Comments (23)

chimpeach wrote on February 19, 2007 4:52 PM:

What a perfect pairing: the shysters of the NRCC and the GOP rubes who wish they were as important as those fundraising letters tell them they are.

Dawn wrote on February 19, 2007 5:05 PM:

Before we moved our office (and changed our phone number), we used to get those calls all the time. Back in the day, they would tell us that Newt Gingrich wanted to present us with an award at a special luncheon or some crap like that. My boss (my brother, as it happens) isn't much of a joiner, thankfully.

Andre wrote on February 19, 2007 5:17 PM:

I'm waiting patiently for the "NRCC Solicits Funds from Al Quaeda" headlines to start springing up on FOX News.

BG wrote on February 19, 2007 5:20 PM:

Got one of those calls several years back from Mitch McConnell's person. Wanted to honor our years of outstanding work as researchers. I asked if they would mind my wearing a Gore for President button to the dinner, as I was more than happy to make the donation. Guy hung up on me, if you can believe it. Never called back, either. Odd, that.

c wrote on February 19, 2007 5:26 PM:

When I sent the link into TPM this is the sort of stuff that you knew would end up being in the background... But if he is a "rube," it does not change the fact that he is a Republican rube and allegedly a terrorist to boot.

I think this may provide for further fodder as it moves along. It always seems like one Republican scandal leads to another in domino style.

Here's to hoping the real muck has yet to be raked! (Gotta keep you guys busy)

BBrown wrote on February 19, 2007 5:28 PM:

I usually don't comment, but this method of fundraising really irks me. I recently had this exact scenario posed to me. I registered with the US government as a business, so I can work for the Indian Health Service as a contracting physician. Within a month I was receiving phone calls saying that Rep. Coles wanted to give me a national leadership award (yea, right- I'm not known for my conservative beliefs) All they knew is that I am a "small business". I got the recorded message from Rep. Coles, leading off with how much I probably hate paying taxes. Of course, I hung up rather than listen to the whole message, but I am sure there was obligatory money involved. The biggest thing I hated about it was that the government had to have given them my name.

romat wrote on February 19, 2007 5:38 PM:

Juicy as the story seems, the charges against Alishtari are no laughing matter. It's fair to wonder if they are a 'scam,' too, as so of these charges have been.

Bert Atkinson wrote on February 19, 2007 7:09 PM:

I remember receiving a robo-call with Tom Delay's voice within a few months after the 2000 election. I was wondering where they got my name and what made them think I would be interested in donating to the Republicans. I can only think they either pulled my name from a phone book, or bought a phone list from one of the professional organizations I belong to. It didn't sound like it was anymore than give us money and we'll give you a plaque, so I never followed up on it. But it shows, what a shotgun approach they were using to raise funds... a little like those guys in Nigeria who need some money to free up their frozen accounts.

filchyboy wrote on February 19, 2007 7:13 PM:

I know someone who received one of these. I think she put in something like 2k and had this flimsy little diploma like document from the NRCC framed and hanging on her wall. I gagged when I first saw it.

TheraP wrote on February 19, 2007 8:24 PM:

I literally got a call telling me they wanted to give me a leadership award. I phoned back and told them I was sure there must be some mistake. No - they had me on a list.

I said again, there must be some mistake. I told them I was against everything bush stood for and was sure they would not want to give me an award from the Republican something or another. We had a little argument over the phone about healthcare and I think the person could clearly see that I was never going to be one of them.

But, yes, I can imagine there was more coming had I "accepted" the "award" and their press announcement.

It was really a bizarre occurrence!

Zandru wrote on February 19, 2007 9:20 PM:

Hey, I have a certificate hanging on my wall, signed by Tom Delay, that proclaims me an "Honorary Co-Chair of the Business Advisory Council." I'm a lifelong Democrat and liberal - and a company president.

