WIRED: PDF Price list: "WVWV targets only unmarried women, including divorced or widowed women"

[mod mom]

Will the Real Lamont Williams Please Stand Up? -- Update

By Sarah Lai Stirland May 03, 2008 | 8:05:00 PMCategories: Election '08

-snip

The anonymous calls using the unknown male persona look especially strange since the voter-registration group has, in the past, used high-profile celebrities to advance their cause. And everything the group has said about its mission before this week has indicated that it exclusively targets unmarried women.

Consider this price list (.pdf), found on the group's website, in which WVWV offers to sell its database. "WVWV targets only unmarried women, including divorced or widowed women," the document reads. "WVWV has used state-of-the-art technology and data-mining and analysis techniques in order to accurately identify these women and encourage them to register and turn out to vote."

There's nothing in there, or anywhere else on its website, about the group expanding to target African-American men.

The group said Thursday that Lamont Williams is the real name of the voice performer they hired for the 20-second recording. Threat Level searched the top voice talent agencies with online databases, and didn't find Mr. Williams.

-snip

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/05/calling-on-lamo.html


HMMH...WIRED CAPTURED A PDF STATING WVWV ONLY TARGETED UNMARRIED WOMEN, INCLUDING DIVORCED OR WIDOWED WOMEN, BUT NOW THE WVWV WEB SITE ADDED:

WVWV Voter Registration
May 3rd, 2008
Womens Voices, Women Vote has registered over 400,000 unmarried women, African American and Latina voters this cycle. We have mailed applications forms, to over 10 million prospective voters in 26 states. For those unregistered people for whom we have phone numbers, we provide a robo call alerting them that they'll be receiving a registration application in the mail, and urging them to fill it out and return it.

http://www.wvwv.org/

WAS THE INFORMATION CHANGED TO COVER UP THE LAMONT WILLIAMS CALLS?

HISTORY ON COVERAGE OF THIS @ WIRED:

Washington, D.C., Group Accused of High-Tech Dirty Tricks to Suppress Black Vote

By Sarah Lai Stirland April 30, 2008 | 5:41:18 PMCategories: Election '08

A D.C. advocacy group called Women's Voices, Women Vote is being accused of waging a high-tech voter suppression campaign, after voters in predominantly black districts in North Carolina began receiving automated phone calls implying that they hadn't properly registered to vote in the upcoming Democratic primary.

Page Gardner, Women's Voices, Women Vote's president has apologized for any "confusion" caused by her group's anonymous robocalls to North Carolina voters.

The controversy underscores the mounting tension in the Democratic primary race. Polling in North Carolina currently favors Barack Obama over rival Hillary Clinton for the May 6 Democratic presidential primary there. Blacks, who overwhelmingly favored Obama in primaries in Virginia and Maryland, make up about 22 percent of the population in North Carolina, according to the U.S. Census.

Voters began complaining to The Raleigh News & Observer last week that they were receiving the automated calls, which the paper reported were primarily going to black households. The calls play a 20-second message voiced by a man who calls himself "Lamont Williams."

"In the next few days, you will receive a voter-registration packet in the mail," the Williams recording said. "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."

-snip

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/04/north-carolin-1.html#previouspost




Group Behind Misleading Robo-Calls to Voters Answers Some Questions, Ducks Others

By Sarah Lai Stirland May 01, 2008 | 5:23:58 PMCategories: Election '08

-Snip

In a statement issued Thursday to DailyKos blogger Adam Bonin, WVWV spokeswoman Sarah Johnson explains that the omission of the group's name was "a mistake."

"We regret the error and will ensure it does not happen again," Johnson wrote.

It's unclear whether Johnson means the organization forgot to identify itself when it wrote the 20-second script for the call, or whether it made the decision to stay anonymous, and now that it's been unmasked, regards that decision as a mistake.

Either way, there's a problem with this explanation, as the Institute for Southern Studies' Chris Krommer notes: Women's Voices, Women Vote generated a similar controversy in Virgina in February. Virginia police and the state's board of elections received calls from more than a dozen Virginia residents about anonymous, unsolicited phone calls urging them to register to vote.

After the calls were traced to Women's Voices, Women Vote, the very same Sarah Johnson offered the identical "Oops!" excuse, and promised that Women's Voices, Women Vote would begin to identify itself in the calls.

Complaints about the group's voter-registration campaign have also surfaced in states all over the country earlier this year. Those states include Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

-snip

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/05/details-of-nort.html#previouspost


WE NEED MORE QUESTIONS ASKED AND ANSWERED REGARDING THE ROBO CALLS!

[EFerrari]

1. When they said "unmarried women" they MEANT minorities.

:crazy:

mod mom: are these people working mostly in swing states?

[mod mom]

2. Comments still open to Page Gardner @ HuffPo-(check out the comments):

Confusion Surrounding Robo-Calls in North Carolina

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/page-gardner/confusion-surrounding-rob_b_99427.html

[blm]

4. Every primary state so far - if it was just for the general why do they time it to coincide

with the primaries? They must truly believe even their own supporters are dumb enough to believe their blatant deceptions.

