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Election robo-calls can't be stoppedThursday, July 17, 2008
Leroy Schenimann wants to know how he can stop the prerecorded political campaign calls from ringing his home phone. The short answer: He can't. Schenimann, 52, said he received two such calls Tuesday and a third Wednesday morning at his home near Fruitland. "Most of these are political polls. One was asking if I was going to vote for the guy running for the Republican governorship," he said. Another call, he said, "was someone running for state office. It started out with the sale of Anheuser-Busch. I don't get what that has to do with an election. I hung up on them, and they called right back. I hung up again, and they called back again. You can't even talk to these people — most are prerecorded and you can't cut them off." Schenimann said he called Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle after getting a similar spate of automated calls leading up to the 2004 election. That's when he learned political candidates are among those who do not have to abide by the Missouri's No Call rules, which allow people to protect their phone numbers from telemarketing involving the sale of goods and services, according to Scott Holste, spokesman for Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon's office. 2.5 million on list So far, Holste said, 2.5 million phone numbers have been added to the state list. Holste said Nixon tried to get legislation passed in 2007 and 2008 banning "robo-calls." The proposed ban was spurred by more than 700 complaints to the attorney general's office after the 2006 election. "Unfortunately, that did not pass. It came close in 2007 but didn't pass in 2007 or 2008," he said. Holste said the likelihood that complaints about automated calls will increase "are very good." He said people should know that offering phone numbers when joining organizations or filling out survey forms gives telemarketers a way around the law because it is considered an invitation to call. Cape Girardeau County Clerk Kara Clark said her office has not received any complaints about the automated calls. She said when people do register their displeasure, her office refers them to the attorney general's office. "I hate those calls," she said of the recorded messages. "But I don't get them anymore because I don't have a home phone anymore, just my cell phone." Schenimann said he hasn't decided who will win his vote in November. But he is sure candidates using robo-calls won't get it. To add a phone number to Missouri's No Call list or register a complaint, visit http://ago.mo.gov/nocalllaw/nocalllaw.htm or dial 866-662-2551. For protection from national telemarketers or to register a complaint, visit the Federal Trade Commission's Do Not Call Web site, www.donotcall.gov. pmcnichol@semissourian.com 335-6611, extension 127 Have a comment? Log on to semissourian.com/today Comments  The nature of the Internet makes it impractical for our staff to review every comment. If you feel that a comment is offensive, use the exclamation point icon beside the comment to send a report to the webmaster.
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Political calls can't be stopped unless voters say that they will not vote for candidates that continue to invade our privacy.
Mike Carter, candidate for Lt. Gov in MO, has pledged not to robo call voters that sign up for his Political Do Not Call list on his website.
To my knowledge, as the CEO of the National Political Do Not Contact Registry (StopPoliticalCalls.org), he is the only candidate to create his own do not call list.
As I testified in the U.S. Senate in February of this year, robo calls are an epidemic.
I started a non-profit, non-partisan organization last year to combat intrusive robo-calls by using a voluntary, private sector solution: the Political Do Not Contact Registry.
It’s similar to the federal government’s Do Not Call list. But to succeed it requires politicians who will honor the wishes of voters who’d rather not endure the endless robotic, political phone calls during campaign season.
North Carolina’s own Congresswoman Virginia Foxx was the first to sign our pledge. She has been fighting for the voters’ right to opt out of robo-calls for years. She introduced Congressional robo-call reform legislation and is a voice for change on this issue. So it was natural that she was the first to sign our pledge.
Voters’ phones will soon be ringing off the hook. Fed up voters can visit our web site at StopPoliticalCalls.org and add their names to our free Do Not Call registry. It’s time we give the political dialogue back to average, concerned citizens.
Shaun Dakin
Founder & CEO, the National Political Do Not Contact Registry
StopPoliticalCalls.org
You can stop them if you want to...get a "TELEZAPPER"
it makes the same sound you get when you call a disconnected number...that causes the computer that called you to place your number on the "disconnected" number list and they do not call back again...
works like a charm..
WE USED TO GET TELEMARKETERS ALL THE TIME. I'VE FOUND A WAY TO GIVE MYSELF A LAUGH AND MAKE THEM FEEL REALLY CRAPPY ABOUT THEMSELVES. WHEN THEY ASK FOR "MR.SMITH" JUST TELL THEM THAT HE DIED THE DAY BEFORE. THEIR VOICES JUST GIVE AWAY AS THEY APOLOGIZE.
They're used for one reason. They work.
I got one of those calls yesterday. It was the same one the man in the article received that started off talking about the sell of Anheiser-Busch. My caller ID read "Time and Temp"! Why are political candidates allowed to use numbers such as Time and Temp for their own purpose? Why does everyone else have to abide by the law except political candidates?
Call blocking may not work in all cases. Several times a year someone calls me and asks why did I call them. I tell them I didn't. They said my number showed up on their caller ID. I called the phone company and they said some telemarketers are using devices that displays someone else's phone number on their caller IDs. In other words, that telemarketing firm can get a list of numbers that you would accept and then when they call you they give that number. It's similar to what spammers do on the internet, when they use someone else's email address when they send out their garbage. Bottom line. Let it be known that you will never vote for anyone or purchase any products from any company who engages in these tactics
Like you, I dislike telemarketing calls of any kind, particularly political ones. I used to tell them "I keep a pad of paper next to the phone to keep track of the politicians who call me. I vote for the one who calls the least number of times and your guy is now one mark down."
With the robo calls, you can't even get that satisfaction.
I'd like to see the law changed to make it so that the actual candidate had to make the calls, not a surrogate and not a machine. If you want my vote, you'll have to earn it.
Don't hold your breath waiting for THAT law to pass.
I hate political calls. I hope articles like this will get the word out that we, the voters, don't want the invasion of our privacy by their phone calls.
My new phones have a 'call-block' button. Once they call and I add them to my call block list, the phone will ring once then they get a busy signal. I'm free from having to listen to their political messages and they are free to call all they want.
My message is: send me your material but do not call my home!