Thread: Congressman claims group harassed constituents on CAFTA

http://sanantonio.bizjournals.com/sanan ... st=b_ln_hl

Congressman claims group harassed constituents on CAFTA

A political group working for the passage of the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) has raised the ire of U.S. Rep. Charlie Gonzalez, who claims that the organization has been making harassing calls to his constituents.


Gonzalez, D-San Antonio, says his office recently was inundated with hundreds of calls from constituents who told his staff that they received an automated message about the benefits of CAFTA. They were then prompted to "Press 1 for more information."

Those who did were routed to Gonzalez' office, even though they were never asked if they wanted to be put in contact with him.

Gonzalez does not know which organization paid to have phone calls made to local residents.

About 80 percent of the calls received by Gonzalez' office were from people who did not know who they were calling, why they were transferred or whether the phone call would cost them money. For the most part, they were not interested in the congressman's position on CAFTA, according to Gonzalez.

The congressman is still undecided on how he will vote on CAFTA -- which would lift trade restrictions between the United States and the Central American countries of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Guatemala as well as the Dominican Republic.

Business and political leaders in favor of the agreement say it will triple Texas exports to these countries and create more than 16,000 jobs in Texas over the next 10 years.



However, detractors dispute that figure and argue that CAFTA will only further erode this country's industrial base as U.S. companies shift more jobs overseas in favor of cheaper labor.

After receiving the slew of angry phone calls, Gonzalez is now planning to sponsor legislation that would require companies to identify who is paying for these type of phone calls and help consumers remove themselves from such phone lists.

"It's unfortunate ... that someone, in an overzealous effort to influence my position on a particular issue, has resorted to invading people's privacy, providing misinformation, and generating confusing phone calls," Gonzalez says.

"The individuals or organizations generating these counterproductive calls are not achieving their goals, but more importantly, they are making it clear that this type of activity must be better regulated and that people need to know who is calling them at home and asking them to do things under false pretenses," he adds.

The Federal Communications Commission created a national do-not call registry in 2003. However, tax-exempt nonprofit organizations and calls concerning political and religious speech were exempt from the FCC's rules.

Business and political leaders in favor of the agreement say it will triple Texas exports to these countries and create more than 16,000 jobs in Texas over the next 10 years.

More jobs for illegals?
Should we send him a couple of towels to cry in?

providing misinformation, and generating confusing phone calls," Gonzalez says.

Who is really putting out the misinformation? As the church lady always says!


MMMMM SATAN! no just our elected officials.