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Image: Kirsten Hartsoch
So much for states’ rights: Iowa-based American Future Fund wants the Federal Elections Commission to rule against Minnesota’s long-standing ban on robocalls in order to include Minnesota in its national robocall campaigns, the Star Tribune reports. The group, which bills itself as a “conservative and free market” operation, filed a complaint with the FEC arguing that Minnesota’s anti-robocall law did not apply to national campaigns.
AFF, which has close ties to the Swift Boat Veteran for Truth, got its start in 2008 doing advertising for former Sen. Norm Coleman’s reelection campaign and has gone after DFL Rep. Collin Peterson on health care reform.
If AFF succeeds in convincing the FEC that federal law trumps Minnesota’s, the group’s automated phone messages would be the first legal political ones in Minnesota since 1987.
But Attorney General Lori Swanson says her office will fight to keep robocalls illegal. “We do not believe Minnesota … is preempted by federal campaign finance law and expect to be submitting a letter to the FEC on Monday expressing our position,” attorney general spokesman Ben Wogsland told the Star Tribune.
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3 Comments »
Comment posted November 10, 2009 @ 10:40 pm
Its amazing how conservative talk about and support state’s rights, except when it interferes with their objectives. Then all of a sudden state’s rights are don’t exist.
Comment posted November 10, 2009 @ 11:32 pm
Robocalls are a cheap, efficient way to shotgun out a propaganda message in a hurry. The recipient has no opportunity to respond or ask any questions. Robocalls are presumptive (in other words, they are worded with the presumption that an opponent is evil or wrong or a “socialist”). No wonder repubs love them.
Robocalls should be banned in all fifty states.
Comment posted November 12, 2009 @ 2:00 pm
I have zero interest in having a machine call me for any purpose at all. I don’t do business with machines, I don’t vote for machines, I don’t care to interact with machines only.
If there isn’t a human being on the other end, I don’t want to be contacted.
In an alternative universe, EVERYBODY can record canned messages, robo-send them to a million of their closest friends …. and pretty soon no-one would get real calls from real people at all – the machines will choke up all the bandwidth.
Let’s stay with the no robo-call standard.
Or soon I’ll be calling you from the alternative universe, pushing you to hire my garage band over all the others for your next wedding, company party, picnic … or other suitable occasion where live music (not canned and recorded like my ad message) is appropriate.
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