Saturday, June 11, 2011

202-630-9908: National Organization for Marriage's robocalls against gay marriage are pissing off New Yorkers; NOM even calls cell phones repeatedly

(More about NOM and its robocalls here)

Above graphic is from the Human Rights Campaign/Courage Campaign website NOM Exposed
Jeremy Hooper, of Good As You, has documented the anger of New Yorkers who have been pestered by robocalls by NOM and complained on the web site 800notes.com  about 202-630-9908, the number from which the National Organization for Marriage is making anti-gay marriage phone calls.

NOTE: If you know of any numbers NOM is using to annoy people (other than 202-630-9908) please leave a comment in the section after this post.

Want to do more? If you are annoyed by NOM's deceptive half-truths, its disregard for your desire to be left alone and don't like the money NOM is costing New Yorkers for automated calls to their mobile phones, then why not call your New York senator (find him/her here) and tell him or her to pass the marriage equality bill?

Here are some sample complaints via GoodAsYou (see blog list at bottom right of this page) about NOM's abusive robocalls:
6/4/2011  -  Info:Re:202-630-9908, freersrch2011 - Landline, District of Columbia (Washington, DC).  The phone carrier is Bandwidth Com Clec. Bandwidth.com Clec,LLC. Complain to the carrier.

This number is calling a 88 year old man, my father and it is driving him nuts.  Please make this go away!

Received a call from this number today (6/5/2011 6:34 PM) that beeped and then my iPhone made a noise like it was taking a picture!  Very disturbing to say the least.

got a call from this number 202-630-9908 on my cell two days in a row (sunday night and monday noon). Both left a message (voice recording message) saying they're doing a national survey and will call back again! How can I stop them?

I have gotten several calls from this number in the past couple of months with an automated survey about gay marriage from the National Organization for Marriage.  I have answered every time and they still keep calling.  I just called 609-688-0450, the organizations number and left a message to be taken off of their call list.  We'll see if it works...

Congress allows political groups
to bother you with robocalls


Unfortunately there is little you can do to stop the National Organization for Marriage's robocalls because political calls are exempt from Federal Trade Commission rules governing robocalls.


FROM NOM's WikiPedia entry:

...In March 2009, Fred Karger of Californians Against Hate filed a complaint with the California Fair Political Practices Commission alleging that the National Organization for Marriage was established by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in order to direct church funds toward the passage of Proposition 8.[23] A church spokesman and NOM's then-president Maggie Gallagher both denied the allegations...

In 2009, Californians Against Hate filed a formal complaint with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) against NOM, saying that NOM had refused to make its IRS 990 forms public, as required by law. CAH representatives went to "the Princeton, New Jersey, offices of the National Organization for Marriage twice to get copies of their IRS 990 reports, to no avail," said CAH's president, Fred Karger. "Then our representative, Ben Katzenberg, sent two certified letters to the NOM office on March 18, 2009, requesting its two 990 forms. Federal law requires NOM to furnish copies of these IRS filings within 30 days after the request has been received. And 40 days later, still no 990s."[79] NOM has since posted 990 forms for 2007 and 2008 on their website.[80]

Accusations by Fred Karger also lead the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices to schedule consideration of an investigation.[81] Maine laws require that organizations which solicit more than $5000 for a ballot question campaign file disclosure reports.[29] NOM has contributed $1.6 million to Stand For Marriage Maine, as of October 23, 2009, without filing any disclosure reports.[29] The commission approved an investigation on a 3-2 vote, overriding the recommendation of their staff.[82] NOM responded by filing suit, claiming that the state's election laws violate the Constitution.[29] NOM used the likelihood of their suit's success as an argument to obtain a federal restraining order which would keep them from having to provide donor names before the date of the election; the request was turned down by federal Judge David Brock Hornby.[83] In January 2010, representatives of the group were subpoenaed to appear before the commission. In February, the group requested that those subpoenas be dropped, but the commission voted unanimously to deny that request.[84] On May 23, 2010, Judge John H. Rich III of the U.S. District Court of Maine ordered NOM to submit bank statements and similar documentation, covering the dates from January 1, 2009 forward. The documents were to be submitted to Maine's Commission on Government Ethics and Election Practices within seven days of his ruling.[85][86] On June 24, 2010, the commission rejected NOM's claim that the commission lacked appropriate authority and should thus cease the investigation.[87] In February 2011, Hornby put forth a summary judgment ruling Maine's disclosure law valid, which NOM appealed the following month.[88]

