Phone call wasn't a 'survey' at all

Editor,

On May 23 I received a phone call from Research Data Design Company saying they were conducting a voter survey and asking me to participate. I agreed only to find out a few minutes into the survey that is wasn't really a voter survey, but a fairly sophisticated campaign tool designed to influence the Montana U.S. Senate elections.

I was asked numerous times if negative statements that have appeared in ad campaigns and newspapers would make me "more or less likely to vote for" John Morrison and Jon Tester. There were many negative statements about each Democrat and no positive statements about either of them.

Then they gave two different opinions about Senator Burns — one about the lobbying scandal and one highly complimentary about his accomplishments and contributions to the State of Montana and asked which opinion I was more likely to share.

When they asked the first negative question about Morrison I told them I wouldn't answer the question and expressed my displeasure asking the woman "Wouldn't my answer depend on whether or not I believe the statement is true? She said all she could do is record my answer to her question as stated, so I answered each of those questions with "no comment."

I decided to listen through the entire survey to understand what they were doing. At the end of the survey I asked who was sponsoring it and was unable to get that information. This morning I called Research Data Design in Portland and they were unable to tell me due to privacy clauses in their contract.

I filed a complaint with them saying their phone representative misled me about what I was being asked to do. I called the Montana Consumer Protection Agency wanting to file a complaint and they referred me to the Montana Political Practices office where I was informed they have no jurisdiction in a U.S. Senatorial race and referred me to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) in Washington, D.C.

A specialist there is doing research to find out if it would be worthwhile for me to file a complaint with their agency that whoever is paying for this "survey" is attempting to influence a Federal election without complying with FEC regulations about disclosure and campaign finances.

The issue is not about my political affiliation or who I am voting for in this race. The issue is about subverting the political process by deliberate misinformation and manipulation of the voting public. It is a sad statement that there is so little respect for the intelligence and integrity of the voting public by people running political campaigns. It is a sad statement that this type of campaigning must work or people wouldn't spend millions of dollars doing it.

Personally I am repulsed by negative campaigning but at least television and newspaper political ads are required to inform people of the source of funding for those advertisements. I am not sure if the survey I was part of last night is legal or not, but if we care about our country and our political process at all, it shouldn't be.

Donna Mollica

Arlee