Robo-calls

Maryland AG: 'Relax' Election Day Robocalls Violated Law

Ryan J. Reilly | November 12, 2010, 2:27PM

Julius Henson and Fmr. Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R-MD)

Maryland's Attorney General filed a complaint in federal court this week alleging that the company and two individuals behind election day robocalls that told mostly Democratic voters to "relax" and not bother voting violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).

The court filing by Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler also revealed that the phone calls, which began two hours before polls closed, went out to more than 100,000 Maryland residents, more than double the number originally reported.

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Jill Holtzman Vogel

GOP Lawyer's Latest Gambit: Anti-HCR Bill In Virginia

Zachary Roth | March 8, 2010, 3:35PM

Virginia State Sen. Jill Holtzman Vogel (R-Winchester)

A Republican state legislator with close ties to the GOP operatives behind a slew of hardball tactics has sponsored and helped pass a bill -- almost certainly unconstitutional -- that prohibits the federal government from forcing the state's citizens to buy health insurance.

The Virginia legislature last week passed legislation, based on a model created by the American Legislative Exchange Council, that declares unconstitutional any effort to require citizens to buy health insurance -- as the health-care reform measures passed by both chambers of the U.S. Congress would do. In the state Senate, the effort was led by Sen. Jill Vogel.

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Bob Perry

Mystery Solved! Swift-Boat Backer Wrote Check To AL GOP, Says Pawlenty

Zachary Roth | February 9, 2010, 2:27PM

Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN) with Bob Perry and the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ad.

Well, that didn't take long.

We just told you about a $100,000 check, from an anonymous donor, delivered last week by Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty to the Alabama GOP. Who was that mystery funder, we asked.

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Robo-calls

Conservative Robocalls In MA Senate Race May Be Designed To Bamboozle Voters

Zachary Roth | January 18, 2010, 6:36PM

MA Senate candidate Joe Kennedy (I)

Are conservatives trying to hoodwink low-information voters with a last-minute, under-the-radar robocall campaign in the Massachusetts Senate race?

Boston reader A.F., a registered Democrat, received a recorded call recently from Right March PAC, a right-wing PAC led by Dr. William Greene, a conservative activist.

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American Future Fund

Conservative Group Backs Off Effort To Undermine Robo-Call Laws

Zachary Roth | January 13, 2010, 12:32PM

A shadowy conservative group is backing off its effort to undermine state laws restricting robo-calls.

Lawyers for American Future Fund Political Action (AFFPA) informed the FEC yesterday afternoon that they were withdrawing their request for an advisory opinion on whether those state laws were pre-empted by a less restrictive federal law. AFFPA had argued in its request that the state laws were indeed pre-empted, and indicated that it planned a barrage of robo-calls for 2010.

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American Future Fund

Shadowy Conservative Group Still Working To Undermine Robocall Laws

Zachary Roth | January 6, 2010, 2:37PM

Despite setbacks, a shadowy conservative group isn't backing off its bid to undermine state restrictions on political robocalls, as it gears up to unleash a barrage of such calls in 2010 races.

In October, as we reported, the American Future Fund Political Action (AFFPA) argued in a brief to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) that state laws restricting robocalls are pre-empted by a more lenient federal law. AFFPA informed the FEC that it planned to make such calls in Congressional races this fall.

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Robo-calls

Another GOP-Linked Group Working To Undermine Robo-Call Laws

Zachary Roth | December 10, 2009, 9:35AM

A Republican-tied robo-call firm, whose president once reportedly boasted of his company's ability to "deliver a voter suppression message" to unfriendly voters, is working to undermine state restrictions on robo-calls.

In comments filed Wednesday with the FEC, and examined by TPMmuckraker, ccAdvertizing argues that state laws restricting robocalls are pre-empted by a more lenient federal law. The comments were submitted in support of an earlier effort by another shady GOP-tied group, American Future Fund Political Action (AFFPA), to get the FEC to rule against the state laws. We reported on the AFFPA move here.

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Voting

GOP Firm's Latest Bid To Suppress Minority Votes Fails

Zachary Roth | December 2, 2009, 10:19AM

Tom Josefiak

The Republicans' latest failed effort to make it harder for minorities to vote is being led by a lawyer for the same GOP firm that's behind a recent bid to undermine restrictions on robo-calls.

The day before the 2008 election, the Republican National Committee filed suit to end restrictions on GOP programs to combat voter fraud. Those "programs" have sometimes involved "voter caging" -- challenging voters' registration if mail sent to their residences was returned as undeliverable -- and other tactics designed to suppress minority votes. But a federal judge yesterday rejected the GOP bid, Politico reports, ruling that "voter intimidation presents an ongoing threat to the participation of minority individuals in the political process."

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Blue Cross Blue Shield of NC

Union Pushes Back On Blue Cross Mailer

Nick Pinto | December 1, 2009, 6:10PM

Sen. Kay Hagan (D-NC)

Last week, we reported that Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, the state's largest health insurer, was under investigation for a campaign of robocalls and mass-mailings urging residents to lobby U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan against the public option.

Now a local SEIU chapter has launched a site that keys off the news to push back on the insurer. The site blames BCBS's "monopoly" for "skyrocketing" health-care costs, and urges visitors to send a petition to Hagan telling her to "stand strong" and support the public option.

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Blue Cross Blue Shield of NC

Backlash Grows Against NC Health Insurer's Anti-Reform Campaign

Zachary Roth | November 27, 2009, 11:04AM

Sen. Kay Hagan (D-NC)

This post was reported by Nick Pinto, and written by Nick Pinto and Zachary Roth

A North Carolina health insurer is facing a major backlash in the wake of its campaign to enlist customers in the fight against health-care reform.

The state's Insurance Commissioner has begun an inquiry into a mailer sent recently by Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina -- and first revealed last month by TPMmuckraker -- that urged customers to lobby Senator Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) to vote against the public option. As we reported Tuesday, the state's Attorney General has opened his own probe of a barrage of follow-up robo-calls generated by the insurer. And state lawmakers continue to express their own and their constituents' outrage at the effort, with one legislator telling TPMmuckraker that some recipients of the mailer sent it back to BCBS attached to a brick.

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