Reply #14: AZ: Action stalled on political 'robocalls'

[freedomfries]

Action stalled on political 'robocalls'

Stuart Frohm
Midland Daily News, AZ
December 2, 2006
http://www.ourmidland.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=17540417&BRD=2289&PAG=461&dept_id=472542&rfi=6

Before the Nov. 7 election, a woman called the Midland Daily News. She said she wanted to call the source of a political campaign message on her answering machine. But she couldn't because there was no identifying information.

Some of the calls voters get are placed by computers and tagged with the "robocall" label.

For years, state lawmakers haven't acted on Midland Republican state Sen. Tony Stamas' bill aimed at part of the anonymous-call problem. If necessary, the plan is to reintroduce Stamas' bill soon after the 2007 Senate session begins, said Chad Wing, Stamas' chief of staff.

That might be necessary. The Associated Press recently reported that Senate Majority Leader Ken Sikkema said the Republican-controlled Senate won't take up campaign finance and ethics bills this year.

Stamas proposed that campaign phone calls made to voters and relating to a candidate include disclosure of who is paying for the calls. That would include whether a candidate committee authorized the calls. The fine for knowing violation could be as high as $1,000.

Instead, the Senate could have acted on a House-passed bill. The fine would be the same. But the House-passed bill:

* would forbid making robocalls after 9 p.m. and before 9 a.m.

* applies to calls relating to "an election, a candidate or a ballot question," not merely to a candidate.

And the House-passed bill says that if a person, not a committee, makes an automated call to a voter, the secretary of state is to receive the caller's identity, address and phone number where the caller can be contacted during normal business hours, the name of the person paying for the call, and the caller's pay for making the call.

http://www.ourmidland.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=17540417&BRD=2289&PAG=461&dept_id=472542&rfi=6