An Open Letter to a Candidate

[gnomi]

Dear Scott Brown,

Today you lost my vote.

Over the course of the past week, I have gotten no fewer than two calls per day from your campaign. The calls come at all hours -- many of which are during my six-month-old twin girls' nap times. I realize that as an unenrolled voter I am a prime target for your campaigning, but harassing me is not a way to get my vote.

I will be voting for one of your opponents on 19 January.

Sincerely,
A ticked-off mother in Brookline

This message was not paid for by anything other than my peace of mind.

Comments

[marsgov.livejournal.com]

I'm in the mood to put up a web site with a list of these fools.

Oh, and I am about to revive a software project of mine that tests inbound calls from unknown originations to make certain it's a live caller and not a robot. This of course requires a way to manipulate the phone call -- so you must have specialized equipment. But I know I can put one of these together for under $100 if I have an old PC that's in decent shape.

[glishara.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes. YES YES YES.

The calls have been insane this week, and with Sebastian barely hanging onto sleep through kid-noise, every time they wake him up I want to find the responsible party and beat him or her with a stick. I am thoroughly sick of Martha Coakley right now, for instance. Grr.

[lauriemann.livejournal.com]

Cell phones are your friend.

When we bought a new house a few years ago, we didn't put in a land line phone. Also, we never give out our cell phone numbers except to people we know.

[(Anonymous)]

How private are you able to keep your numbers? Are you really able to only give them out to actual people you know and not, say, to places with which you do business?

[ghilledhu.livejournal.com]

This reminds me of one of the Jersey City mayoral races, in which one candidate drove around and around our neighborhood, blaring his message from a loudspeaker on top of a van at top volume, at ridiculous hours of the morning.

We actually ran into the guy at the local flea market, and it was really funny to see him try to squirm out of answering darthsatyr's complaints about the volume.

[jonbaker.livejournal.com]

Vote for,
the BLUES brothers
Show Band,
and Revue

[zsero.livejournal.com]

Is it only Brown's campaign that is calling you?

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

During the primary we got calls from the Pagliuca campaign, but once he lost the primary those stopped. Since then, all the calls we've received have been from the Brown campaign. (I've heard that Coakley is making robocalls as well, but not to us.)

completely off topic

[chaos-wrangler.livejournal.com]

Happy Birthday!

Re: completely off topic

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[(Anonymous)]

Happy birthday!

[lauriemann.livejournal.com]

Gnomi, since my comment is screened, I'm not sure if you'll get this answer.

We got no political phone calls during the 2008 election (after we'd moved) after being hammered during the 2004 election.

However, I never give out my cell phone number to anyone other then current employers, family and friends.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Just FYI, your comment was not screened; I only screen anonymous comments.

I have reasons for maintaining a landline. And the Brown campaign is the only one that has called me (though I know others have been bothered by calls from Coakley).

[zsero.livejournal.com]

On Friday I read that Coakley's campaign had already made 500,000 calls. I'm surprised that you weren't on their list.

[seborn.livejournal.com]

My spouse and I have gotten one call each on our cell phones this weekend (one Brown, one Coakley). Which is an order of magnitude better than land lines, but still a first for us.

[(Anonymous)]

I started getting the calls in force in the last few days, including one every hour later in the day yesterday. I believe all have been Coakley calls. They've all been recorded calls, until one creepy one late yesterday in which the live caller didn't say hello, didn't identify herself, just asked "Have you voted today?" I'm also unenrolled, have been the whole time. Why am on their lists? How do they have my number, which I don't give out?