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Who the Heck is Joe Nation?

By Patrick

The following rather startling email, sent to the campaign of one Joe Nation, was cc'd to me this morning. While the Boalt Student who wrote the letter has asked that I redact his name and contact information, he has also given me permission to put any interested Boalt students in touch with him, behind the scenes. Just email me.

To whom it may concern:

I got a call two nights ago from someone affiliated with a company called Peter Hart Research purporting to do a "survey" about a California state Senate race. The survey, it turned out, was actually a glorified smear-campaign targeted at Joe Nation. A good six or seven questions at the end of it recited a litany of impliedly disparaging things about Joe Nation, and then asked, "having heard X, Y, and Z, are you more or less likely to vote for Joe Nation?"

Frankly, I had never heard of Joe Nation, and wasn't even aware that there was a state Senate race in progress. But I thought that you should know that this was happening, and urge you to follow up on it. In the case of the particular survey that I took, I asked what Peter Hart Research was, and was told, erroneously, that it is an independent research organization. I know that that was erroneous because I subsequently had a conversation with a guy at Peter Hart Research, one David Drembus, who explained that their surveyor had improperly gone off-script, and that they are, indeed, a gun for hire doing work for one of Mr. Nation's competitors.

At the very least, I am appalled by the tactic of pushing information intending to be damning of a competing candidate in a forum designed to appear unbiased. At worst, I wonder if any state fraud laws, or federal election laws, may have been violated.

If you are interested in investigating this incident further, I would be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Sincerely,
[A Boalt Hall Student]

A cursory Google search indicates Joe Nation is a Democratic Senate candidate for California's 6th Congressional District (Marin and Sonoma Counties).

And Peter D. Hart Research Associates, Inc., founded in 1971, describes itself as a "strategic research, not just polling or market research" firm.

Strategic. I'll bet.

Full post as published by Nuts & Boalts on April 23, 2008 (boomark / email).