Dirty, Rotten Scoundrel(s)

Every political campaign season there is at least one candidate or consultant who stands out for the attack ads launched against their opponent.

Typically we know who the attacker is because while playing in the mud the candidate is at least compliant with the base requirements of campaign law and identifies which campaign or individual is paying for the ad or call.

Last night I received a phone call with a recorded message that never identified who the caller was or who the caller was campaigning for, instead it repeated many times variations of "do not vote for Peg Ferraro."

It is clear that this call violates laws regulating campaigns (thanks to jrank.org's law library) as it fails to identify who is making the statement/paying for the advertisement and it misrepresents Ferraro by making a false claim regarding taxes.

The phone call came from 484.548.6400.

I Googled the number and found a post from Bethlehem Dem, another local blogger, titled "Dirty Tricks in NorCo Council At-Large Race".

He found the same information about the phone number I did via 800notes.com - a self described directory of unknown callers (visit the page here).

There are 17 complaints listed on this site and dated from 9/11/07 to yesterday. Within these posts it notes at least one other political campaign, it is Easton based, and it is owned by ATX Communications, a telecom based in King of Prussia.

Bethlehem Dem wrote, "Dirty politics is one thing. But anonymous dirty politics has no place in a county council race."

I'd go even further by saying anonymous nor dirty politics should be tolerated. Only when people stop voting for individuals that employ these tactics and individuals who employ consultants who use these tactics will they end.

You can listen to the phone call here.

Disclosure: I've known Peg my entire life, was a student of hers, and have worked on previous campaigns for Peg Ferraro, though not this one. I alerted her to the call I received. As it turns out she got one as well.