The National Political Do Not Contact Registry - Stop Political Calls BLOG

Obama, the internet is cool, but the everyone has a phone, Do a Telephone Townhall Meeting

"Hold please, The President of the United States will be on the line momentarilly....."  Imagine if you got that call?

Much has been made of the Obama campaign's Internet prowess and now much is being written about if, how, and when the Obama presidency will become the "Chosen one"?  Chosen in so much as he will use cool Internet stuff (YouTube, interactive decision making tools, etc..) to "open up" government to the people.  

Never mind that not every American has a Blackberry, iPhone, or simply a laptop at home.

Get a grip people.  Technology is simply a tool.   Presidents have used technology for a long time for two purposes:

1. Get elected
2. Get their agenda passed and implemented

Remember the radio?  How about Television?   

Technology has been around for a long time and it is always and always will be subservient to the goals and wishes of the President.  If technology can be helpful to meet a President's goals, he'll use it.   If not, well it is simply a tool he'll choose not to use.

Which brings me to the subject of this post.   The telephone.   The good old trusty telephone.  Used in a relatively new way:  The Telephone Town Hall  (TTH) Meeting.

Unfortunately for Democrats, this is one area where their GOP counterparts are way ahead on use.  About half of the GOP members of Congress use TTH meetings and they love them (mostly because they are paid for by taxpayer $ as they are considered constituent communications and therefore covered by the Franking Commission)  A few Democrats are using them.  Rep. Kind (D-WI) had one this week.

Perhaps Obama, the technology president, could show the GOP how it is really done?  (McCain used them during his campaign in several states, including this one in FL)

So, what is a TTH?  Essentially think of it as a massive conference call for a selected group of people that you decide to include.  Just like you may attend a telephone seminar for business, many politicians are using them now to conduct TTH meetings with their constituents.   You could call a few thousand people, or, call an entire state, region or the country (well, maybe not, but I'm sure that a telecom company would like that contract).

How do they work?

1. A TTH is scheduled.   They are either advertised in a district or not.
2. A robocall is made to XXX number of phone numbers.   The robocall tells the listener that if they would like they can stay on the line to participate in an interactive telephone meeting with their elected representative.  If not, they can simply hang up.
3. If they stay on the line, the politician, in this case, Obama, would be able to talk to the listeners about whatever he would like.  
4. Interactive:  Then, just like a town hall meeting in real life, Obama could take questions from the participants and answer them real time (or, they could be scripted).

Wait, Shaun!  A Robocall?   Isn't that what you are trying to eliminate or regulate?  How could you be condoning the phone spam of American voters by the President?

Yes and No.   While most TTH meetings are done with robocalls, there are a few progressive thinking Congresspeople (for example Virginia Foxx (R-NC) who use TTH meetings but only allow constituents to call in to their meeting, rather than robocalling out.

But, yes, most TTH meetings are done in a robocall spam execution and that is an issue.  

We'd like to see best practices used by politicians:

1. Don't robocall.  Advertise ahead of the TTH meeting the day, time and phone number to call.
2. If you do robocall, give citizens a way to opt out of the call in the future if that is what they wish to do.   As a bonus, have a website where citizens can go and add themselves to your specific "do not call" list.

So, what could Obama do?  The possibilities are endless.   Imagine if he wanted to sell the stimulus plan?  His staff could (should be doing right now) be researching how the various aspects of the bill impact specific groups, regions, states, cities, etc...   He could then schedule a series of TTH meetings for these groups and advertise a phone number for people to call into.   He could take questions ahead of time via voice mail or online at Whitehouse.gov.   Or, he could take live questions from listeners on the TTH.

How cool would that be?   Imagine being on a TTH with the President of the United States?   It is much more intimate than a website or the TV.  You, YOU!, were on the phone with OBAMA!

If you were not inclined to support him, perhaps you would now.

If you did support him now you are going to call your congressman and ask them to do what Obama wants.

If you love Obama, you will really really love him now.

What do you think Barack?   Is there a TTH meeting in your future?  It is not quite community organizing on the South Side of Chicago, but it is a way to get you out of the bubble that is now your life.

Telephone Town Hall Meetings in California May Be Illegal

Washington, DC - Shaun Dakin, CEO The National Political Do Not Contact Registry - Sign up for free at StopPoliticalCalls.org

Let me state up front that I believe that Telephone Town Hall meetings are good for Democracy.  Let me also state up front that StopPoliticalCalls.org is NOT advocating against them.

That being said, they seem to be illegal in the state of California.

For those of you who don't know what TTH meetings are here is a primer.  They are essentially a huge conference call for a representative to have a telephone based town hall meeting vs. an in-person one.  It alows a Rep. to communicate regularly from Washington, DC in ways that in person TH meetings can not.  They alow for a greater diversity of opinion and for voters who may not be able to get to a specific location to also participate.