In Iowa, the organization faces accusations from the Interfaith Alliance of Iowa Action Fund and One Iowa that it has failed to properly disclose its contributors.[27] NOM's efforts in that state included spending $86,060 on the failed state House of Representatives campaign of Stephen Burgmeier.[89]

NOM executive director Brian Brown has stated that the group does not release donor names to prevent donor intimidation by proponents of same-sex marriage.[90]

On April 8, 2011, Louis Marinelli, a 25-year-old NOM activist and online strategist who describes himself as "the one behind the 2010 Summer for Marriage Tour", had driven the bus during that tour, and had moderated many of NOM's web properties (including its Facebook page, its NomUpdates Twitter account, and the Tour blog), resigned from his affiliation with the organization, announced his support for same-sex civil marriage, and categorically apologized for and repudiated his past actions on behalf of the organization.[99][100][101] He also shut down the Facebook page he had built up for NOM, which had 290,000 followers.[102] The defection was described by Human Rights Campaign's NOM Exposed project director Kevin Nix as "a good example of what is and will continue to be consistent in the fight for equality".[103] On April 9, 2011, NOM created a new official Facebook page (to replace the one created by Marinelli), and released this statement: "Louis Marinelli worked in a volunteer capacity as a bus driver during our summer marriage tour. Around this time, NOM began to pay him as a part-time consultant for helping us expand our internet reach. He has since chosen a different focus. We wish him well."[102][104] NOM president Brian Brown downplayed Marinelli's role with the organization, saying, "Louis was a bus driver. It’s pretty hilarious, this idea that he was a top strategist for NOM. He was a part-time consultant."[101]

25 comments:

  1. This is weird - I just got a robocall from this number, and I'm in Texas.

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  2. I have 1 or 2 messages on my answering machine every single day from this number. But the message is about a survey wanting to know if I am registered to vote in NY. I am on the Do Not Call registry, but I think they may fall under the exempt.

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  3. I have gotten literally 15 calls from these despicable people - once a day at least for about two weeks. No matter how I answer the survey, they keep calling. It's harassment. Please do what I'm doing and call their phone # 609-688-0450 to leave a stern message that their harassment is not o.k.

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  4. I found out better information - call 202-457-8060 and ask to speak to Dave Monge, with the National Organization for Marriage. I called him and very sternly told him to take me off their call list or I will be calling my local law enforcement people, because it amounts to harassment. Bloggers everywhere please post this information - and call his # to get a real person on the phone, not a full answering machine that ignores you.

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  5. I've gotten two of these phone calls within the last hour....almost one every day for the last few weeks.....really sick of it....
    Toni

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  6. Toni - I'm serious, call 202-457-8060 during normal business hours and ask to speak to David Monge, who will most likely be the one answering the phone. Explain to him why you're annoyed. If he gets enough of these calls from real people, this abusive behavior by the National Organization for Marriage (they have harassed hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers, landlines and cell phones alike, in the last few weeks in the run up to the vote on a gay marriage bill in this state) will stop.

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  7. I just called 202-457-8060 and asked to be removed. He "assured me" that my # would be forwarded to the call center and removed promptly. Thanks for posting this info. The calls are most annoying.

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  8. SWEET!!!! I got a human being too!! 2 calls a day...everyday for weeks on end!!! This BETTER STOP!!

