Arizonans for Affordable Energy, a group bankrolled by APS to oppose the proposed Clean Energy initiative has begun a new round of robocalls "warning" people to beware the petition circulators.
Arizona's Politics received the call Thursday morning, and was able to record it.
Matthew Benson, the indefatigable spokesman for AAFE, told Arizona's Politics that asking for the reactions of people who received the call "fascinating....(Y)ou're fine w/ them using felons (in violation of state law) but have a real beef with us letting people know about it."
Here's the call:
Of course, both halves of that statement are incorrect assumptions
From the inevitable legal challenges to previous initiative petitions, we have learned that petition gathering firms screen the people they hire to circulate for criminal records. People who have not had their voting rights restored following a felony conviction are not hired because they are not eligible to vote or to circulate petitions. (They are not ineligible due to safety concerns or identity theft concerns.) We have also learned that a few people with felony convictions typically slip through the screening efforts due to incomplete databases and varying laws regarding restoration of rights .
But, pretending that AAFE is simply making the calls as an (Arizona) public service when the calls (and videos) are clearly trying to use over the top scare tactics is not typical.
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