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CARTER TAKES “DO NOT ROBO CALL” PLEDGE

Monday, April 7, 2008

CANDIDATE FOR MISSOURI LT. GOVERNOR BECOMES FIRST STATE WIDE CANDIDATE TO PLEDGE NOT TO "ROBO CALL” VOTERS WHO SIGN UP FOR DO NOT CALL REGISTRY

WASHINGTON, D.C. April, 7th 2008 – Candidate for Lt. Governor Mike Carter (Missouri) today announced his pledge not to conduct “robo calls” to voters in Missouri who go to www.vote4Carter.com <http://www.vote4carter.com/> , click on the “do not call” button and ask to be removed from the campaign’s call list; the Missouri Political Do Not Call Registry. Mike Carter is the fourth politician in the nation to take the “Do Not Robo Call” pledge and the first candidate for state wide office to do so since the non-profit Citizens for Civil Discourse launched the National Political Do Not Contact Registry (NPDNC) last October.

Mike Carter is planning on making 50 million robo calls to Missouri voters in 2008. He is the only politician in the nation that has come out clearly and stated that he will be using this communication tool but will be giving voters a chance to opt-out of calls now and throughout the campaign by visiting his campaign website and registering their phone numbers for free on the Missouri Political Do Not Call Registry.

”I know it's self-serving to ask voters to visit Vote4Carter.com to register their phone numbers,” says Carter, “but the Missouri Political Do Not Call list is a very real way for voters to say, 'leave me the heck alone;' that's much more than any other candidate has offered up. And, it's really truly amazing that the not-for-profit National Political Do Not Contact (NPDNC) registry took notice of our campaign's do not call program and is helping to legitimize our efforts."

By joining the National Political Do Not Contact Registry, Mike Carter is giving Missouri voters the chance to remove themselves from the Carter Campaign’s robo call list as well as a chance to register for free to remove their phone numbers from other local, state, and national call lists by going directly to The National Political Do Not Contact Registry (NPDNC) website at StopPoliticalCalls.org to demand that other candidates take the “do not robo call” pledge as well.

“I am pleased that Mike Carter is the first politician in Missouri to take the “do not robo call” pledge and is offering voters the opportunity to opt out of robo calls throughout the state.,” said Shaun Dakin, founder and CEO of StopPoliticalCalls.org. “To my knowledge, Mike is the first candidate in the country to be clear about his intention to use robocalls to get his message out to voters while giving citizens who do not want to receive robo calls a clear mechanism to opt out.   He has taken the first decisive step in what I believe to be the crucial effort of giving voters back their privacy and peace and quiet in their own homes. The voters of Missouri are fortunate to have someone like Mike running for Lt. Governor in Missouri.”

The National Political Do Not Contact Registry fills a void in the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) National Do Not Call (DNC) registry.   Because the First Amendment protects political speech, political calls are specifically excluded from the Federal DNC. While Americans have registered nearly 150 million phone numbers with the DNC, Georgetown University research determined that 3 out of 4 voters do not know that political calls are exempt from the DNC. In fact, The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found that 81 percent of Iowa caucus voters received automated (or “robo”) calls during November 2007.

“I started the StopPoliticalCalls.org to give voters back their sanity during election season,” said Dakin. “Many voters consider their homes to be a sanctuary and consider calls – especially the automated ‘robo’ calls – from politicians and political groups to be invasive.”

At the voluntary National Political Do Not Contact Registry, our members report receiving 10 to 15 calls about robocalls each day during election season. Mothers are having their babies awakened from naps. Night shift workers who sleep during the day are not able to get the rest they need to be productive. Seniors live in fear of a health emergency occurring while their phone line is tied up with yet another robocall.

As a member wrote to us recently: "My 85-year-old mother who had a stroke sometimes is at home alone, and when these phone calls come in, it confuses her and gets her upset when someone doesn't listen to her. She doesn't understand that it is an automated call."

It is time for these calls to stop.

About Mike Carter, Candidate for Lt. Governor in Missouri:

Michael E. Carter is the leading Democratic candidate running for Missouri's Lieutenant Governor. This is significant in that it's nearly certain that the Democratic nominee will take the reigns of the office. Carter is a Senior Lecturer for the University of Missouri at St. Louis and a practicing attorney focusing in real estate & business. He has worked for the United States Senate, Missouri's Western District Court of Appeals, Missouri's attorney general, and for UPS as a package driver. Carter is a distant relative of past Missouri Governor, Mel Carnahan.

About the National Political Do Not Contact Registry – StopPoliticalCalls.org:

The National Political Do Not Contact Registry is a program of Citizens for Civil Discourse (CCD), non-partisan, non-profit organization (federal 501(c)(3) status pending) dedicated to elevating political discussion in the United States. CCD is based on the premise that the decline of civility in American political dialogue has diminished our nation’s capacity to address urgent problems. Founder and CEO Shaun Dakin believes that citizen action is required to restore decency, respect and common sense to public debate in this country.

CCD created the National Political Do Not Contact registry as a first step towards its goal by reducing unwanted political phone calls, particularly automated messages (“robo” calls). Because the U.S. Constitution protects political speech, CCD advocates addressing this issue not by enacting new legislation but by encouraging voters to take back control of the political conversation and make free speech a two-way exchange. Learn more at www.StopPoliticalCalls.org <http://www.stoppoliticalcalls.org/> <http://www.stoppoliticalcalls.org/> .

Shaun Dakin, CEO and Founder, recently testified at the U.S. Senate Committee on Rules and Administration hearings on Robocalls.   You can read his testimony and obtain a video at: http://rules.senate.gov/hearings/

Currently the following politicians have taken the National Political Do Not Contact (NPDNC) registry “do not robo call” pledge:

Virginia Foxx (R-NC)
Nancy Boyda (D-KS)
Matt Salisbury (R-ID)
Matt Carter (D-MO)