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Monday, February 04, 2008

Blue Coyote: LV Legislators Continue Push to Ban Robocalls

During last Fall's municipal elections, many of us witnessed, firsthand, the destructive nature of anonymous robocalls. BethlehemDem and his wife have lived in Lehigh County for the past two years, but still got one over their dinner hour, instructing them NOT to vote for Peg Ferraro. In fact, Peg got a call herself, and was surprised to learn she voted to increase taxes a gazillion per cent. One of Peg's close friends, who has never even voted, was unable to persuade her she had been duped.

In December, three Lehigh Valley legislators - Rich Grucela, Joe Brennan and Craig Dally - became sponsors of legislation that flatly bans political robocalls. "Automated political calls – A person may not use automatic dialing equipment to make a telephone solicitation call on behalf of a political candidate or a political party." Brennan and Dally also signed onto a similar bill that deletes the political exemption from Do-not-call lists.

Blue Coyote reports that the state house government committee today has agreed, nearly unanimously, to send this bill to the full house. "It is expected that the bill will be amended on the House floor. The amendment may extend the Do Not Call opt-out for robo-calls to commercial phone customers as well."
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3 comments:

  1. ShaunFebruary 5, 2008 at 1:26 PM

    Interesting development that probably will not go far enough to really protect voter privacy and sanity.

    Shaun Dakin
    CEO and Founder
    The National Political Do Not Contact Registry
    http://www.stoppoliticalcalls.org

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousFebruary 7, 2008 at 8:41 PM

    I don't like robo calls either but I thought that the one I got from Panto on election day was fine. It went something like this but not verbatum....Hi this is sal panto, I know -- I don't like these type of calls either but could really use your vote today - it would be a vote for a better Easton. Thank you and have a great day. Short, sweet, to the point.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Blah SocietyFebruary 7, 2008 at 11:39 PM

    Robo calls are fine with me - annoying, but fine. What annoys me is when they are filled with lies and attacks on opponents.

    I want to be told WHY I should vote for THE CALLER, not why I shouldn't vote for his or her opponent.

    ReplyDelete

You own views are appreciated, especially if they differ from mine. But remember, commenting is a privilege, not a right. I will delete personal attacks or off-topic remarks at my discretion. Comments that play into the tribalism that has consumed this nation will be declined. So will comments alleging voter fraud unless backed up by concrete evidence. If you attack someone personally, I expect you to identify yourself. I will delete criticisms of my comment policy, vulgarities, cut-and-paste jobs from other sources and any suggestion of violence towards anyone. I will also delete sweeping generalizations about mainstream parties or ideologies, i.e. identity politics. My decisions on these matters are made on a case by case basis, and may be affected by my mood that day, my access to the blog at the time the comment was made or other information that isn’t readily apparent.