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November 11, 2003

Congratulations! You're a winner!

Imagine that you get a phone call from the office of a nationally-known politician, saying that they want to give you an award. You'd likely call back, right? Even if you weren't too sure what, exactly, they were giving you an award for?

Apparently, that's what Tom DeLay and his office are hoping - and all you have to do to claim your award is make a suggested donation of between $300 and $500 to DeLay's campaign.

Air Force Chaplain James Helton says he was flabbergasted when he first heard the news from his wife. “She told me you’ve been selected for a national award by Congressman DeLay, and they really want you to call the office.”

Helton wondered why a powerful Republican leader would want to honor a humble Air Force reservist and quickly returned the call. He was so upset by what he heard that he invited NBC News to record the conversation when he called back a second time.

First there was a recorded message: “This is Congressman Tom DeLay. I’m asking you to serve as an honorary chairman on our business advisory council, and you will be recognized with our national leadership award.”

Then, a telemarketer came on the line: “You’d be invited to private dinners with congressmen and quarterly strategy sessions in Washington.”

In the call, Helton was also promised an exclusive black-tie president’s dinner and his name in a newspaper ad.

Then came the pitch from the telemarketer: “We’re asking each chairman for a one-time gift of $300 or $500 for the ad. Can we count on your support?”

Helton replied: “That’s pushing my budget a little. Does it have to be paid all at once?”

“Would $100 or $200 be any better for you? And I could even split that down into two payments as well,” replied the telemarketer.

You know, I get annoyed when I get mailings from different groups telling me I may have "won" something and would I like to give them a contribution in return, but generally, I can spot those things a mile away just by the **CAR-RT SORT** label, and I don't recall having gotten any such pitches from any politicians. They may tell me they want my greatly valued opinion on matters and, while I'm at it, would I care to maybe give them a few dollars to help defray the cost of their processing it - but they've never said they were going to "give" me an award.

This kind of thing is just sad. It's not really a "trick", per se, from what I can tell, but it sure is walking close to the edge. I just hope most people have the sense to realize that unless you've done something that's gained other attention, odds are that a well-known politician isn't going to be giving you an "award" - and if it IS a genuine award, they're sure not going to be asking you for a donation in connection with offering it to you.

And before anyone asks, yes, I'd be just as upset if this was a democrat as I am with it being done by a republican. Slimey tactics are still slimey either way.

Posted by thorswitch at November 11, 2003 06:13 AM

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Posted by: June Botich at February 23, 2004 01:27 PM