September 20, 2006
Perry sued by Indiana

That would be Bob Perry, the granddaddy of the Swift Boaters, who was sued by the Republican Attorney General of Indiana for violating the state's law against political robocalls.


Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter filed a lawsuit yesterday against a national political organization, accusing it of making illegal automated phone calls to voters in the 9th Congressional District.

Carter also is seeking a preliminary injunction to stop the Economic Freedom Fund, a Sacramento, Calif.-based group with ties to Republicans, from making any more of the calls, which attack Democratic nominee Baron Hill.

A hearing on that request is scheduled for Sept. 27 in Brown Circuit Court, where the suit was filed.

Carter, a Republican, said the Economic Freedom Fund has indirectly acknowledged its role in placing the calls but blamed a vendor for advising that they were legal. He said the group agreed to cease placing calls, although Carter still plans to seek the injunction.

He said his office is continuing its investigation and also may take action against any vendors that placed the calls on behalf of the political group.

"We're hopeful if there is anybody out there that is contemplating similar activity that this will send a message that anything they do must comply with Indiana law," Carter said.

Charles Bell, an attorney for the Economic Freedom Fund, told The Associated Press that the group had stopped making the calls by the time its representatives spoke with Carter's office. He said the calls were ended after the group learned from news reports that some Indiana residents were upset.

"We spoke with the attorney general before he filed his lawsuit and told him at that time that the calls had ended and that the Economic Freedom Fund had no plans to make any future calls into Indiana," he told The Associated Press.

Bell added that the group believes that such calls from another state into Indiana are legal and that federal law pre-empts Indiana law.


Oops. TPM Muckraker and the Patriot Project have more on this.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on September 20, 2006 to Election 2006 | TrackBack
Comments

I dug up a little more on the issue, but TPM Muckraker has definitely been the go-to source on this.

Posted by: Doug on September 28, 2006 10:37 AM