Democratic mailer = We hate robot calls, too
The Oconee County Democratic Committee cobbled together a couple of letters thanking voters for selecting the Democratic side in the recent primary. We mined and stiched together various databases to retrieve the names of those who voted on the Democratic side for both this election and the most recent. We realize people cross over for various reasons and I suspect this person might have done so for her own personal decision. We respect that so I wanted to remove her name. But here is the email exchange I went through with her:
Mr. Matthews,
My husband and I recevied a letter from the Democrat party recently. We have also received numerous phone calls from Democrat candiates asking us to vote for them. These calls are recorded calls and do not give any information on what the candidate stands for. I want to know who you got our personal information from. To me this is an invasion of my privacy and I DO NOT want to receive any more calls from your candidates. You can respond to this email to me at xxx@xxx.xxx, but DO NOT call me at home.
My response and hers at the beginning:
Mr. Matthews,
Thank you for your quick response to my email. I do have caller ID on my phone at home as well as my cell phone, but when it is an 800 number or listed as private, it’s kind of hard to know who is calling. I use my drivers license when I vote and will not be getting another id made. I have used my drivers license as proof of who I am in Oconee County since I’ve lived there, so I do not blame Mr. Perdue for our having to show and ID when I vote.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Dan J. Matthews, Jr. [mailto:danjmatt@bellsouth.net]
Sent: Monday, August 07, 2006 10:09 AM
Thank you very much for drawing this to our attention. We are responsible for one letter thanking you for voting in the Democratic primary. We are in no way responsible for any robot-calls. I know I get lots of them from Republicans with no issue information and lots of angry rhetoric.
I am only aware of two instances of those on the Democratic side in both the primary and the run-off. We promise - that is the Oconee County Democratic Committee - will never call you at home but keep in mind the fact that you are a registered voter keeps you on the databases of numerous organizations ranging from both political parties to the courthouse for jury duty. You may get candidates canvassing your neighborhood, walking door-to-door who have basically the same information we have.
I apologize for any inconvenience this has caused you, and we will take you off all our records. We hope you will still consider the Democratic party in Georgia when voting in the future. Voter lists and info is in the gray area of legally permissible information bought by almost anyone at the courthouse. So I would maybe not include your telephone number next time you have to get a photo ID made to vote thanks to our Republican governor, or maybe go the cell phone route and drop the land line?
We respect your privacy. I will forward this to all the state and local party people to purge you from our records, but I would expect your getting twice as many empty robot-calls from Republican developer Brian Kemp than you are from any Democrat. I know I am at home.
Get caller ID, get anonymous caller reject, forward them to voice mail, go the FTC I think it is and you can get off a lot of the lists. I think there is a Georgia No Call list to but these do not apply to political candidates or campaigns. We get some of our legally permissible voter information from the state party, some at the courthouse level here in the county and check against the phone book sometimes.
Again, please accept our sincere apologies for any inconvenience or stress caused by our thank you note
Here is the actual letter we sent her house (I think both of these went through a few more revisions before we hand-addressed a couple of thousand copies at our last meeting):
Dear Oconee County Democrats:
Had enough of Republicans creating more problems for your children to solve? It is time for a better, positive plan for the future of Oconee County, Georgia, and the United States. We need your help in making the Oconee County Democratic Committee an organization responsive to the needs of our community and our children. We offer Oconee County and the United States a vision of security, opportunity, and responsibility for the future. Come join our efforts.
Please attend our monthly meetings. We meet at 7 p.m. the first Thursday of the month in the Board of Commissioners chambers on the second floor of the Oconee County Courthouse on Main Street in Watkinsville. Also, we need your membership because we can only accomplish change if we have people willing to stand up for the values of the Democratic Party. Join the Oconee County Democratic Committee. We need your support and participation to correct the course our country is taking. We enjoy fellowship with like-minded people discussing issues vital to all of us.
Together we will call, email and knock on doors in our neighborhoods, organize our precincts, and register our neighbors to vote. We need to stand up for Democratic ideals at our churches, schools, businesses, and neighborhoods. Everywhere Republicans are tearing our country apart, we Democrats need to stand up and pull our community and nation together. Republicans think that every person is in their own boat fighting for their family alone, but we Democrats know that we are all bound together in our communities and nation. Democrats understand that we don’t move ourselves ahead by leaving parts of our community behind. The United States needs all its citizens to support each other in order to maintain the leadership position in the world we desire. Please help us to shape the Democratic Party into an organization that insists our government provide real security, opportunity, and responsibility for all members of our country.
