Lobby Tactics behind those Capitol Phone Calls

Here are two examples of phone call lobbying that have been occurring and the tactics behind them.

Door-to-Door Scripting:

One urban lawmaker began receiving many scripted evening phone messages in support of the Governor’s controversial Healthy Kids Program. The staff was able to capture one call as it came in. The constituent said he was reading the script given to him by the man standing at his door. The staff asked to talk to the mysterious man who identified himself as working for the AFL-CIO. The worker was canvassing door to door with a script. This incident may reveal that support for the governor’s plan is more shallow than first expected.

The “Call-Everyone” Panic

One Southern Oregon lawmaker became suspicious when he received 60 phone messages with most of them opposing Measure 37. This was quite odd for a district that overwhelmingly approved the popular landowner compensation measure. Upon inspection it was learned that only two of the 60 calls came from his district. It doesn’t take long to figure out that it was the result of 100 frantic environmentalists with a call-down sheet calling legislators all over the state. Their goal: Protect voters from themselves by preventing measure 37 from being implemented.