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Sexy Robocall Flogs 'Green Republican,' Flouts Law

By Ryan Singel, Kevin Poulsen, Sarah Lai Stirland, Kim Zetter, and David Kravets

A lot of us would probably agree with the cynical sentiment that politicians sometimes act like prostitutes for votes, but it's seldom that an aspiring politician would actually use the tone of one to advertise his campaign.

But that's exactly what a local California grad student and entrepreneur did with a robocall to voters' homes on Sunday with a recording of a woman shilling for his candidacy.

"Mike Thompson's been a baaad boy ... we all said no to the bailout, but Thompson backed Bush, just like he did for the Patriot Act. Vote Yes (!) for Zane," says the female voice on the call in a tone more appropriate for a phone sex line than a political advertisement.

Zane Starkewolf, a 27-year-old chemistry graduate student at the University of California at Davis, cheerfully acknowledges on his web site that he commissioned the call. Starkewolf, a self-described "Green Republican," is challenging Democratic congressman Mike Thompson, a long-time incumbent, for district one, which encompasses the northernmost counties of California of Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino and parts of wine country.

"I acknowledge that the idea behind the ad, and indeed the execution of the call, was not the safe route to take," he writes. "And if my run for office was simply for personal gain, I would not have taken a risk. But the content and the facts within the message were there and need to be discussed. Hopefully this call opens up the forum for discussion on the issues and on the representation which is so essential to our system."

But his would-be constituents didn't think the calls were so amusing, and complained.

"StopPoliticalCalls.org members reported this and we went directly to the source immediately to demand that Mr. Starkewolf stop these inappropriate calls," reports Shaun Dakin, who runs a web site where people can file complaints about such calls so that the group can build up information to file complaints with state law enforcement authorities.

California prohibits robocalls without a live person introducing the calls and levies $500 per incident, although the law is rarely, if ever enforced.

( Image: Courtesy Zane Starkewolf)

Full post as published by Threat Level on October 27, 2008 (boomark / email).