We look forward to hearing back from you about how you think we can make Oconee County a much better place. To discover more about our organization, check us out at www.oconeedemocrats.org.
Sincerely,
Dan J. Matthews, Jr.
Chair, Oconee County Democrats
Dear Oconee County Democrats:
We need your support, and our country needs your support. Please attend our meetings 7 pm the first Thursday of the month.
Democrats in Oconee County are many and have fantastic gifts to offer their community. However, many of us think there’s no chance to impact Oconee County, Georgia, or our Country because the Republicans run everything. This is not the case. At the minimum we can help shape the debate in all levels by actively participating; if all our efforts are fruitful we will place Democrats in positions where they can work to improve our government. We’re asking you to share your talents with us to build a country level organization that can present progressive values to our community. We need candidates for all offices. Here’s what we can do:
1. All Democrats need to become members of the Oconee County Democrats. We need to increase our efforts in order to ensure that our Democratic values are expressed in every corner of our Country. We need to be seen at every meeting.
2. Consider participating in the Democracy Bonds project of the Democratic Party. Howard Dean has been doing a fantastic job emphasizing the grass-roots nature of the Democratic Party. He is funding permanent organizers and trainers in all 50 states through the use of money raised from the Democracy Bonds project. The Republicans have their big money donors, but we have millions of people who can give a little to fund grassroots organizing and the 50 state strategy. We cannot cede any more to the Republicans, including Oconee County. Go to www.dnc.org/ to learn more and join.
3. Organize you local precinct. We need the brainpower and the hustle of all Oconee Democrats to increase the level of Democratic voters in our county. Help organize a team in your precinct. Throw a party and get to know your neighbors.
4. Join one of the committees of the Oconee Democrats or start a committee in which you see a need. How about fundraising, parties, guest speakers, letter writing, letters to the editor, come to our monthly meetings, list-serv, website, blog or more?
Get started by filling out, detaching, and returning the form below. Check out www.oconeedemocrats.org as well.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Oconee County Democrats Membership Form
Name: _______________________________________
Address: _____________________________________
Phone Number: ________________________________
Email: _______________________________________
Next meeting 7 pm Thursday, September 7 at the courthouse.
What ideas do you have about what we could do to improve the Oconee Democrats. Who else do you think we should contact about joining our efforts?
Mr. Matthews,
My husband and I recevied a letter from the Democrat party recently. We have also received numerous phone calls from Democrat candiates asking us to vote for them. These calls are recorded calls and do not give any information on what the candidate stands for. I want to know who you got our personal information from. To me this is an invasion of my privacy and I DO NOT want to receive any more calls from your candidates. You can respond to this email to me at xxx@xxx.xxx, but DO NOT call me at home.
My response and hers at the beginning:
Mr. Matthews,
Thank you for your quick response to my email. I do have caller ID on my phone at home as well as my cell phone, but when it is an 800 number or listed as private, it’s kind of hard to know who is calling. I use my drivers license when I vote and will not be getting another id made. I have used my drivers license as proof of who I am in Oconee County since I’ve lived there, so I do not blame Mr. Perdue for our having to show and ID when I vote.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Dan J. Matthews, Jr. [mailto:danjmatt@bellsouth.net]
Sent: Monday, August 07, 2006 10:09 AM
Thank you very much for drawing this to our attention. We are responsible for one letter thanking you for voting in the Democratic primary. We are in no way responsible for any robot-calls. I know I get lots of them from Republicans with no issue information and lots of angry rhetoric.
I am only aware of two instances of those on the Democratic side in both the primary and the run-off. We promise - that is the Oconee County Democratic Committee - will never call you at home but keep in mind the fact that you are a registered voter keeps you on the databases of numerous organizations ranging from both political parties to the courthouse for jury duty. You may get candidates canvassing your neighborhood, walking door-to-door who have basically the same information we have.
I apologize for any inconvenience this has caused you, and we will take you off all our records. We hope you will still consider the Democratic party in Georgia when voting in the future. Voter lists and info is in the gray area of legally permissible information bought by almost anyone at the courthouse. So I would maybe not include your telephone number next time you have to get a photo ID made to vote thanks to our Republican governor, or maybe go the cell phone route and drop the land line?