[EFerrari]

6. Their argument is that the primaries are a time when interest

is higher. But, a truly well meaning organization would make sure their operation did not interfere with the primaries. It's a silly argument.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

17. Interest will be high starting mid-summer. That's the ideal time for a GE registration push.

What a ridiculous argument.

[mod mom]

5. This Feb WVWV Press release says 22 states BUT it only saystargeting unmarried women:

February 07, 2008
Reaching Unmarried Women in Virginia

WOMEN’S VOICES WOMEN VOTE LAUNCHES NATIONAL VOTER REGISTRATION DRIVE

Unprecedented mailing aims at Unmarried Women

20 million now unregistered, not voting

With the power to decide elections

WASHINGTON, DC – An unprecedented voter registration drive aimed at the 15 million unmarried women who are not registered to vote will hit mailboxes in 22 states beginning today, as Women’s Voices Women Vote launches its largest voter registration drive ever aimed at the nation’s largest group of unregistered citizens. In Virginia alone, more than 228,441 citizens will receive voter registration forms in the mail.

Women’s Voices Women Vote, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to increasing the number of unmarried women participating in our democracy, is mailing voter registration forms to more than 4.1 million homes in 22 states: Arkansas, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, North Carolina, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Virginia, Washington state, and Wisconsin.

“In 2008, a new America will be going to the polls. For the first time in history, a majority of households are headed by an unmarried person, and the number of women who are single, separated divorced or widowed is equal to the number of married women,” said Page Gardner, President of Women’s Voices Women Vote. “But the voices of 20 million unmarried women are not being heard because they are not registered and not voting. Yet, they have enormous power in every election this year.”

U.S. Census data shows unmarried women now represent more than 26 percent of the eligible voting age population. In the last presidential election in 2004, of the 20 million who did not participate, nearly 15 million were not registered and another 5 million were registered but did not vote. Compared to married women, single women are 9 percentage points less likely to register and 13 percentage points less likely to vote.

“These are our grandmothers, our mothers, our aunts; our sisters and our friends – across all ages, all races and income levels. These are women facing real challenges in their lives, whether making ends meet, managing a health care crisis without insurance, or worrying about the cost of war,” said Gardner. “Unmarried women have already had a profound impact and high participation rates in the 2008 primaries and caucuses. Making it as easy as possible to register to vote will ensure more single women make their voices are heard in our democracy.”

From 1960 to 2006, the percentage of the voting age population which is unmarried grew from 27 to 47 percent, according to U.S. Census data. Between the 2002 and 2006 election, the growth rate of unmarried Americans doubled that of married Americans, a trend, that if it continues, means unmarried people will be the majority of the U.S. population within 15 years.

In addition to mailing voter registration forms, WVWV is also encouraging unmarried women to register and vote through innovative online efforts, and is sponsoring the Public Service Announcement campaign, “20 Million Reasons to Vote.” The PSAs feature stars such as Christine Lahti and Julia Louis Dreyfus, and are set in the Oval Office, evoking the importance of having women’s voices heard and their power felt in electing candidates to every office. The PSAs are visible at wvwv.org.

[roguevalley]

41. I hope they jail these bastards and track it back to the source. the

campaign needs to pay for this wholly unAmerican activity.

[Spazito]

3. The more this group tries to excuse their actions, the more....

it smells, imo. Everything from their site pointed to their "mission" as encouraging "single women" to vote yet, only AFTER they have been found to be targeting African American voters, both male and female illegally do they pretend their mission was otherwise.

It smells increasingly bad, imo.

[blm]

8. Yep - like voting 'experts' wouldn't know in advance whether their efforts hurt or help. These

groups FOCUS GROUP TEST their message and spend millions - they know EXACTLY what they are doing when they do it.

The ignorance plea is absurd. If they were truly ignorant on these matters, they wouldn't be receiving the millions of dollars in the first place.

[mod mom]

9. Also, if it was truly incompetence on a grand scale-why no firings?

[anigbrowl]

12. The incompetence defense - a favorite of the Bush administration

Who, us? No, we never meant to do that! The fact is that we have no IDEA what we're doing! We're nice people, we've just never heard of quality control. It's a miracle we can even tie our own shoelaces!

[roseBudd]

15. You forgot not advocating the best method to register voters

NC allows same day registration during early voting, but the anonymous robo calls didn't mention that.

[EFerrari]

18. I didn't know that. n/t

[roseBudd]

30. Same day registration for early voting has got to be worrying the types that don't like

black people voting.

Misinformation campaigns in segregated America are very fruitful when a certain demographic tends to vote 90% for your opponent.

[EFerrari]

33. Yep. A big target. I know.

And the giveaways are all in the details -- like same day registration -- that most people don't know or don't take the time to find out.

[roseBudd]

34. Here in Ohio many former felons believe erroneously that they can't vote, the GOP doesn't mind...

in fact county offices were caught disseminating the incorrect info. So if African Americans vote for your opponent...

