If they don’t tell who they are, screw ’em

I sent the following to my representative and senators in Congress. Boy, am I pissed.

Dear (insert political hack’s name here):

On Tuesday, May 23, at 7:38 p.m., the message below was left on my answering machine:

To take emergency action. The House is scheduled to vote this week on President Bush’s budget that will take food from the mouths of poor children and cut money for health care and education just to put tax breaks in the pockets of millionaires.

Your congressman, Randy Kuhl, will be a critical swing vote. Call Congressman Kuhl. Tell him to vote against any budget that cuts money for food, health care, or education in order to fund tax breaks for millionaires.

If you called before, please call again. To speak to Congressman Kuhl’s office right now, push 1 on your touch-tone phone and we will connect you at no charge. Push 1 now to be connected.

Now, both state and federal do-not-call laws exempt political parties. But in this case, no political party is identified. No sponsoring agency of any kind is identified. No phone number or any other kind of contact information was provided.

The federal do-not-call complaint form requires either the phone number or name of the organization. But my caller provided no such information.

When callers leave no identifying information whatsoever, why should they be exempt from telemarketing restrictions, even if the message is political?

Cordially,

Dennis M. Wilkins

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