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Was Major Lobby Firm Behind Nasty Robo Calls?
A Florida-based Republican political firm with circumstantial ties to at least two nasty robocalling efforts this year isn't quite as obscure as we thought.
In the last days of the 2006 elections, Direct Strategies, Inc. of Tallahassee saw its name connected to dirty-tricks robo calls in Nebraska and Pennsylvania. Run by two state-level GOP operatives, the firm did not appear to cut a swaggering figure in national politics.
Here's the thing: according to filings with the state of Florida, "Direct Strategies, Inc." doesn't exist. It voluntarily dissolved in April 2005. In its place rose a new company, "Dutko Direct Strategies, Inc.," which appears to be controlled by one of Washington's largest lobby firms.
According to a 2006 annual report, "Dutko Direct Strategies" includes the members of the former Direct Strategies -- two Florida Republicans named Van Poole and Will McKinley. But the company's president, CEO, and CFO are employees of one of Washington, D.C.'s fastest-growing lobby shops, Dutko Worldwide. Its board chairman is Dutko's biggest investor. Its official address is c/o the Dutko Group in Washington, D.C.
The robo calls in Nebraska and Pennsylvania which have been mentioned in relation to "Direct Strategies" were reported to be deliberate attempts to mislead their recipients to believe they originated from Democratic campaigns. The calls were made repeatedly to the same households, and sometimes in the early morning or late at night.
"Direct Strategies" peddles its services via a Web site, www.dsgop.com. "Direct Strategies is a provider of voter contact strategies and integrated call center services for Republican candidates and organizations," the site states. It also touts the company's "high-tech equipment with a large capacity to deliver pre-recorded calls."
The site makes no mention of its connection to Dutko.
To date, there has been no direct evidence linking the misleading calls in Nebraska and Pennsylvania to Direct Strategies, only reported payments from Republican campaigns to the firm whose dates match up with reports of the calls. The state of Nebraska has announced it is investigating the calls.
Comments (39)
John Blackford wrote on December 26, 2006 5:51 PM:Okay, how about looking into those robocals in Baghdad? Could they have anything to do with Dutko Direct Strategies?
THAT would be interesting.
John Blackford
RandyBastard wrote on December 26, 2006 6:21 PM:Ooooooooo. John's on the ball!
I second his motion.
Henry wrote on December 26, 2006 6:36 PM:Here's your Dutko site:
http://www.dutkoworldwide.com/
pgl wrote on December 26, 2006 6:57 PM:Check out the Dutko Worldwide webcite. It lobbies before the government on behalf of certain business clients. Hmmm? I'd like to get a list of their top clients. Some of the professionals for Dutko write for outfits such as the Washington Times and the National Review.
Frank Wright wrote on December 26, 2006 7:21 PM:I emailed the five principals listed at the www.dsgop.com web-site and requested they put my phone number on their "do not call" list.
Node of Evil wrote on December 26, 2006 7:41 PM:I suppose I'll fritter away some time doing FEC lookups for their employees to see where their personal money goes. The firm looks to be lots of fun:
'The Problem: The Health Insurance Industry wanted Congress to pass the Medicare reform legislation, but it also had a large stake in the specific provisions of the final bill. The industry came to Dutko Worldwide to secure strategic advice and tactics that would assist with the passage of legislation and help achieve their goals. Most knew the final vote would be very close, and seasoned, professional strategic advice, information and lobbying capabilities were important assets needed by the client.'
'Strategic Recommendation: Dutko Worldwide’s approach focused on providing a comprehensive program of research, state and local outreach and advocacy focused on building support for a bill the industry could support. We wanted to get deeply involved in the process, in order to be able to provide the client with real time information and advice. Important to our program was public opinion research and using our extensive state and local reach to enlist the aid of Governors. A Dutko principal was asked by the House congressional leadership to help organize an outside lobbying team.'
(source: Dutko Website)
I especially like that last line: 'A Dutko principal was asked by the House congressional leadership to help organize an outside lobbying team.'
Is/was Dutko an appendage of the former House leadership? Sure seems like they had a close relationship...
Node of Evil wrote on December 26, 2006 7:44 PM:...Wait, does that mean the former House Leadership actually hired Dutko? I don't know how often the "leadership" hires lobbyists to work for it, but that seems rather odd to me.
Node of Evil wrote on December 26, 2006 8:20 PM:pgl said:
'I'd like to get a list of their top clients.'
Here's all of their clients (or, those who're registered in the Open Secrets database) for 2005:
http://www.opensecrets.org/lobbyists/firmsum.asp?txtname=Dutko+Worldwide&year=2005
I'm trying to fenagle that into a spreadsheet to get their top 10 clients, but they have a rather wide practice (everything from cities and states to hospitals, the American Cancer Society, and large businesses from a multitude of industries).
Node of Evil wrote on December 26, 2006 8:38 PM:Dutko Top 10 Clients for 2005:
------------------------------
1.) American Chemistry Council -- $808,000
2.) IDT Corp -- $385,000
3.) American Pacific Corp -- $360,000
4.) Pacificare Health Systems -- $325,000
5.) Scooter Store -- $325,000 (what the...??)
