Bill Would Require Accountability on Robo-Calls

The 2002 law that makes federal candidates take responsibility for TV and radio ads could extend to the Internet and pre-recorded telephone calls, if Rep. David E. Price, D-N.C., and Rep. Mike Castle, R-Del., have their way.

They recently introduced a bill that would extend the requirements set in "Stand By Your Ad" for candidates and groups that launch ads on the Internet or over e-mail. It's their second attempt; a similar bill they introduced two years ago went nowhere after it went to the House Administration Committee under former Rep. Robert W. Ney, R-Ohio.


The Responsible Campaign Communications Act would also require anyone using pre-recorded telephone calls ("robo-calls") to state upfront who they are. Currently robo-calling candidates who do identify themselves can do so late in the call usually after the person they've called has hung up.

Castle said that the need for an extension of the law spoke for itself. He said the sharp rise in Internet ads and robo-calls over the past couple of election cycles demonstrates why they should be subject to the same laws as traditional advertising.

He said the bill was not intended to curb negative advertising. "It would be nice if campaign ads were more positive," he added. "But I'm not trying to restrict campaign communication."

Former Federal Election Commissioner Bradley A. Smith disagreed. He also disagreed with the premise of Stand By Your Ad in general. Reformers, he explained, want to make it harder to run ads or to dictate what form they could take. The verbal tagline is redundant, he argued, when ads also have to disclose the sponsor's name in writing. Furthermore, the tagline takes up precious time better spent on the candidate's message; as an example, he cited Patrick Henry's famous "Give me liberty or give me death" as the perfect fit for a four-second slot.

John Brabender, a national Republican media consultant who has created ads for Rick Santorum and Jim Gerlach, shares Smith's concerns about requiring a tagline on television and radio ads. But he said he has no problem with the new bill. While television stations have to monitor their ad content, there is no similar check for the new advertising methods, he said.

Price's spokesman, Paul Cox, said that the new Democratic leadership would likely be more sympathetic to the legislation, because so many Democratic candidates were targeted by robo-calls in last fall's election. One of them was Heath Shuler, a freshman Democratic representative from North Carolina who has co-sponsored the bill.

His spokesman, Andrew Whelan, said the National Republican Campaign Committee unleashed a robo-call campaign against Shuler that began with "Hi, I'm calling to share with you some information on Heath Shuler." They then continued to provide a negative message about the candidate. What distinguished the calls, he said, was that they came to cell phones and land lines alike at all hours of the night. People who believed the Shuler campaign had made the calls asked to be taken off its call list.

Julie Shutley, a spokeswoman for the NRCC, did not say whether such campaigns had been effective or whether they'd be used again. "We are a long way from making the decisions about what specific political tactics to use in 2008," she said. "Over the next few months we will be taking a look at what has and hasn't worked in the past. In the end, we will take advantage of every tool and resource available to us to help win back the majority."

Castle said he had heard Republican colleagues complaining about similar robo-call "dirty tricks," but he could not remember which races were targeted. He said their use by partisans on both sides of the aisle showed the need for greater accountability.