The AP has a story today that has ramifications for the House and Senate campaigns in South Dakota headlined "Dirty Campaign Tricks Now Serious Crimes." Excerpt:
Election-year tactics like making anonymous phone calls or inventing make-believe groups to criticize the opponent now come with a higher price: the possibility of time in jail.A law in effect for the first time this election cycle expands the list of campaign violations classified as felonies. Before the law took effect in late 2002, many campaign violations were treated as misdemeanors....
The law requires any statement published by campaigns, national party committees or political action committees to include a disclaimer saying who is behind the message. It also bans candidates, political parties and PACs from calling voters, sending mass mailings or airing ads anonymously or under phony names. All must have proper disclaimers.
Recall that the Daschle campaign engaged in precisely this type of "dirty trick" last spring, making anti-Thune calls to everyone in the state without using the proper disclaimer. The Daschle campaign subsequently admitted to breaking the law. According to the AP's interpretation of the law, Daschle's calls without the disclaimer were a "felony" that "could mean time behind bars for a candidate or campaign officials."
Ironically, the Daschle calls were phrased as an effort to get rid of negative campaigning. Note that the AP regards such calls as "dirty tricks" which belies the silly notion that Daschle's hands are clean when it comes to negative campaigning.
An anti-Diedrich call was also made without the required disclaimer, which the FEC is still investigating.
As Election Day approaches, we're likely to see these kinds of phone calls without the required disclaimer occur again. The reader should be aware that this is a felony, and be ready to take down the number of the incoming call on their caller ID, if possible.
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