TEXT OF LETTER from Romney for President [on Romney campaign letterhead]
 

February 2, 2008

Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem
State Capitol
600 E. Boulevard Ave., Dept. 125 Bismarck, ND 58505

Dear Attorney General Stenehjem:

It has come to our attention that over the last several days, countless North Dakota residents have received telephone calls from an entity falsely claiming to be the Romney for President campaign. Such underhanded tactics have no place in North Dakota politics, and we respectfully request your assistance in identifying the perpetrator and stopping his or her inappropriate and misleading calls to North Dakota voters.

Our supporters have reported to us that at least some of these calls appear to originate from the number 616-477-0932. This telephone number appears to be associated with an entity located at 1701 Porter Street SW, Wyoming, MI 49519.1 The same address appears to be occupied by an entity called Contact Services LLC,2 and was also recently identified as a volunteer call center for the McCain 2008 campaign.3

Specifically, North Dakota residents report that:

(1) They are receiving recorded-message “robocalls” purporting to be “Paid for by Romney for President.” As we discussed with your office on Friday, the Romney campaign has not paid for, authorized, or made robocalls directed at North Dakota residents in contravention of North Dakota law.

(2) They are receiving either live calls or robocalls wherein the caller seems to be in mid-sentence when the recipient answers the telephone. Clearly, our campaign is not responsible for making such counterproductive calls.

(3) They are receiving live calls requesting that they attend events that do not exist or volunteer in ways not actually requested by the campaign. In addition, they are receiving live calls wherein callers state that they are being “paid by the Romney campaign” to ask for the call recipient’s vote, then begin to laugh. Clearly, our campaign is not responsible for such prank telephone calls.

As we discussed with your office on Friday, the Romney campaign shares your goal of protecting North Dakota voters from bothersome and deceptive telemarketing calls, especially those that undermine the integrity of the electoral process.

Thus, we respectfully request that you open an investigation into this matter with the goal of protecting North Dakota residents from further deception. Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at 857.288.6415.

Sincerely,

Benjamin L. Ginsberg     Kathryn Biber Chen
National Counsel           General Counsel


1 See http://www.whitepages.com/search/ReversePhone?full_phone=616-477-0932&localtime=survey, last accessed on February 2, 2008.
2 See http://www.contact-services.net/, last accessed on February 2, 2008.
3 See http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/News/PressReleases/8bfa8479-6772-4dd7-abd3-16b6654e5a47.htm, last accessed on February 2, 2008.