Last week, Too Conservative questioned whether polls being conducted by gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe were push polls. Sunday, I received the following via email:
Yesterday afternoon I received a phone call from “Ross Marketing” saying they wanted to ask me a few questions about the Virginia governor’s campaign. When I asked what candidate they were representing, the caller said she “was just a volunteer” and didn’t know the candidate’s name. I told her this was an election violation and asked to speak to the supervisor.
I then spoke to a manager named Holly Timmerman, who refused to identify the candidate she was representing, refused to give me the address of her corporate offices, etc. When I informed her that this was a violation of Virginia election laws, and kept insisting on the information rather vehemently, she finally said that the poll was on behalf of the Terry McAuliffe campaign. She again refused to provide me with her corporate address.
I am in the process of reporting this to SBE.
[…]
If McAuliffe wants to be governor of Virginia, you’d think he’d make sure his campaign follows state law.
The law the writer referred to and which was included in the snipped portion quoted above is § 24.2-959.
Both of these incidents (as well as others that have been relayed to me) indicate a pattern that there is a problem with the polling the McAuliffe campaign is doing. Perhaps it is the fault of the pollsters but the buck stops with the candidate. He should make sure that his pollsters are following the law.
(Of course, failing the follow the law in Virginia has consequences so insignificant it is no wonder that candidates rountinely violate them. But that’s besides the point.)
Disclosure: I support Brian Moran for Governor
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
I got a phone poll call … I noticed the order was McAuliffe, Deeds, Moran … with nothing for “undecided” … but when I asked I was told the poll was being conducted by “Friends of Terry McAuliffe” …
When talking about this section, it’s worthwhile to check out § 24.2-955.1, the definitions section of the campaign advertising code. According to it, the controls apply only to compensated phone callers (not volunteers) and only to calls placed within 90 days of the primary. We’re finally in the 90 day window (thank goodness!), but if the caller really was a volunteer, she may have been within the law.
It’s also worth remembering that call scripts just have to have the disclaimer *somewhere*. Most of them have the disclosure at the very end. Some negative calls are designed to sound like smear calls from the opponent, with the assumption that most call recipients will hang up or delete the message well before they find out who was really making the call.
And after rereading the original message, I see the mention of “Ross Marketing”, which means it definitely was a paid phone bank. Still, the rules don’t necessarily apply to volunteer phone banks.
Vivian–As usual–great political reporting. If we simply hung up on pollsters who refused to tell us what candidate they are working for….well that would put a stop to this nonsense.
I have a hard time respecting folks who refuse to follow the spirit of the law.
buzz…buzz….
It seems I rarely get a straight answer to the question of on whose behalf people are calling. But I wouldn’t be surprised if they have a technicality they can hang their hat on. I agree w/ “mosquito”: Hang up.
Yo, Bob Griendling. Hey there, old Loudoun buddy! (Sorry, off topic..)
We got the call too.
Definitely a McAuliffe slant.
Vivian,
We are determined to follow the law, so we take reports like this very seriously. And on behalf of the campaign, I’d like to apologize to your friend if we inconvenienced him/her in any way.
First, I just want to be absolutely clear that the caller never said anything negative about either of our Democratic opponents. We do not speak ill of other Democrats on this campaign, and that holds true for all of our paid communication.
Second, this actually wasn’t a poll. It was a voter ID call. (They are very short).
Third, when we became aware of the situation this morning, we contacted our phone vendor, who actually recollected the call in question. According to our vendor, the caller was told immediately that the call was paid for and authorized by Friends of Terry McAuliffe. In fact, every call includes a disclaimer that includes the name of the campaign committee.
The caller asked for the campaign’s address, but unfortunately, the operator did not have that information so was unable to relay it. The caller also asked about some specific contribution information that the operator was unable to provide. According to our vendor, no one ever identified themselves as a volunteer. (They are not volunteers).
Thanks for the opportunity to clarify what happened here. We are very sensitive to these types of concerns, and are determined to make sure we’re always following the letter of the law.
[Disclaimer: I work for Friends of Terry McAuliffe]
Eli
Good to know that the campaign is trying to straighten out the problem. However, it is a bit of “he said / she said” here in that the writer of the email was quite clear that both the initial caller and the supervisor were reluctant to give the campaign’s name, while your vendor says it happened immediately. Given that I happen to know the person who wrote the email (a Harvard Law grad, I might add), I am more inclined to believe that her recollection is a bit better; after all, she dealt with one call as opposed to the hundreds(?) that your vendor placed.
I got a call a few nights ago from a very pleasant young lady who clearly identified herself as working for the McAuliffe campaign (I think she said “Friends of…”). She asked if I knew who I was supporting for Governor yet, and I said that I’d narrowed it down to either Moran or Deeds. She asked if I wanted any more information about McAuliffe and remained pleasant despite knowing her candidate would likely not get my support before the primary in June.
Obviously, I support neither of these candidates, but you’ve earned a measure of respect by reporting it.
I assume you would do the same if it were the Moran campaign engaging in such illegalities.
You support neither candidate and then you insert moran’s name. Why is that?
Vivian,
Your post mischaracterizes the original post, if you go back and check the poster did not know the source of the call. Having made hundreds of calls for the McAuliffe campaign and knowing the script inside and out, I highly doubt the Arlington call was from the McAuliffe campaign…
http://tooconservative.com/?p=3464
“Last week, Too Conservative questioned whether polls being conducted by gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe were push polls”