Delmarva Power Using Rates Payers Money To Fund Anti-Wind Power Push Poll
This is just beneath contemp.
Coalition To Protect Our Environment
712 West 26th St.
Wilmington, DE 19802
For Release: April3, 4, 2008 Contact: John D. Flaherty: 302-521-0394 (c)
DELMARVA PUSH POLL A SCAM?
Call 1-800-214-3143 AND OBJECT
Is Delmarva Power conducting an in-house telemarketing campaign or a push poll against the Bluewater off-shore wind power project based on propaganda and rumor mongering.
Either way, that is the impression I am left with after calling and talking with a Maria who identified herself as a supervisor for a telemarketing firm hired by Delmarva to generate phone calls to legislators in opposition to the Bluewater wind project.
Maria told me that Delmarva gave her a written script to tell callers that the Bluewater wind off-shore power project will be a bad deal for Delaware and that the project will cost twice as much as other wind energy options.
I asked Maria if Delmarva substantiated these claims. She indicated no. She stated that the information came directly from Delmarva and that she had no knowledge herself about Bluewater other than the talking points Delmarva handed to her. Nothing to back up her claims. When pressed about Delmarva’s false claims against Bluewater, Maria referred me to the Bluewater website and then to a legislative hall telephone number 302-744-4351.
An internet encyclopedia site describes a push poll as a technique in which an individual or organization attempts to influence or alter the view of respondents under the guise of conducting a poll based on propaganda and rumor mongering, masquerading as a poll. .
The American Association for Public Opinion Research, (AAPOR) a leading professional organization of public opinion and survey research professionals in the U.S., with members from academia, media, government, the non-profit sector and private industry, condemns this kind of unethical activity.
On their website, the Association describes push polls as …’an insidious form of negative campaigning, disguised as a political poll. “Push polls” are not surveys at all, but rather unethical political telemarketing — telephone calls disguised as research that aim to persuade large numbers of voters… This misuse of the survey method exploits the trust people have in research organizations and violates the AAPOR Code of Professional Ethics and Practices.’
Some may disagree with me, but this seems to describe Delmarva’s actions to a t.
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Hey, this resembles investigative journalism. Kudos, JS. Nice scoop for a part-timer.
DG
John Flaherty gets the credit. Will it make the “news” papers? Don’t hold your breath.
John Flaherty will be on WDEL with me at 9:30 a.m. Calls of outrage welcome.
they didn’t scrub that list very well man, did they call the wrong guy! Freaking awesome jason! way to go.
Ummm, isn’t a poll where they call you to ask your opinion, rather than you calling them to express an opinion??? It sounds like you called the infamous DP&L 800 number yourself, or am I misunderstanding what you wrote?
Stockbridge is on right now defendingb his company after what has been a great Mascitti show. Flaherty (who wrote this post – why are people getting confused I wonder) is saying what I believe: that this is Delmarva extorting political action from their employees. It is time to RE-REGULATE Energy Utilities in Delaware.
I know what a “push poll” is… I’ve gotten 5 of them from Mike Protack.
It’s a hybrid astroturf/push-poll campaign.
Anon, a push poll asks something like “Would you be in favor of the Bluewater Wind Proposal if you knew that everytime the turbine was erected, a baby seal is clubbed to death?”
My favorite example is the one that Rove did to McCain in 2000 in South Carolina. “Would you vote for John McCain if you knew that he had fathered an illegitimate black child?”
It is the reason that I cannot believe that McCain hugs Bush these days.
The font on Flaherty’s name is too small.
Anon, a push poll asks something like “Would you be in favor of the Bluewater Wind Proposal if you knew that everytime the turbine was erected, a baby seal is clubbed to death?”
I know what a push poll is; what I’m confused about is who initiated the call in the first place. If John Flaherty called them, then that’s not a poll, whether or not their info was biased. If they called him to ask him his opinion, then that would be a poll.
Technically it’s astroturf, but with elements of a push-poll. Here’s how I pieced the story together:
I first read about it on DelawareWatch, where Dana reported he had heard about an upcoming DPL “push poll.”
Later Dana updated that post to state that it would be an 800 number for employees, but the push-poll tag stuck.
Then Flaherty sent out his press release which included the actual phone number, and his account of actually calling the number. Flaherty’s press release was posted first on DW then on DL., probably other places too that I didn’t see.
I encourage everyone to call the number and register your objections to the underhanded tactics. I did and it felt Good.