of potential confusion these WVWV mailers and robocalls cause, the question we should be asking is what demographic(s) this campaign targets.

-AF
Andrew Sullivan Is Fraud

Here is a detailed article about this event in NC and also some of the groups questionable activities in other states.

http://southernstudies.org/facingsouth/2008/04/facing-south-exclusive-dc-nonprofit.asp

From Bademus's link:

In each state, the Women's Voices campaigns have brought the same news and the same themes, again and again: Deceptive claims and misrepresentations of the law -- sometimes even breaking the law. Wildly inaccurate mailing lists, supposedly aimed at "unregistered single women," but in reality reaching many registered voters as well as families, deceased persons and pets. Tactics that confuse voters and potentially disenfranchise them.

For such a sophisticated and well-funded operation, which counts among its ranks some of the country's most seasoned political operatives, such missteps are peculiar, as is the surprise expressed by Women's Voices staff after each controversy.

In at least two states, the timing of Women's Voices' activities have raised alarm that they are attempting to influence the outcome of a primary. As we reported earlier, in Virginia, news reports surfaced the first week in February that prospective voters were receiving anonymous robo-calls telling voters that they were about to receive a voter registration packet in the mail.

Crooks and liars.
Clintons and Limbaughs.

I can't tell the difference anymore.

They are evil. Fortunately, they're also incompetent -- and they got caught! I don't think the superdels, experienced political operatives themselves, are likely to believe their "we didn't know about the deadline, all eleven times -- honest!" explanation. I can't believe that any waffling superdel is watching this unfold, thinking, "Now that is just the kind of strategic leadership we need to win the election in November!"

Voter turnout (especially African-American and youth voter turnout) helps the Democrats. Vote suppression helps the other guys.

TPMers in NC -- [how] is this playing in the local NC media?

Will HRC or Maggie Williams have to go on record about this tomorrow?

First we kill Lamont.

Then we'll see who's ready to talk.

Hello Rove!!!

Let Hillary be Hilarry...It works for Obama!

All you former Edwards supporters, have you any suggestions/contacts?
Coming on the same day as Hil's blessing of the rich on Fox, the Edwards can't but see that their concern for rich/poor differences is being stomped on by Hil and a group very obviously associated with Clinton operators.

They may be the very trial lawyers (if she is still practicing given the situation) needed by those individual looking for compensation for the already declared illegal robo-calls!

My understanding from reading everything I've seen so far is that they've been doing this in a number of hotly contested primary states this year. The pattern seems to be waiting until after the primary registration date has passed & then targeting AA voters w/ information that suggests they're not registered to vote (when they are). The goal seems to be an attempt to create enough doubt to keep them from voting in the primary (I know seems weak but we all know @ least a small percentage of those called will fall for it) thereby decreasing turnout on a certain group known to favor the opponent. Republicans have been using tricks like this for @ least the last 2 election cycles. The board of this group (per their website) is stacked w/ former Clinton admin. officials & Democratic operatives known to support Clinton. It's a bit early to actually fry her (because this is still America) but it really smells rotten. My guess is that it might go away if she concedes & if she manages to steal the nomination we'll probably find out the truth in years. This definitely makes me sick to my stomach (especially having started out this primary season as a strong Hillary (& Bill) supporter.

Either they're deliberately nefarious, or they're grossly incompetent... sound familiar?