When the man called, he played me a little message from ol' Tom hisself, and said I was nominated to the BAC. Then he invited me to a dinner in Washington, and named the (exorbitant) price. I told him that was too far to travel; he said I could pay, anyway. We went around and around about various things I could pay for, and in the end, I didn't go along with any of them.

But I still got the certificate in the mail.

They called a few times after that, and I basically unloaded on various business concerns - such as, how we need nationalized health care - and then they stopped calling.

Calgal wrote on February 19, 2007 10:50 PM:

I was getting them last year from Tom Reynolds and the RNCC. They had a telemarketing firm making the calls inviting me to a dinner with Bush. They kept calling and leaving messages on my voice mail. I kept wondering how they got my name. They were persistent. It was creepy.

Mufs Mom wrote on February 19, 2007 11:52 PM:

Gee, I was repeatedly offered this award and finally got a real person to talk to me-I told them what I thought of their party and their pResident and I wanted nothing from either. Looks like that was a good call on my part for more than one reason. Oh, a friend told them Bush and Cheney should be tried for treason. We both stopped getting the calls.

sandy wrote on February 20, 2007 7:10 AM:

I used to get those phone calls too. My secretary would take a message that said Tom Reynolds office had called and that I had been nominated for Businesswoman of the Year. The first time I told my husband he said forget it they want money. They have been calling me for years with the same ploy. The phone calls continued and I never returned them. One day a woman at Rotary spoke about her nomination and her trip to Washington and about how the Republicans were so very nice to her. I sat there wondering how much money she must have paid for that trip and all that niceness.

Nancy Irving wrote on February 20, 2007 7:37 AM:

If it had been the Democratic committee, we'd be hearing about this for the next three months on Fox, Limbaugh et al.

Agjobs wrote on February 20, 2007 7:58 AM:

I don't remember the book, but I read once about being sceptical of the guy in the office with the chandelier. This referred to the fund raising in political campaignes where the small money rubes were taken to have a private audience with the candidates brother, cousin, wife's brother ect... The meeting was always in a nice office type room in a hotel with a chandelier. The rubes would be in the 2k to 5k donor class and this was done to make them feel important even though the campaign really didn't care about them. The really big donors were all that mattered but this set up was for the small guys that wanted to feel important. Very old trick, surprised it still works.

Jeff wrote on February 20, 2007 8:09 AM:

I have received these same calls and letters from the GOP fund raisers. I am a nobody small business guy who barely makes ends meet and they would try to flatter me with statements about my contributions to the business community. I told one caller that if I was their business person of the year then the country is in big trouble and it's time to get out. LOL

Elyse wrote on February 20, 2007 9:53 AM:

I have also received several of these stupid calls; some from Reynolds and some from Delay. As a lifelong Democrat(and very tiny small business)I find it very amusing to be told I'm a business leader in NY. One call from Reynolds featured the congressman promising me "periodical" access to Bush. When the woman telemarketer got back on the line, I asked her why Reynolds was selling magazine subscriptions. She got very huffy in her denial so I suggested that Reynolds learn to speak English. I'd say I have a bridge to sell them but the way they want to privatize everything, I'd better not.

Gary B wrote on February 20, 2007 2:00 PM:

C'mon, someone has to note: What's the surprise? He funds terrorists. Afghan insurgents and GOP.

powkat wrote on February 20, 2007 6:43 PM:

My deadbeat ex-husband got one of those calls; at the time he was refilling the salad bar at Home Town Buffet for a living (a perfectly honorable living, except he has 2 Masters degrees and owes me $50K in back child support). He said it was some 20 year old kid who was all gung-ho for Bush, but hung up when asked why he wasn't in the military.

Ethel Cooper wrote on June 8, 2007 9:06 AM:

this is the email for your review

Ethel Cooper wrote on June 8, 2007 9:08 AM:

this is the email for your review

Steve Dart wrote on June 13, 2007 10:01 AM:

I just received the same telephone call, more sophisticated than the normaltelemarketing call I get. Anyway, thanks to your article which I found by googling "national republican congressional committee" + "scam" I didn't have to waste anymore time.