National Federation of Republican Assemblies (NFRA)

Update:

When you see the words: "Call your legislators today!" followed by a phone number, what do you think? You think - this number calls my Congressman. And when it eventually connects to the Capitol, you think again, I've called my government - because you have. So knowing that, you know it is wrong and mis-leading to make people using that number to listen to a recorded message that tells them to urge their Congressman to vote yes on healthcare reform. Why? Because you know that message sounds like it is coming from the government - our government. There is nothing there that indicates in any way that you the caller is being used and abused by partisan lobbyists.

It is not right to mislead people. It is not right to give people the idea they are calling direct to Congress, and feed them propaganda. Yet that is exactly what Families USA is doing.

Who is Families USA? According to their web site, they are a non-partisan organization billed as "the voice for health care consumers". Looking at their links, they are far from non-partisan.

A lobbyist group in health insurance reform issues, they recently teamed up with PhRMA to release pro-healthcare reform ads.

Their founder Ron Pollack was a Clinton appointee and has been linked to Obama for America.

So no, Families USA, you are not non-partisan. And yes, you are misleading people with your mis-leading and disingenuous phone line to Congress. You know it isn't right - you need to stop it. Now.

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Correction:

I was wrong.

Further digging into this issue brought some facts into light that I missed yesterday. The phone number in question - an 800 number - is a sponsored and paid for service by a group called Families USA, a self-described "non-partisan" health care lobby. The number is not part of the Congressional switchboard.

I want to thank Karl Denninger from The Market Ticker for also bringing this to my attention. We need good people to call us on things when there is a problem. You may see his comments on this here.

I was really, really hacked off to call a number purported to be direct to our Congress and be sold a bill of goods. I would have been hacked off no matter what the message was selling.

--Jennifer

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NFRA called the Congressional switchboard [a Families USA sponsored 800 number] based on a tip today, and this is what we heard:

That's right, the switchboard recording is telling you to urge your Congressmen to vote yes on Healthcare Reform!!!

Transcript: "Thank you for calling you Representative and your Senators. Please urge them to vote "yes" on health insurance reform, because the American people can no longer wait for more choices, lower costs, and coverage we can count on."

This is way past an outrage. Republican Congressmen are censored in what mail they can send out to their own constituents, but every single person calling in [through this sponsored line] hears this message!

Link this everywhere, and get the word out!

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