By Andrew Knittle
Despite rumors and at least one blog post saying otherwise, the predawn robocalls sent out by an automated calling service Tuesday to nearly 3,000 Norman-area residents on behalf of U.S. Congress hopeful R.J. Harris were not illegal.
At least not according to state and federal laws.
Jonathan Gibbons, Harris' campaign manager, said the campaign's contact number was clearly given during the prerecorded message sent out starting at 6 a.m. Tuesday, despite numerous claims to the contrary.
Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson has said in the past that candidates can use robocalls, but that all calls must comply with the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act, as well as state laws.
In 2006, Edmondson talked about robocalling laws after political consultant Tim Pope was sued by the state for calling 20,000 people without including a contact phone number in the message.
"The TCPA requires that all prerecorded voice messages clearly identify the person or entity responsible for initiating the call and a telephone number where such person or entity can be reached," Edmondson said.
Gibbons said the message sent out Tuesday on behalf of Harris' campaign included a phone number.
"I'm not sure where all this came from, but the phone number is in the message, as it should be," he said.
The robocalls, according to numerous recipients, asked responders to choose between U.S. Rep. Tom Cole, R-Norman, and Harris in June 2010's primary for the U.S. congressional seat. If the responder chose Cole, a message from Harris was played, asking for their vote.
Gibbons said Robotalker, the company hired to make the calls, made more than 7,000 additional calls Tuesday night between 6 and 6:30 and that most of the response was positive. He said about 4,500 calls were received and about 620 people answered the question.
"Robotalker has been really good to us and obviously we didn't pay for the calls," he said.
Gibbons said the original plan was to call 20,000 people Tuesday evening but that a software glitch at Robotalker put the calls out 12 hours early, waking up hundreds, possibly thousands of Norman-area residents. He said 10,000 more calls will be made next week by the same company.
On Tuesday, Harris, R-Norman, apologized for the mistake and expressed hope that his campaign could recover from the miscue.
"All campaigns are going to make some small mistakes," Harris said. "Computer glitches happen, it's part of the drawback of living in the automated world."
Harris is a second-year law student at the University of Oklahoma and is making his first run at public office.
Andrew Knittle 366-3540 aknittle@normantranscript.com
