NC robocalls may generate huge penalties and political implications
Putting aside any vote-suppression related lawbreaking WVWV may have done (or not), the non-profit may be facing substantial penalties for breaking other laws according to the North Carolina Attorney General’s office. And if WVWV did in fact break the law, voters may be eligible to recover damages. Moreover, there are more political connections between the Hillary campaign and WVWV than I previously noted.
Maggie Williams, Hillary’s campaign manager, was on WVWV’s Leadership Team and this is the bio previously published on their Web site.
Maggie Williams,
Griffin Williams Critical Point Management
Maggie Williams is a partner in GriffinWilliams LLC, a management consulting firm that helps public and private sector clients navigate transitions and respond to political challenges. As a private communications and management consultant, she has advised clients that include Scholastic Publishing Corporation, the Smithsonian Institution, Hillary Clinton for Senate, and the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation.
Williams served as chief of staff to former president Bill Clinton managing his policy and personal staff at the Clinton Foundation in New York City. From 1993-1997, Williams served in The White House as one of seventeen assistants to President Clinton and also served as chief of staff to First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. In the course of a political and advocacy career spanning three decades, Williams has held numerous positions including director of communications for the Children’s Defense Fund, deputy director of media relations for the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, campaign press secretary to Senator Robert Torricelli, and deputy press secretary of the Democratic National Committee.
She holds a M.A. in Communication Philosophy from the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. in Political Science and Urban Studies from Trinity College in Washington, D.C.
Although WVWV has removed any evidence of Williams from their Web site, everyone knows nothing is ever removed from the Internet. The bio is on the Web archive as of July 8, 2007.
The political implications are not clear, however some of the criminal considerations — not related to Williams or the Hillary campaign — WVWV may face are clear.
North Carolina’s Acting Senior Deputy Attorney General Gary R. Govert wrote a letter (pdf) today to WVWV’s lawyer, Holly Schadler of D.C.-based Licthman, Trister & Ross, advising him that WVWV appeared to have broken N.C. law(s) regulating telephone solicitation.
As we discussed, these robocalls appear to have been made in violation of N.C.G.S. § 75-104. Failure to comply with this statute subjects the offender to civil penalties of up to $5,000 per violation, and individuals who receive these unlawful calls may separately recover statutory damages in the same amounts. N.C.G.S. § 75-105.
To recap, according to Facing South and other reports, this is the robocall message voters in N.C. received:
"Hello, this is Lamont Williams. In the next few days, you will receive a voter registration packet in the mail. All you need to do is sign it, date it and return your application. Then you will be able to vote and make your voice heard. Please return the voter registration form when it arrives. Thank you."
WVWV failed to tell voters the nature of the call, who was calling (Lamont Williams doesn’t exist), and other required information. Specifically, N.C.G.S § 75-104(b)(1)(c) states:
And as Govert indicated, under N.C. law, N.C.G.S § 75-105(a)(1), WVWV could be penalized $5,000 for all but two of the thousands of calls they made.
As for those the voters, N.C. law, N.C.G.S § 75-105(b)(2), states each person called may be eligible to recover $500 to $5,000.
I can’t begin to guess how many thousands of calls WVWV may have made, but according to Communications Director Sara Johnson, WVWV had determined "570,000 unmarried women in North Carolina" and the AP reported 275,000 mailers were mailed this week.
This is a non-story really. Nothing more than incompetence by an org that is doing good works that made a mistake.
What is interesting that the AG is going after WVWV for violating the law, but they are not going after other non-profit organizations that may also be violating the law.
The calls violated the law according to the AG’s press release:
The calls violated state law by failing to disclose who sponsored the call and failing to offer the organization’s contact information to get the calls to stop.
The reality is that there are more than likely several campaigns and other non-profit organizations that are “failing to disclose who sponsored the call” and “failing to offer the org’s contact information to get the calls to stop”.
In fact, I know of no political campaign at the national level that offers voters a way to opt out of further calls.
That is why Sen. Feinstein and Rep. Lofgren have introduced the Robocall Privacy Act.
As I stated in my op-ed in Politico today.
Recently, a bicameral and bipartisan effort has been led by Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and Reps. Zoe Lofgren (-Calif.) and John Campbell (R-Calif.) with the introduction of the Robocall Privacy Act. The bill would sanction groups or individuals who make political robocalls between the hours of 9 p.m. and 8 a.m., make more than two political robocalls to the same number in the same day, fail to disclose the party responsible for the political robocall or block caller identification information.
Why is the AG not going after other organizations?
Is it because this is a political hot potato?
Shaun -
You said:
It’s hard for WVWV to claim a mistake, when they have a very long history of “mistakes”, have been warned by numerous other states, and were warned in North Carolina as recently as February, I believe. (I can’t find the source for NC Feb. warning, but I recall reading it.) Moreover, N.C. law doesn’t let an organization get by with the “mistake” excuse either. The penalties or not as high, but the law expects a certain amount of competency. I’m sure tha AG would not charge them for a few mistakes, but probably would for thousands of calls.
Also, how do you know the N.C. robocalls were a mistake? I ask because you make the assertion as if it is fact. I’m not trying to chastise you, but rather, I would like to know what the facts are if you are somehow privileged to them. There is a lot of speculation surrounding this matter, and if it is indeed a mistake, people need to be told.
As for the “other campaigns and non-profits,” I’ve never received a call at home from a campaign that did not announce who they were and why they were calling. I honestly cannot remember but one campaign (Obama’s) that provided contact information. Also, when I made GOTV calls for John Edward’s campaign, our script specifically provided an introduction and ended with contact information.
Re: opt out - I don’t know what the laws are in all states, but I know N.C. law requires the caller (viz. campaign) conform to the national “Do Not Call” registry, which anybody can add their phone number to. If I recall correctly, there are already approx. 100 million people/numbers registered.
Re: Feinstein et al. bill - Most states prohibit any type of unsolicited call from an organization between 9 PM and 8 AM. I know my state does, and since I recently researched NC, I know it does as well.
I also found it interesting that the politicians in N.C. (and presumably other states) made sure political campaign calls are afforded the same exceptions as non-profits and a very limited list of other groups/call types. They did not put political calls in the same group as businesses, debt collectors, etc., for obvious reasons. And as you note in the Feinstein bill, I found no limits on the calls per day for those groups either.
I know from experience people get very annoyed when called multiple times per day. Campaigns are doing themselves no favors when they don’t organize their GOTV efforts well. It cost them votes.
Re: “Why is the AG not going after other…organizations.” I don’t know and I have no knowledge of other organizations doing what WVWV did. Maybe the question should be, “Why didn’t other states investigate?” Maybe the N.C. AG’s office is doing their job, where others chose not to.
- - David