    Thanks for the #. :-)

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  9. My wife has been complaining about the increasing frequency of these phone calls. Although in s straight marriage were unable to procreate but have adopted children. NOM constantly insults families like mine and we consider the phone calls from these bigots to be harassment.

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  10. They just promised to take off all three of the lines in my home. When they call, all of our phones go off simultaneously because we have three lines, whose numbers are consecutive.

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  11. I get calls daily from these people. It's really pissing me off. Phone number I get on caller ID is 202-643-1958.

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  12. 609-688-0450 I get calls 2-3 times a day for the past month!-despite repeated requests to take my number off their list!!! I even completed their stupid "survey" a few times...guess I gave the wrong answer.

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  13. I get calls from 609-688-0450 2-3 times a day. I am from NY and have repeatedly asked to be taken off the list. This has been going on for a month, and I am so frustrated. I am going to call 202-457-8060 that Chris suggested.

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  14. I have gotten at least 25 calls from this organization. I keep saying NO and they keep calling. Now they are using another # 1-202-630-7993. 6/23/11. It is harrassment!!!

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  15. 1-202-643-1958 calls with at least 10 messages per phone per day. " Are you registered to vote in NY?" and " This is a public survey, we may try again later".

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  16. I already called the number that Chris suggested. Hope it works. The number they used to call me is as follows: 202-643-1958. I live in NYC and was receiving at least 5 phone calls a day now for about 3 weeks.

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  17. Everyday:

    202-630-9908 blocked it...then
    202-630-7993 blocked that one... then
    202-643-1958 blocked... stay tuned...

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  18. I called the number above and pretended I agreed with the organization but would go against my own beliefs and support the opposition simply because of all the calls.

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  19. The NOM phone recording message referred to 609-688-0450 I used google to look it up and it is listed to them, I emailed a request to stop these calls and will copy the do not call registry for enforcement. These calls have been very frequent and very annoying.

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  20. Here are the ones who called me (in NY) several times this month:

    203-567-2900 "SURVEY SAMPLING"
    202-630-9908 "FREERSRCH2011"
    231-224-2031 "MOUNTAIN W RESE"
    202-630-7993 "RESPONDSAIC2011"
    202-643-1958 "DATA2011AIC"
    202-630-0919 "POLLRSPNZ2011"

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  21. Just to clarify, here are the calls just stored on my phone -duplicate date means multiple calls I got as far back as my caller ID goes:

    203-567-2900 "SURVEY SAMPLING"
    6/7

    202-630-9908 "FREERSRCH2011"
    6/7,6/8,6/8,6/10,6/13,6/13,6/14,6/16,6/16

    231-224-2031 "MOUNTAIN W RESE"
    6/7

    202-630-7993 "RESPONDSAIC2011"
    6/17,6/20,6/21,6/22,6/23,6/23

    202-643-1958 "DATA2011AIC"
    6/20,6/20,6/22

    202-630-0919 "POLLRSPNZ2011"
    6/23

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  22. We've been receiving calls from this idiots for days. Today, alone, so far we've received THREE calls: 12:33, 5:17 and 8:17. All with a tape recording from "Brian Brown", etc. What can we do to get these calls to stop???!!!!!

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  23. I received three today on my non-mobile landline from 202-630-0919. Caller ID is POLLRSPNZ2011. Extremely annoying since I happen to be an old (60+) gay male and I am in favor of gay marriage in NY state. Perhaps the calls will stop now since the NY bill just passed and was signed by the governor tonight.
    Yippee!!

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  24. I'm in NJ - got a call from 202-599-4723. Caller ID showed ELEC2012PRM.

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  25. They've called me repeatedly in NJ from 202-505-5425. I went to their web site and called their toll free number. No one answers in DC or NJ. I am in favor of gay marriage. Calling me 1000 times won't change that. I'm going to report them to the AG office.

    ReplyDelete

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