[Spazito]

21. I read a response to Page Gardner, the founder of WVWV, on the...

Huffington Post link that I found very interesting:

"Legit groups don't have zero money in 2004, $130,000 in 2006 and suddenly in 2008 they have 4.3 million dollars for robo calls in more than two dozen states, breaking laws along the way, Virginia police investigation led to the identity of this group. These people blocked their caller id and failed to leave identifying info in the robo calls, a felony. Not mention the huge menace this was to elections officials after the registered voters called to find out they were misled by this group within a few days of an election."

Link to the 06 Campaign Contributions report from WVWV:

http://www.campaignmoney.com/political/committees/womens-voices-women-vote-action-fund.asp?cycle=06

The post on Huffington Post can be found on page 4 of the comments, about two-thirds of the way down. I think the person who commented has a very good question.

Link to Huffington Post/Page Gardner comments:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/page-gardner/confusion-surrounding-rob_b_99427.html

[blm]

24. You need to put that up in its own thread.

Folks may miss that crucial point in this thread.

[Spazito]

27. It would be great if you would, you have much greater visibility here...

then I. I wanted to research this further to get the financials links re 2004 and 2008 but haven't done so as yet.

The massive influx of money in 2008 vs 2004 and 2006 certainly raises at least two questions in my mind:

1. Why 2008? If the focus from the start was to register "unmarried women" as was stated as the premise behind the founding of the WVWV, why did the money ONLY come in in 2008?

2. Where did the 2008 monies come from?

[mod mom]

31. Your link to campaignmoney says: "No Itemized Contributions Reported"

Have you seen these contributions itemized by person/group at any other site?

[Spazito]

35. Good question! I have no idea....

I just clicked on and, then, provided the link provided by the poster on Huffington Post re this, found the lack of information provided by WVWV to be interesting in itself. It would be interesting to see if "No Itemized Contributions Reported" is standard with other similar groups. I can't, at the moment, think of the name of a similar group to do a search on the linked site to see what would come up. Maybe someone on DU can think of a group we could research.

Edited to add:

I found this group, they seem to have the same interests re women; Women Under Forty Action Committee:

http://www.campaignmoney.com/political/committees/women-under-forty-political-action-committee-wufpac.asp?cycle=06

Itemized contributions are listed by this group.

Another group I found listed; Women's Voter Project:

http://www.campaignmoney.com/political/committees/womens-voter-project.asp?cycle=06

They did not itemize contributions nor did they contribute to campaigns

[blogslut]

40. Here's WVWV's PAC

http://www.campaignmoney.com/political/committees/womens-voices-women-vote-action-fund.asp?cycle=08

[mod mom]

42. Aren't they required to release this information?

[Spazito]

43. Hmmm, isn't it strange they have no funds listed, no donations received OR

given to candidates, no beginning funds? I find the US system of PACS, etc, quite confusing as each is governed by different rules but this strikes me as odd, should it?

[EFerrari]

36. If you put it up, we'll kick it.

:hi:

[Spazito]

37. I am still trying to research this further....

have found some info but I still need more links to feel comfortable starting an OP re this because I didn't do the original research, it was from a poster on Huffington Post who's comment piqued my interest.

:hi:

[EFerrari]

38. Sounds good! n/t

[mod mom]

7. I'm kicking this because I feel this is an important story that needs more public

scrutiny. I'm sorry but their explanations do not pass the smell test!

[berni_mccoy]

10. Needs another kick. CLINTON CAMPAIGN HAS VIOLATED ELECTION LAWS.

[Celebration]

11. Speculation

This is a pro Hillary group that started up with the idea that she would be the nominee. Thus the goal of registering unmarried women would have legitimately helped her in the general election.

The organization morphed into something else when the primary fight was closer than expected.

[roseBudd]

14. Yes preventing your opponents voters from voting by sowing confusion.

[EFerrari]

19. That makes sense. The same infrastructure is needed

for either aim.

[roseBudd]

13. "Lamont Williams" my ass, wonder why the didn't pick Tom, Bob or Bill

and Williams, very common Africam American surname. The surnames date back to slave owners.

[burythehatchet]

16. Lamont is Maggie's imginary friend.

[Stephanie]

20. He has one credit at IMDB.

My bet is that he is non-union talent so not listed with a major agency.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2599227/

[Stephanie]

22. I find an actor listed as LAMONT "BEZZEL" WILLIAMS on Actors Access

But I can't access his agency listing.

[Stephanie]

23. Found him! Lamont Williams >

http://stagenorfolk.org/pb/wp_8aee5742/wp_8aee5742.html?0.44541414645914523

[mod mom]

25. I wish we could hear comments from him!

[Stephanie]

26. I sent the link to the Wired blogger

Let's see if she tracks him down.

[mod mom]

28. I'll send it to Paul Kiel at TPM Muck as well. Great job Steph!

[Stephanie]

29. okay thanks!

:hi:

[Stephanie]

39. check your PM

[roseBudd]

32. Hire black voice talent to robocall black voters with incorrect info by mistake? my ass