Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
I have heard from Democrats since last week, several of them long-time party activists, who have told me that they have received mailers from the Jesse Kelly campaign, and have received both live calls asking them to vote for Jesse Kelly or robo calls asking them to vote for Jesse Kelly. They even robo called my house!
Unless the GOP has an unlimited reserve of campaign cash (perhaps a line of credit with the Koch brothers?), campaigns do not spend their money on contacting voters of the other party. They contact their base voters and persuadable independent voters.
This is not an attempt to persuade Democrats to vote for Jesse Kelly. It is a form of intimidation to attempt to depress Democratic voter turnout.
If you have received one of these mailers, please scan it and send us a (.pdf) file of the mailer. If you have received one of these phone calls and stayed on the line long enough, please tell us the content of the phone call you received, particularly the "paid for by" legal disclaimer, in the comments.
Your response to this attempt to depress Democratic voter turnout should be to get angry and to return your early mail-in ballot or to go to an early voting location on Monday and cast your early ballot for Ron Barber. Make this blow up in their face.
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If the calls are illegal then let that case be made. If the calls are simply another lawful campaign tactic then I encourage you to make it clear what you are describing.
My complaint is that you (in my eyes) are either complaining about Mr. Kelly’s campaign doing a bang up job or are you really fishing for reports of behavior that you seem to believe is illegal. I find it difficult to distinguish which is the actual point of the point.
You have my commendation for any efforts you have undertaken to investigate or prevent illegal activity by any candidate or any campaign. I oppose lying and fraud in whatever form it takes in any sphere of human activity.
Paid for by the Arizona Republican Party-www.azgop.org. Authorized by Kelly for Congress.
To where do I send the PDF?
I have been working with various organizations on voter protection since the late 1970s. I have seen every conceivable form of voter intimidation and voter suppression. Sometimes it takes the form of negative attack calls or push polls to depress voter turnout. Just ask John McCain how effective those calls in the South Carolina GOP primary alleging he has an illegitimate black baby were. That’s mild compared to some of the voter suppression calls the GOP has engaged in over the years.
Four men were convicted of, or pled guilty to, federal crimes and sentenced to prison in 2008 for their involvement in the New Hampshire phone jamming scandal in 2002.
There are many forms of voter intimidation/suppression, limited only by one’s imagination and willingness to risk prosecution.
You need to get them to disclose who is paying for the calls. They have a legal obligation to disclose who is paying for the calls.
Bess, you left out what I need: the “paid for by” legal disclaimer. WHO is sending the mailers? And if you would be so kind to scan it and send a (.pdf) file. Thanks.
John, go suck a straw you bagger!
The Meanie is grasping at straws. What about the phone call from Barber telling me how bad Kelly is?
My husband is an independent. Our household has received seven large cardstock mailers; one each week. None mention Jesse Kelly, but each card tells me to vote “NO” on Barber.
One is pretty funny. It shows men with black parachutes getting ready to land on the vast arid wasteland. Each parachute has a message: “Trial Lawyers, National Healthcare, Pelosi Democrats, Obama spending, Solyndra, Union Bosses, Pro-Tax.” The headline:”The Washington special interests are INVADING ARIZONA.”
Pelosi Democrats. lol.
Depress.. plausible. Intimidation? I don’t buy it. Candidates for office can and should call whomever they wish if they think they can inform or persuade said voter.
I don’t buy any story that presumes any given Democrat will always and forever vote for a Democratic party candidate any more than I presume that any given Republican will always and forever vote for a Republican candidate.
Any state that can elect both Janet Napolitano and John McCain has more independent voters that any party partisan may be willing to admit.
In any case I hope all eligible voters in CD-8 learn as much as they can about all the candidates and vote for the candidate that best matches with they ideals be that candidate a Democratic Party member, a Republican or a Green Party member.
I just received a live phone call, a survey by a guy who didn’t know who had employed him, who asked me about Raul Grijalva’s connection to Ron Barber, as well as Ron Barber’s support of the “failed Obama stimulus package, which ‘wasted’ $824 billion dollars,” etc.