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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