Lawmakers Air Personal Gripes About 'Robocalls'
by By Basil Talbott, CongressDaily

6 December 2007
Technology Daily PM - English
Copyright 2007 by National Journal Group Inc. All rights reserved.

Three House members complained Thursday that they were victimized by automated telephone calls during their election campaigns and urged passage of legislation to curb or end them.
 

Members on the House Administration Elections Subcommittee, which held the morning oversight hearing, agreed that a problem with such "robocalls" exists but argued that any legislative remedy should not interfere with constitutional protections of free speech, especially political speech.

Subcommittee Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., said she called the hearing to examine the problems with robocalls and to consider the implications of drafting legislation.

Rep. Melissa Bean, D-Ill., testified that she was the target of negative attacks in robocalls during October and November 2006. The National Republican Congressional Committee spent more than $60,000 in independent expenditures to place more than 1 million such calls, she said.
 

The calls would state information about a candidate and follow it with a negative message. About half of the individuals who described the calls believed they were on behalf of her campaign. People were called repeatedly, occasionally in the middle of the night.
 

Bean recommended legislation that would prohibit repeating the same message several times a day, limit the hours that such calls could be made, and require the sponsors of the calls to identify themselves at the beginning.

Rep. Jason Altmire, D-Pa., said his similar experiences persuaded him to introduce a bill, H.R.372, to add automated calls from political organizations to the national "do not call" registry, a database that allows consumers to opt out of telemarketing calls.

Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., said robocalls bothered her constituents so much that when she tried to make her own personal calls, voters told her they did not want to talk to her -- even in person.

Urging caution in drafting any legislation, Artur Davis, D-Ala., and Dan Lungren, R-Calif., said the Constitution provides greater protection for political speech than for commercial.

"Politics is supposed to be rough. It's tough," Lungren said. He especially warned against interfering with constituent town-hall meetings conducted by telephone, which he said drew 28,000 individuals on one occasion.