I thought the Democrat Party would be rejoicing over the NH State Supreme Court decision last week?
Former Speaker Bill O’Brien filed a very easy to understand suit against Democrat Chair, Big Money Buckley, over primary election robo-calls Big Money Buckley starred in back in September of 2010.
The calls were classic Big Money Buckley, smarmy and sophomoric. The guy appears to have had a long, lonely personal life he can only fill with other people’s money for this type of stuff. We see it every election.
The robo-call was meant to make fun of O’Brien because he was on the Democrat and Republican primary ballots, the Dems not being able to find a candidate to oppose their biggest target, which is laughable in itself.
Saul Alinsky would be ashamed of the way Big Money Buckley tried to pull this off.
Here is the brilliant Big Money Buckley robo-call:
This is State Democratic Chair Ray Buckley calling with the important news that current Republican Bill O’Brien has asked to join the Democratic Party’s ticket for the November elections. If he succeeds tomorrow, we expect Bill O’Brien will embrace the Democratic Party’s platform, support President Obama, national health care reform and stand up for gay marriage, and protect a woman’s right to choose and our agenda to move New Hampshire and America forward. Once again, we wanted you to know before you vote tomorrow that Bill O’Brien has asked to join the Democratic ticket and our progressive agenda. Thank you so much.
Bill O’Brien sued under RSA 664:14-a. I have the relevant portions as I read it:
664:14-a Prerecorded Political Messages. –
I. In this section, “prerecorded political message” means a prerecorded audio message delivered by telephone by:
(b) Any person when the content of the message expressly or implicitly advocates the success or defeat of any party, measure, or person at any election, or contains information about any candidate or party.
II. No person shall deliver or knowingly cause to be delivered a prerecorded political message unless the message of any organization or organizations the person is calling on behalf of. contains, or a live operator provides, within the first 30 seconds of the message, the following information:
(a) The name of the candidate or
(b) The name of the person or organization paying for the delivery of the message and the name of the fiscal agent, if applicable.
IV. (a) A violation of this section shall result in a civil penalty of $5,000 per violation.
(b) Any person injured by another’s violation of this section may bring an action for damages and for such equitable relief, including an injunction, as the court deems necessary and proper.
Big Money Buckley introduced himself as the “Democrat Chair” as tough it was a call from him. But he did not say the Party was paying for his shenanigans – a simple obligation required by the statute – as the Democrats would demand of anyone else. But that is classic Big Money Buckley.
Here is what happened per the Supra decision:
On September 15, 2010, the plaintiff filed a complaint with the office of the Attorney General, alleging that the defendants violated the Robocall Statute, because they were “responsible for calls containing a prerecorded political message that lacked the statutorily required disclosures.” In August 2011, the Democratic Party entered into a consent agreement with the attorney general “to resolve the State’s claims for an alleged violation of the . . . statute, RSA 664:14-a.” The Party paid a $5,000 fine, but did not admit to a violation of the statute.
O’Brien was looking for $5,000.00 per each 395 calls just like the Big Money Buckley would if Bill O’Brien made such an egregious error. (satire)
But what does Big Money Buckley care? I hear he gets a cut of Democrat campaign funds to pay for his Big Money Buckley lifestyle and the Democrats and unions who fork over the cash don’t seem to mind.
The full text of the case is here: http://www.courts.state.nh.us/supreme/opinions/2014/2014018obrien.pdf