Robocall stunt by Ehrlich campaign on election night told Dems to 'relax' because O'Malley would win

[BurtWorm]

Was this a Democratic dirty trick to make Ehrlich look like a rotten bag of shit? Or was this just another indication that robocalls are evil and should be banned? Is it possible to do that without violating free speech? Wouldn't we ban spam if we could? Aren't these nothing but telephonic spam?

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/annapolis/2010/11/election-night_robocall_tied_t.html


Election-night robocall tied to employee of political operative working for Ehrlich


By John Wagner

An employee of a political operative who worked for former governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s gubernatorial campaign is responsible for the election-night robocall in Maryland suggesting that Democratic voters "relax" and stay home, according to the owner of the robocall company.

Mark Hampton, owner of Pennsylvania-based robodial.org, said the call -- which went to more than 50,000 people before the polls had closed -- was placed through an account maintained with his company by Rhonda Russell.

Russell works for Universal Elections, the firm of Julius Henson, a longtime Democratic political operative in Baltimore who was hired this year by Ehrlich, who lost Tuesday to Gov. Martin O'Malley (D).

...

On the recording, a woman's voice said: "I'm calling to let everyone know that Governor O'Malley and President Obama have been successful. Our goals have been met. ... The only thing left is to watch it on TV tonight. Congratulations, and thank you."

O'Malley defeated Ehrlich Tuesday by 14 percentage points.

[Kookaburra]

1. Karma's a bitch, eh Ehrich?