They typically work like this:

1. A Representative advertises in their district that a TTH meeting will occur at a day and a time in the future.
2. A automated dialer then calls selected constituents at that time and day and the robo call asks the voter to either press 1 to stay on the line or press 2 to disconnect.
3. If the voter presses 1, then they are told to hold until the Rep gets on the line for the call
4. A TTH is held.
5. Here is a story about one in CA involving Rep. Eshoo

It is in the auto dialer or robo call part of the process that the Rep is violating the law in California.

As I've blogged about previously, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) explicitly bans most robocalls, "unless they are preceeded by a live voice."

It is there, clearly, in the California Public Utilities Code sections 2871-2876.

Clear as day.  Black and White. 

Totally ignored by all political candidates.  As reported in the San Diego Tribune  recently:

Violators are subject to a fine of up to $500 for each violation. The PUC may also order that the automatic dialing be disconnected for a specified period of time.

But voters don't know about the requirement, campaigns ignore it and the Public Utilities Commission doesn't enforce it.

“It's one of those things that's on the books and not enforced,” said Michael Shames, president of the San Diego-based Utility Consumer Action Network.

So, there you have it.   While TTH meetings are, in fact, a great form of civil discourse and democracy, they way that most are executed makes them illegal in the state of California.

There is one way around this issue for Representatives.  Instead of robo calling consituents, simply give them a day, a time, and a phone number to dial into to listen to the meeting.

This is what Virginia Foxx (R-NC) does.  It is also what I believe Rep. Mike Thompson (CA-D-1) does according to this article I found.

Interested people can phone toll-free 866-447-5149 between 7 and 8 p.m. on Wednesday. Enter the passcode 13293.

So, if I were looking into this for a Rep, I'd be careful about conducting TTH calls that use robo dialers.

Washington, DC - Shaun Dakin, CEO The National Political Do Not Contact Registry - Sign up for free at StopPoliticalCalls.org

PA Congressional Race Heats Up Over Tele Town Hall Meetings

Washington, DC - Shaun Dakin, CEO The National Political Do Not Contact Registry - Sign up for free at StopPoliticalCalls.org

Interesting development in the PA-11 Congressional Race just in.

The Politicker reports that the fact that U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorksi (D-Nanticoke) holds town-hall style conferences over the phone has drawn criticism from challenger Lou Barletta.

Barletta says the tele-conferences are purely taxpayer-funded political advertisements.

Tele-town hall meetings have been gaining favor, particularly for the Republicans in Congress over the past 3-4 years as a way to reach constituents from Washington in a "town hall" like event held over the telephone.

My take on tele-town hall meetings is that technically they are robo calls (mostly, though some Members simply advertise the time, day, and call in number ahead of time) that are made to an entire district or some sub -section of the district that the Member wants to communicate with.

They are robo calls because members have a tele - town hall vendor hit a button and place an automated phone call to a specific set of phone numbers all at once.  The voter then picks up the phone and hears a robo voice asking them if they would like to participate in a tele town hall meeting with Congressman XXX.  If they would like to they are asked to press "1" to participate or press "2" to disconnect.

So many of you might think that the Registry would be against tele town hall meetings because they are essentially using robo call or automated dialer technology.

We are not.

In fact we think that this use of technology is a good addition to political discourse and civic participation.

A typical "town hall" meeting requires a venue to be to found, staff to fill the event, advertising to be placed, and, most importantly, voters time to get to the event and go home.

This means that these types of events have very low participation rates and, because of the Member's schedule, do not occur often.

Tele town hall meetings, on the other hand, allow Members to communicate with ALL their constituents for a very low cost and to get feedback from those citizens that would not travel to an even because of the cost (gas and time) or that the fact that they may work during the time that the event is held.

So, in this case, I think that Barletta is simply looking for an issue where there is nothing.

In fact, say Barletta wins and wants to communicate with his constituents, I would guess that he would give tele town hall meetings a second glance and probably would participate in them.

Bottom line:  No Issue for PA-11.

Washington, DC - Shaun Dakin, CEO The National Political Do Not Contact Registry - Sign up for free at StopPoliticalCalls.org

Legislators Start to hold telephone townhalls using automated conferencing systems (robo calls)

A somewhat positive article in the last day or so in Congressional Quarterly about how legislators, mostly in the US House, are starting to use "telephone town halls" to interact with their constituents.   

What are these town hall meetings?

Essentially, like a regular 'in person" town hall meeting, Representatives can ask their constituents to call into a phone number (often toll free) so that they can participate in a question and answer session with their representative from the comfort of their own home.

Or, like robo calls, the Representative can call constituents without their permission.  Indeed, according to the article:

When House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland conducted a telephone town hall on May 1, his vendor dialed nearly 40,000 phone numbers. Only about 5,500 of the households, or 14 percent, answered the phone; roughly 2,000 agreed to take part in the call, and an average of 700 callers stayed on the line throughout the course of the discussion. But that’s far more than most lawmakers say they could ever get to attend an in-person town hall.

I think that if these calls are made with the permission of the voter, then these could be a very helpful and useful tool in getting people interested in politics and engagement with their Representatives.

However, if they become yet another "robo call" interrupting people at dinner, then these could further alienate voters from engagement in the political space.

What do you think?