We respect your privacy. I will forward this to all the state and local party people to purge you from our records, but I would expect your getting twice as many empty robot-calls from Republican developer Brian Kemp than you are from any Democrat. I know I am at home.
Get caller ID, get anonymous caller reject, forward them to voice mail, go the FTC I think it is and you can get off a lot of the lists. I think there is a Georgia No Call list to but these do not apply to political candidates or campaigns. We get some of our legally permissible voter information from the state party, some at the courthouse level here in the county and check against the phone book sometimes.
Again, please accept our sincere apologies for any inconvenience or stress caused by our thank you note
Here is the actual letter we sent her house (I think both of these went through a few more revisions before we hand-addressed a couple of thousand copies at our last meeting):
Dear Oconee County Democrats:
Had enough of Republicans creating more problems for your children to solve? It is time for a better, positive plan for the future of Oconee County, Georgia, and the United States. We need your help in making the Oconee County Democratic Committee an organization responsive to the needs of our community and our children. We offer Oconee County and the United States a vision of security, opportunity, and responsibility for the future. Come join our efforts.
Please attend our monthly meetings. We meet at 7 p.m. the first Thursday of the month in the Board of Commissioners chambers on the second floor of the Oconee County Courthouse on Main Street in Watkinsville. Also, we need your membership because we can only accomplish change if we have people willing to stand up for the values of the Democratic Party. Join the Oconee County Democratic Committee. We need your support and participation to correct the course our country is taking. We enjoy fellowship with like-minded people discussing issues vital to all of us.
Together we will call, email and knock on doors in our neighborhoods, organize our precincts, and register our neighbors to vote. We need to stand up for Democratic ideals at our churches, schools, businesses, and neighborhoods. Everywhere Republicans are tearing our country apart, we Democrats need to stand up and pull our community and nation together. Republicans think that every person is in their own boat fighting for their family alone, but we Democrats know that we are all bound together in our communities and nation. Democrats understand that we don’t move ourselves ahead by leaving parts of our community behind. The United States needs all its citizens to support each other in order to maintain the leadership position in the world we desire. Please help us to shape the Democratic Party into an organization that insists our government provide real security, opportunity, and responsibility for all members of our country.
We look forward to hearing back from you about how you think we can make Oconee County a much better place. To discover more about our organization, check us out at www.oconeedemocrats.org.
Sincerely,
Dan J. Matthews, Jr.
Chair, Oconee County Democrats
Dear Oconee County Democrats:
We need your support, and our country needs your support. Please attend our meetings 7 pm the first Thursday of the month.
Democrats in Oconee County are many and have fantastic gifts to offer their community. However, many of us think there’s no chance to impact Oconee County, Georgia, or our Country because the Republicans run everything. This is not the case. At the minimum we can help shape the debate in all levels by actively participating; if all our efforts are fruitful we will place Democrats in positions where they can work to improve our government. We’re asking you to share your talents with us to build a country level organization that can present progressive values to our community. We need candidates for all offices. Here’s what we can do:
1. All Democrats need to become members of the Oconee County Democrats. We need to increase our efforts in order to ensure that our Democratic values are expressed in every corner of our Country. We need to be seen at every meeting.
2. Consider participating in the Democracy Bonds project of the Democratic Party. Howard Dean has been doing a fantastic job emphasizing the grass-roots nature of the Democratic Party. He is funding permanent organizers and trainers in all 50 states through the use of money raised from the Democracy Bonds project. The Republicans have their big money donors, but we have millions of people who can give a little to fund grassroots organizing and the 50 state strategy. We cannot cede any more to the Republicans, including Oconee County. Go to www.dnc.org/ to learn more and join.
3. Organize you local precinct. We need the brainpower and the hustle of all Oconee Democrats to increase the level of Democratic voters in our county. Help organize a team in your precinct. Throw a party and get to know your neighbors.
4. Join one of the committees of the Oconee Democrats or start a committee in which you see a need. How about fundraising, parties, guest speakers, letter writing, letters to the editor, come to our monthly meetings, list-serv, website, blog or more?
Get started by filling out, detaching, and returning the form below. Check out www.oconeedemocrats.org as well.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Oconee County Democrats Membership Form
Name: _______________________________________
Address: _____________________________________
Phone Number: ________________________________
Email: _______________________________________
Next meeting 7 pm Thursday, September 7 at the courthouse.
What ideas do you have about what we could do to improve the Oconee Democrats. Who else do you think we should contact about joining our efforts?
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