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Political Robocallers Indicted In Maryland

Posted by timothy on from the press-%$#$%$-to-continue dept.

sanzibar writes with a llnk to Politico with an object lesson for modern political campaigners: don't harass the electorate with unwanted robocalls. "Ehrlich campaign manager Paul Schurick and Baltimore political consultant Julius Henson were both charged with three counts of conspiracy to violate election laws, one count of attempting to influence a voter's decision and one count of failing to print an 'authorized by' line on campaign material. Schurick was also charged with a single count of obstruction of justice for failing to turn over materials sought by the grand jury."

11 of 85 comments (clear)

  1. Why? by hsjserver · · Score: 2

    Any politico worth his salt knows that robocalls, no matter how many and who is talking, do nothing but piss the electorate off at you. They aren't even good at raising awareness because people tune out. It's a waste of time up until the summer before an election anyway, and then it's only any good if you're using volunteers and getting people to turn out. I've run call centers for campaigns before and it's incredible to me that somebody who was affiliated with statewide campaigns, that is someone who has experience winning elections, would be this stupid.

    1. Re:Why? by olsmeister · · Score: 2

      And the really sad thing is, many people who are elected and become our leaders probably see absolutely no problem with it.

    2. Re:Why? by Runaway1956 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      How disingenuous. A Republican started BOTH of our current wars.
      The present unemployment is a direct result of policies of several administrations and congresses.
      No administration since Clinton has published "real" unemployment rates, instead manipulating the numbers for political purposes.
      NO ONE can say what Obama's health care reform might have accomplished, because obstructionists have prevented it from happening.
      The trillions of deficit spending is largely due to those Republican wars that are ongoing.

      But, there is no requirement for honesty in any political post, so you go ahead and put your spin on reality.

      --
      "Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
    3. Re:Why? by sunderland56 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Any politico worth his salt knows that robocalls, no matter how many and who is talking, do nothing but piss the electorate off at you.

      In this case, people from party A were calling supporters of party B, claiming to be from party B. So, if the electorate got pissed at party B, they would consider that a success.

    4. Re:Why? by hsjserver · · Score: 2

      The DNC is doing fine, they're raising more money than ever. Sure, those statements are going to be tough but they can be worked around, especially considering that elections are between two candidates, and it's easy to hit a guy when there isn't anyone running against him.

      First: Gitmo nobody cares about except progressives and they'll pull the lever once they see who is running against him. The Iraq war is as good as over since we're not taking casualties. The stimulus will be a problem in that it wasn't big enough for the job, but in the face of a Republican whose solution will be to lower taxes for the only people that aren't suffering, he'll do fine. Health care reform is popular on the merits and repeal isn't as popular as it was in 2010, so much so that allowing the law to work or strengthen it is the plurality position.

      Second: Libya doesn't involve troops, so Americans hardly care and Republicans will never be the anti war party. The deficit reduction deal that is coming down the pike will be owned by both parties and the Republican candidate won't be able to hit Obama hard on it since his party went along with it anyway, and when you get into specifics almost every cut is unpopular. A worsening of employment would be bad, but all the President has to do is put out some proposals for the Republicans to block and keep things from getting worse than they have been recently (most of the public still assigns Bush blame for the economic collapse). Americans don't care what foreigners think. Immigration enforcement has been stepped up during Obama's term, with deportations up, the fence almost done, and more guards on the border. All he needs to do is emphasize some small immigration reform and he can increase turnout among latinos. Your last point makes no sense.

      In short, Obama is not Carter, or Clinton, or Reagan, or anyone but Obama. He got Osama, he's got cred on foreign policy now and Americans broadly like the man, even if they don't care for the direction of the country.

  2. Re:Free speech by RadiantPhoenix · · Score: 2

    I read a bit of the article, and the calls targeted likely supporters of candidate A, and basically said "You can relax, candidate A has enough votes" the defendant is being charged because he was attempting to deceive voters to influence the outcome of the election.

    If only politicians could be charged with something like that for not fulfilling campaign promises.

  3. Re:Free speech by Runaway1956 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Sorry? Yes, indeed. Robocalls are a form of trespass. Around these parts, trespassers are usually shot. Survivors are shot again. If you're caught doing Robocalls, make sure you're not in Texas, or much of the rest of the South or Midwest. Keep your gay ass in one of the gay states, like California.

    --
    "Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
  4. Re:Free speech by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Only steers and queers come from Texas, Private Runaway1956. And you don't look much like a steer to me so that kinda narrows it down.

  5. Re:Free speech by canadian_right · · Score: 4, Informative

    It was fraud. They robo-called predominantly black riding to say the election was over and there was no need to vote which was an out and out lie. Then they attempted to hide the evidence.

    This has nothing to do with free speech, it is out and out fraud and is a criminal matter.

    --
    Anarchists never rule
  6. That's the least of the problems by Wrexs0ul · · Score: 2

    I helped a couple campaigns get a correcting message out in the last federal election when someone dialed a bunch of homes with the lie: "This is elections Canada, there has been a change in your polling station, please go to X to vote". Typically the fake poll was in the middle of a crowded mall or some other difficult to reach place, I'd assume the goal being to dissuade the voter or delay them until voting ended.

    Politics in close ridings can be dirty business, and it's ultimately the Candidate and their Campaign Manager's responsibility to choose the tone of their campaign. It's not a partisan thing, I've been told by friends on other sides of the fence that this happened to their candidates in other ridings too.

    My hope is that this crap gets enough press to inform the electorate so they don't fall for these again.

    -Matt

    --
    --- Need web hosting?
    1. Re:That's the least of the problems by Geminii · · Score: 2

      Does Canada register people against parties the way the US does? Australians don't (AFAIK) get these kind of calls, and I suspect that part of the reason is that there is no name-affiliation record of any kind. Voting locations and registration are handled centrally by a public service agency, and locations are published in newspapers and on the net. However, apart from personally talking to people, there isn't an easy way to tell who's likely to vote for whom other than through general demographics.