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Can I vote for Bill Jones for Governor in California? I don't think so. :-) Below is a note apparently from that campaign encouraging me to do so. It seems pretty obvious that Bill Jones does use TV-ads despite what his e-mail says <http://www.billjones.org/Home/HomeList.cfm?c=19>. There is nothing on his home page stating that he is not responsible for this unsolicited e-mail. The message below came straight to me twice, but also the soon to be open Twin Cities Metropolitian Issue Forum. So this statement at the end is odd: Your email was selected off the Internet based on your voter demographics. If you would like to be removed from future mailings, please click here. 4419tXdR3-848xDpP0058prOV2-023SzSl617l35 The senders address also bounced a test message: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: host smtp-gw-4.msn.com[207.46.181.13] said: 550 5.1.1 [EMAIL PROTECTED] User unknown It looks like under California's spam laws they don't have to include the ADV: you often see because they are not selling a good, however I wonder if their use of MSN may cause them trouble under the California laws <http://www.spamlaws.com/state/ca1.html>. I guess Jones did this in December as well <http://stacks.msnbc.com/news/671170.asp?cp1=1> Here is something from the La Times on Feb 20, 2002 <http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-022002jones.story>: The Jones campaign came under criticism again in December, when it sent out uninvited e-mails to drum up contributions. "I'm Bill Jones and I need your support for governor," said the e-mail, which was first reported on MSNBC's Web site. Then it listed some accomplishments and invited recipients to visit Jones' campaign Web site. One recipient was Tom Geller, executive director of a San Francisco nonprofit called SpamCon Foundation that is dedicated to stamping out unwanted e-mail. The political message, he told The Times, is probably legal because California's anti-spam laws focus on commercial messages. But he added, "There is no question it's improper" and violates the spirit of the legislation. Jones referred questions to Lapsley, who said that out of 30,000 e-mails, there were only two complaints but thousands of visits to the campaign Web site. The advantage of using e-mail, he said, is that it costs much less than a traditional paper mailer. "If we thought we were doing something inappropriate, we would not have sent them," Lapsley said. Anyway, my point in sharing this is not to suggest that unsolicted political speech via e-mail should be illegal. If you are going to do this, please don't claim it is targeted and send it to some in Minnesota twice and to an e-mail list designed to discussion regional policy issues 2,000 miles away. Also, you should use a return address that works and is directly tied to the campaign (my first thought was that this was a clever spoof that sought to have Jones labeled a spammer). Finally, my sense is that trading e-mail lists between campaigns is about as far as you would want to go in a primary elections and even then, a one-time message from the owner of the source list (often a candidate from a previous election) with an option to Opt-In to another candidates list is about as far as I would go. Steven Clift Democracies Online ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2002 20:02:07 -0600 (CST) From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: undisclosed-recipients: ; Subject: Bill Jones for California Governor 5434xzsv5-177Gtjh560l19 [IMAGE] This is a new and unique experiment. For the first time in history I am trying to make the Internet the vehicle to provide information to the people of California - NOT 30 second TV ads. [IMAGE] I believe that Democracy is enhanced when the voter has factual information instead of propaganda and that the Internet has the power to transform politics and political campaigning. So while other candidates for Governor are spending over $10,000,000 dollars on 30 second TV ads, I am trying something new. What's new is this – I am only going to provide you with the facts on my record. Please go to my web site and check it out for yourself. Check the Facts: THE BILL JONES RECORD OF LEADERSHIP AND EXPERIENCE 1) Served for 12 years in the State Assembly and have twice been elected Secretary of State, receiving almost 12 million votes. 2) Authored and passed California's "3 Strikes" law, which has reduced crime by over twice the national average. 3) Strongly supported Prop 73, the first successful campaign finance reform law to limit campaign contributions to candidates. 4) Successfully co-authored Prop 204, the Safe, Clean, Reliable Water Supply Act. 5) Reformed California’s election process, registering or re-registering over 9 million voters while removing over 3 million ineligible voters to prevent voter fraud. 6) Aggressively fought and won a lawsuit to retain legislative term limits. 7) Set up an Internet campaign contribution disclosure system which forces candidates to report contributions over $1,000 within 24 hours on a website that is accessible to every citizen. www.cal-access.ss.ca.gov 8) I am a third generation farmer and rancher from the Central Valley. I have been married for 30 years. My wife Maurine and I have 2 daughters, and one granddaughter. I am grateful to have the endorsement of former Republican Governor George Deukmejian. He knows what it takes to be Governor and he made the following statement in support of my candidacy: "I support Bill Jones for Governor because he has proven that he is not afraid to make tough decisions even if they're politically unpopular. His experience in state government makes him uniquely qualified to lead our state and I know that he is a steady hand in a crisis. In my heart and mind, I believe Secretary of State Bill Jones is our best hope for victory. He can defeat Gray Davis without sacrificing our principles or abandoning our Republican values. Most importantly, Bill Jones is a leader you can trust." ON MARCH 5th, I WOULD BE HONORED TO HAVE YOUR SUPPORT FOR THE REPUBLICAN NOMINATION FOR GOVERNOR. REGARDLESS OF YOUR CHOICE, I ASK YOU TO PLEASE GO OUT AND VOTE! THANK YOU! [IMAGE] Bill Jones California Secretary of State ________________________________________________________________________________ Your email was selected off the Internet based on your voter demographics. If you would like to be removed from future mailings, please click here. 4419tXdR3-848xDpP0058prOV2-023SzSl617l35 *** Please send submissions to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** *** To subscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** *** Message body: SUB DO-WIRE *** *** To unsubscribe instead, write: UNSUB DO-WIRE *** *** Please forward this post to others and encourage *** *** them to subscribe to the free DO-WIRE service. ***
