Is Jim DeMint About To Get Locked Up?

ILLEGAL AUTOMATED PHONE CALLS MADE BY SENATOR ON BEHALF OF ROMNEY CAMPAIGN CARRY STIFF PENALTIES

FITSNews – January 24, 2007 - If you are like us FITS gals, there is nothing more annoying than finally getting all snug under the covers with a good book (Jeanette Winterson’s Written on the Body, for example) only to find your tranquility shattered by an unsolicited, automated phone call.

They’re called ADADs (Automatically Dialed Answering Devices) and South Carolina State Law is pretty specific about regulating them.

Take U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint‘s recent call on behalf of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt “Flipper” Romney, for example. Yeah, S.C. Code Section 16-17-446 is having none of it, people.

See, you are allowed to leave these obnoxious ADAD calls on people’s voicemails, but if a live person answers the phone, you are required by law to disconnect the call immediately, which DeMint’s call didn’t do.

S.C. Code Section 16-17-446 says:

(B) ADAD calls are prohibited except:

(1) in response to an express request of the person called;

(2) when primarily connected with an existing debt or contract, payment or performance of which has not been completed at the time of the call;

(3) in response to a person with whom the telephone solicitor has an existing business relationship or has had a previous business relationship.

And, just to make sure nobody was confused about whether or not the law applied to political calls, it goes on to say:

ADAD calls include automatically announced calls of a political nature including, but not limited to, calls relating to political campaigns.

So was Sen. DeMint’s call supporting “my friend Gov. Mitt Romney and his exploratory committee for President” a political call?

Well, Sen. DeMint talks about how Romney “shares (his) values,” “stood up to the liberals,” “vetoed emergency contraceptive legislation,” and “fought to ban gay marriage.”

Sounds kind of political to us.

Oh, and then there’s the line where DeMint says:

“This is paid for by the Mitt Romney for President Exploratory Committee.”

Kind of clears up any confusion, doesn’t it?

So what are the penalties for violators like Jim DeMint? Well, for each call a judge could conceivably hand down 30 days in the pokey (jail cell).

Which makes you wonder how many automated DeMint calls the Romney for President Exporatory Committee paid for?

Anyway, nice work, geniuses. We’ll be sure to send you guys a postcard.