State sues 2 companies for phone calls

Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter has filed two lawsuits against groups placing automated calls to voters in the 9th District.\nAmerican Family Voices, Inc., a Washington, D.C.-based group that advocates "a strong voice for middle- and low-income families on economic, health care and consumer issues," according to its Web site, made automated phone calls attacking the record of Rep. Mike Sodrel, R-9th, Carter said.\nCarter sued the Economic Freedom Fund, a Sacramento, Calif., organization that works to "educate the public concerning issues related to the preservation of economic freedom, the promotion of economic growth and prosperity for the people of the United States of America," according to its Web site, for making similar automated phone calls about Sodrel's Democratic opponent, Baron Hill.\nAmerican Family Voices, Inc., might have also made automated calls in the 8th District about the race there, Carter said.\nThe suits accuse the groups of violating the 1988 Regulation of Automated Dialing Machines Act, a state statute that makes it illegal for companies to place automated calls unless the recipient agrees to receive the call beforehand.\nViolators can be fined up to $5,000 per infraction, Carter said.\nThe attorney general's office received six complaints about American Family Voices calls and seven about calls from the Economic Freedom Fund. Carter said his office is now investigating the exact number of calls made.\nAn injunction was issued in Brown County Monday that prevents the Economic Freedom Fund from making any more automated calls.\nNo injunction has been filed against American Family Voices, Inc., so it does not plan to cease automated phone calls, said Joe Sandler, a Washington, D.C., attorney for the group who also works the Democratic National Committee.\n"This is a law we don't believe is enforceable," Sandler said. "It's pre-empted by federal law, and it's never been enforced for political calls until the last couple weeks."\nJames Bopp, a Terre Haute attorney representing the Economic Freedom Fund, said he did not think the group had done anything to break the law.\n"When making the calls, we thought it was legal," he said. "We relied on our vendor with respect to that."\nThe fund has not revealed who its vendor was.\nCarter would not say if there were other complaints under investigation in regards to calls both groups made in other Indiana districts but said he "wouldn't rule it out."\nHe also said he wants to make the public aware that none of the calls appear to be tied to either political campaign.\n"We don't have any evidence that any campaigns or political parties are involved in this," Carter said. "It's easy to assume that if a call is made, the other political party is responsible, but we don't make that assumption."\nSodrel spokesman Cam Savage said he only found out about the calls attacking Hill when he read about them in a newspaper. He also said Sodrel has been a victim of such attack calls since he took office after winning the seat from Hill in 2004.\n"For about a year and a half, these liberal 527 groups have made phone calls attacking us," Savage said.\nHill spokeswoman Melanie Morris also said members of that campaign were not aware of the calls until they made the news.\n"Back in August, (Hill) denounced all automated calls, whether they attacked us or our opponent," she said.\nThis election is the third time Hill and Sodrel have vied for the closely watched 9th District seat. Hill served as the district's representative from 1998 until 2004 when he lost the seat to Sodrel by fewer than 1,500 votes.\nLibertarian Eric Schansberg, an economics professor at IU-Southeast, is also running for the seat.