Who Made The Bogus Robocalls in Kentucky?
A source in the Beshear campaign tells Election Central that the bogus "homosexual lobby" robocall was traced to a location outside of the state, and the right-wing site KYPolitics.org reports that the number making the call has been identified as 800-611-0244.
Calling that number directly simply brings up a recorded voice that says, "Thank you for calling. Goodbye." Telemarketing firms will rent out a number like this for robocalls on anything from politics to cable TV packages.
That number also shows up on two of the Web sites that track phone numbers used for telemarketing calls, with some commenters claiming to have received messages from political campaigns before — although the reports submitted to those sites cannot be confirmed.
Comments (18)
Michael wrote on November 6, 2007 2:17 PM:Now, does anyone see the humor in a fake robocall from a homosexual organization being promoted by a right-wing site called "KY" politics.com? Now, if you hillary-lovers do not see that one, all is lost.
Anonymous wrote on November 6, 2007 2:17 PM:One of the commenters on the 800 tracking websites notes that also from that number a Lisa Albritton was making recorded pleas for support for her campaign.
Lisa Albritton is a candidate for Pearl River County (MS) Clerk. How many county clerks have a budget for robocalls?
Her husband is MS State Senator Sidney Albritton.
Might there be a Haley Barbour connection here?
jr wrote on November 6, 2007 2:24 PM:This is a ubiquitously annoying phone number. See this one for instance:
http://www.talkgwinnett.net/index.php?option=com_joomlaboard&Itemid=131&func=view&catid=15&id=437
gwpriester wrote on November 6, 2007 2:30 PM:Maybe the phone companies, since they seem so disposed to handing over private information, could reveal the name of the organization behind the phone calls.
RJ wrote on November 6, 2007 2:33 PM:RE jr at 2:24 with your link....
I know the owner of that web site - he's a notorious Republican in Gwinnett County, GA. Handles all the little (R) web sites.
That source is simply not to be trusted.
oruacat2 wrote on November 6, 2007 2:35 PM:Look for KY GOP Chairman Steve Robertson to be involved somewhere down the line. He's worked with, and has connections to, many prominent Republicans outside the state of KY, and he's as dirty and petulant as the rest of them.
anna belle wrote on November 6, 2007 2:36 PM:According to this site: http://whocallsme.com/Phone-Number.aspx/8006110244
...the number was used to encourage voters to vote for Fletcher just yesterday. Something isn't adding up...
Anonymous wrote on November 6, 2007 2:38 PM:DemocraticChairNewFairfieldCt complains about the call on one of the websites as unfairly targeting the 1st Selectman.
The New Fairfield, CT 1st Selectman is:
Chief Elected Officials
The First Selectman is John Hodge. He may be contacted at:
Office - Town Hall - open during regular Town Hall business hours
Telephone - 203-312-5600
TDD - 203-312-5603
Fax - 203 312-5612
email - hodgepodge@att.net
http://www.munic.state.ct.us/NEW_FAIRFIELD/
Will wrote on November 6, 2007 2:50 PM:I live in KY and got one of these robocalls yesterday. Pretty sleazy. I checked my caller ID to see if the number came up but there was no number. Hopefully someone can figure this out.
Anonymous wrote on November 6, 2007 2:58 PM:This guy says he can find the caller for $195.
http://www.800domains.com/61/10.htm
Anonymous wrote on November 6, 2007 3:02 PM:Eric, call this guy about the CT robo-calls.
New Fairfield, CT Town Chair
Andrews Martin
4 Great Meadow Road
New Fairfield CT 06812-2811
203-746-9529
Unfortunately, this may be neither a federal nor a state crime. There's no federal election here, and the federal wire fraud statute, which would otherwise punish a "scheme to defraud" using the telephone, reaches only frauds that deprive people of property and one narrow type of fraud to deprive people of "intangible" rights (not including voting). And I gather there's no requirement in Kentucky that someone correctly identify the source of such a call, although it is possible that there is a fraud crime or cause of action under Kentucky law that would reach it.
Anonymous wrote on November 6, 2007 3:07 PM:Point is, there are several campaigns that appear to be using the same robo-caller service to promote their campaigns. And there are also a few dirty tricks out there also using the same robo-caller service.
And all users appear to be Repbulicans.
Find the robo-caller service and you may find out a little more about who's behind all of this. The companies that run these services tend to split along political lines.
Given the fact that you've got a county clerk, a small town Georgia mayor and other minor political players in with Kentucky governor Fletcher, it must be a pretty low cost service -- or someone is subsidizing it.
Anon wrote on November 6, 2007 3:20 PM:Isn't the following the smoking gun?
Rick - 20 hours 54 minutes ago
Received a call from this number at 6:15 pm....it was a recorded message from Kentucky Gov Fletcher asking me to vote for him tomorrow. He sounded desperate. I hate numbers like these.
Caller ID: 1-800-611-0244
Caller: Ky Gov Fletcher Relection Campaign
This was posted yesterday (before today's calls) at:
http://whocallsme.com/Phone-Number.aspx/8006110244
The robocalls were sent out yesterday, as well. I got one on my answering machine yesterday -- it apparently came in around midday sometime according to the machine.
Smells like... desperation.
NNTN wrote on November 6, 2007 4:33 PM:Found a reference to a polling organization run by a Matthew A. Towery on the whocallsme complaints list. The call from that org was in August.
Could be this person...
http://www.legis.ga.gov/legis/1995_96/house/gahm30.htm
Maybe he should chime in with anything he knows (kindly and generously of course)
Robo calls to my unlisted number in the last week:
Steve Beshear - unknown number
Steve Beshear - unknown number
Fairness.org - unknown number
I received calls from 4 calls from Republican candidates. There was a number listed, but not the one above. Kypolitics.org only said that ONE person called "identified" the number as 800-611-0244. Easy for someone to report that number implicate Fletcher's campaign. At any rate, that is not the number I got on my Caller ID.
Robo calls to my unlisted number in the last week:
Steve Beshear - unknown number
Steve Beshear - unknown number
Fairness.org - unknown number
I received calls from 4 calls from Republican candidates. There was a number listed, but not the one above. Kypolitics.org only said that ONE person called "identified" the number as 800-611-0244. Easy for someone to report that number implicate Fletcher's campaign. At any rate, that is not the number I got on my Caller ID. Also, the link above shows a guy reporting the robo calls from 888-888-8888, not the 611 number, if you read closely.
