Phone-message campaign targets Pombo

[Kadie]

Phone-message campaign targets Pombo
Posted at 09:47 PM on Tuesday, Apr. 06, 2010
By Michael Doyle / Bee Washington Bureau


WASHINGTON -- The environmental group that helped defeat Tracy congressman Richard Pombo in 2006 is trying an aggressive new tactic in its bid to stop his comeback attempt.

Phones belonging to San Joaquin Valley Republicans began ringing Monday with prerecorded attack messages sent by the Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund. The messages call Pombo corrupt. His allies call the tactic an abomination.

"This is dirty, dirty, dirty campaigning," Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Visalia, said Tuesday.

Pombo is running for the Republican nomination in the 19th Congressional District, where Rep. George Radanovich has announced he's stepping down. The GOP district race includes state Sen. Jeff Denham, former Fresno Mayor Jim Patterson and Fresno City Council Member Larry Westerlund.

The phone campaign is the latest effort by Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund to challenge Pombo's election effort. Starting last month, the fund began airing three weeks' worth of anti-Pombo radio ads.

snip...
The former chairman of the House Resources Committee and a fervent critic of the Endangered Species Act, Pombo has long clashed with the environmental community. The Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund, the Sierra Club and like-minded organizations spent more than $1 million targeting Pombo in 2006.

Read more: http://www.fresnobee.com/2010/04/06/1887031/phone-message-targets-pombos-run.html#ixzz0kRzh7AVJ

[texastoast]

1. GO DEFENDERS!

Will send money. I hate that bastard.

[Ian David]

2. I have to agree, this is little better than the GOP phonebank jamming. HOWEVER...

... I think it WOULD be acceptable if they did something like this:

1) Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund does an automated phone poll of their supporters.
2) At the end of the poll, they ask you to say your name after the beep.
3) Then they ask you if you'd like to leave a personalized message for Richard Pombo.
4) They ask you if you would like to send a recorded message to Richard Pombo.
5) Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund then calls Richard Pombo one time for each of their supporters who wanted to leave a message for Richard Pombo. They leave your personalized message, plus their own, canned message (again, once for each person who opts-in after the poll.)

It's like the difference between someone sending the same fax over and over, and MoveOn.org sending one fax on behalf of everyone who clicks the "fax my congressman" button.