6.) Western Governors University -- $315,000
7.) Parex Bank -- $304,500
8.) Federation of American Hospitals -- $300,000
9.) Motorola Inc. -- $277,000
10.) Michigan Biotechnology Institute -- $275,000
They had 85 clients who paid more than $100,000 for their services, and like I said above it's a diverse group. For instance, the United Nations paid $145,000 via the International Labor Organization -- I wonder if John Bolton had anything to do with that? Maybe, maybe not. Another odd entries in the Top 85 is the city of Sandy, Utah ($165,000 -- and they've paid somewhere around that amount for the last four or five years...). There are one or two other municipal organizations on their list, but Sandy seems to be the standout in terms of how much and how often they've used Dutko.
Node of Evil wrote on December 26, 2006 9:09 PM:Some "Direct Strategies" stuff:
DIRECT STRATEGIES
106 E. COLLEGE AVENUE
SUITE 1100
TALLAHASSEE, Florida 32301
Purpose of Expenditure: Phone Banks
This Committee OPPOSES The Following Candidate: PATRICK MURPHY FOR CONGRESS
Office Sought: House of Representatives
State is Pennsylvania in District 08
Date Expended = 10/20/2006
Person Completing Form: CHRISTOPHER J. WARD
Date Signed = 10/20/2006
Amount Expended = $1352.88
Source: http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/dcdev/forms/C00075820/247265/se
That's about as direct a link as one could have, I think...
Node of Evil wrote on December 26, 2006 9:12 PM:...Not that it proves they placed the offending calls, but they did get paid to place some calls by the National Republican Congressional Committee in PA-08, so that's a start.
sam3am wrote on December 26, 2006 9:33 PM:The Scooter Store makes and sells electic wheelchairs for the elderly. I suspect they make big dollars off of Medicare, which is why they need a lobbyist in DC.
gregflynn wrote on December 26, 2006 10:23 PM:Also in North Carolina in Taylor v Shuler.
I made the following post at BlueNC.com 11/6/06
Direct dial
Submitted by gregflynn on Mon, 11/06/2006 - 3:32pm.
Not counting payments to individual phone bankers, the Taylor campaign has paid the following for calling:
Direct Strategies
106 E College Ave Ste 1100
Tallahassee, Florida 32301
10/16/2006 $5,636.62 PHONE CALLS
10/18/2006 $8,251.21 CALLING
In an AP article in Charlotte Observer:
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/local/15940041.htm
Taylor issued a news release Sunday saying that if re-elected, he will seek legislation to prohibit automated political phone calls. He co-sponsored a similar bill in 2005.
The "robocalls" have been used in a campaign that has also featured weeks of nasty TV ads.
Looks like Chuck coordinated a smear campaign with the NRCC.
The numbers for NRCC for anti-Shuler calls since 9/1/06 from politicalmoneyline.com:
$55,167 new total 11/06/06 revised.
Debojg wrote on December 27, 2006 9:21 AM:I am convinced, having canvassed for Dems in Ct. that the robocalls resulted in the win by Shays.
matt wrote on December 28, 2006 5:22 PM:Doors were constantly slammed as we visited Democratic voters on behalf of Diane Farrell who were being harassed 10-20 times in a few days, consequently NOT voting at all, or not voting for her. They thought she was making the calls.Other volunteers reported the same thing.
I had to convince my ex-wife not to avoid voting and to vote for John Hall here in NY's 19th CD. She had received numerous calls before I spoke with her which led her to believe John's campaign was behind them.
I had to actuall sit down at my laptop with her to show her storeies from around the country about these same types of calls being made throughout the country before she'd believe me (she thinks I'm wayyyyy too conspiratorial until something like this proves out).
Some sort of enforcement action has to be established through legislation to go after these people to completely nullify this as an option in future campaigns.
Also, a big change in how campaigns are financed would go a long way to changing things here along with shit-canning first-past-the-post.
Oh yeah, maybe we could jettison the electoral college and do something about this nonsense of two senators from each state thereby giving less populous states the opportunity to saddle us with another catastrophe in the future.
One last thing (this is almost a late Santa list) - how about impeaching some of the people currently sitting on various federal benches for perjuring themselves during their confirmation hearings.
That's it, I'm done.
Cat wrote on December 28, 2006 10:10 PM:FYI.
Biotech from Michigan use to be part of the state of Michigans Health Deptment. There mission was to provide the state with vaccines to prevent flu
and small pox, chicken pox.
I can not say where the funds to start it came from. I would guess that after the DR Stalk vaccine/MSD polio/Spanish Flu, the Nation wanted answers.
cat wrote on December 28, 2006 10:22 PM:The Part That makes You want to think.
Michigan Gov. Engler Sold then Bioport, at a loss.
Michigan tax payers gave away patents.
Okay, I am talking to myself I am just Upset.
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