As you may or may not know, 12-year Contract-w/-America breaker Charlie Bass is in the fight of his life against netroots candidate Paul Hodes.
Now that the polls are trending away from Bass, and his support among independents is weaker than it has ever been, the NRCC has been called in to bail his sorry butt out.
So in true GOP form, the NRCC decided to carpet bomb our state with robocalls that pretend to come from the Hodes campaign, while eventually providing misleading negative info.
So what, you say? Typical lowlife GOP sleaze tactic.
Well, there is a big difference here. The NRCC was calling Granite Staters on the Do-Not-Call list, which is a violation of state law, carrying a penalty of $5,000 per violation. To date, the NRCC admitted to 200,000 robocalls.
Kos is dead wrong on this. Some states in the union (like North Dakota, for instance) have state-level “do not call” lists, but New Hampshire isn’t one of them. That state relies only on the federal “do not call list,”, and the federal “do not call” list makes an exception for calls from political candidates:
Placing your number on the National Do Not Call Registry will stop most telemarketing calls, but not all. Because of limitations in the jurisdiction of the FTC and FCC, calls from or on behalf of political organizations, charities, and telephone surveyors would still be permitted, as would calls from companies with which you have an existing business relationship, or those to whom you’ve provided express agreement in writing to receive their calls.
And before any claims that this is against New Hampshire state law, consider the following:
XI. “Telemarketing sales call” means a telephone call made by a telemarketer to a customer for the purpose of inducing payment or the exchange of any other consideration for any goods or services or for the purpose of soliciting an extension of credit for consumer goods or services, or for the purpose of obtaining information that may be used for the direct solicitation of a sale of consumer goods or services or an extension of credit for such purposes. A telemarketing sales call shall not include a call made:
(a) In response to an express written or verbal request of the customer called.
(b) In connection with an established business relationship.
New Hampshire uses the FTC definition for “established business relationship,” which is:
[e]stablished business relationship’ means a relationship between a seller and a consumer based on: (1) the consumer’s purchase, rental, or lease of the seller’s goods or services or a financial transaction between the consumer and seller, within the eighteen (18) months immediately preceding the date of a telemarketing call; or (2) the consumer’s inquiry or application regarding a product or service offered by the seller, within the three (3) months immediately preceding the date of a telemarketing call.”
So, as long as the calls went to people who either donated to the GOP or inquired about information from the GOP what happened in New Hampshire is perfectly legal. At least in my estimation, anyway. This same thing actually happened here in North Dakota earlier this year. In that instance our Attorney General, who happens to be a Republican, ruled that the calls were illegal under North Dakota law. GOP lawyers argued that they were legal under the “business relationship” exemption, and I agree with them. I think Stenehjem was wrong to rule the calls illegal here in North Dakota and I think the people calling these calls illegal in New Hampshire are wrong as well.