Wow my letter to the editor got published
There was a letter in a local Herndon newspaper about an automated "survey" about the upcoming town of Herndon Election.
Election Survey Polls the wrong people.
I have just received an interesting automated telephone survey, asking questions with regard to the upcoming Town of Herndon elections.
The yes-or-no questions asked such things as whether I wanted taxpayer money spent on the day laborer site, "millions" spent on the new Herndon Cultural Arts Center, rezoning of areas of Herndon for higher density housing, a change of constituency and direction in the Town Council, etc.
Although I have a Herndon address in Zip code 20170, I do not live within the Town of Herndon limits, and therefore cannot vote in any town election. Such a survey should be restricted solely to potential voters residing within the town limits. When the entity who conducted the survey, "CAZ" at 571-522-1332,
I got the same survey call. I don't live in the Town of Herndon either and am not eligible to vote in that election. I did not think the survey was a real survey. I suspected it was automated political advertising pretending to be a poll to get around the Do Not Call list. My letter got published in the next issue.
Telephone Campaign Still Polling Non-Town Residents
To the editor:
I also received a telephone survey about the Town of Herndon election ("Election Survey Polls Wrong People," The Observer, March 17). I also do not live in the Town of Herndon so I am not eligible to vote in the upcoming election. I don't think that the survey was real, so the people who are doing the survey don't really care about the accuracy of the results.
It is my belief that the "survey" was really thinly disguised political advertising. The quality of the questions betrays the interests behind the survey. If I did live in the Town of Herndon I would be tempted to vote against who ever paid for that "survey" just because I would not want to encourage that kind of behavior.
The survey started with a lie. It asked if I would like to take a 45-second survey. The survey went on for much more than 45 seconds. I expect the part about it being a survey was also a lie.
This is not the first automated "survey" I have gotten, that seemed to be political advertising in disguise. We are on the "do not call" list. Is there an exception for political surveys? There ought to be a law. Maybe there is and it is just not being enforced.
Out of curiosity I searched the number that they called from, 571-522-1332, on the Internet. It turns out that "CAZ" has been busy doing this all over the country. I wonder who hired "CAZ" to annoy the good people of Herndon?
After googleing a bit I found out that the company doing the survey, ccAdvertising even calls it's surveys advertising. That is what is on their Political Issues page.
The ironic thing is that ccadvertizing is based in Herndon. Their address is 13800 Coppermine Road Herndon, Virginia 20171. Even though they do these "surveys" all over the country, since they are based here they should have a clue that the Town of Herndon boundaries are not the same as the 20170 zip code for the post office.
The Brewed Fresh Daily had the clue that helped me track this all down.
I don't know if I have the time/energy to track exactly who paid ccadvertizing for their annoying political advertizing calls, still it was fun to be published. It would be good to know who to blame even if I don't vote in the Town of Herndon. I'm sure I know some people who do.
Election Survey Polls the wrong people.
I have just received an interesting automated telephone survey, asking questions with regard to the upcoming Town of Herndon elections.
The yes-or-no questions asked such things as whether I wanted taxpayer money spent on the day laborer site, "millions" spent on the new Herndon Cultural Arts Center, rezoning of areas of Herndon for higher density housing, a change of constituency and direction in the Town Council, etc.
Although I have a Herndon address in Zip code 20170, I do not live within the Town of Herndon limits, and therefore cannot vote in any town election. Such a survey should be restricted solely to potential voters residing within the town limits. When the entity who conducted the survey, "CAZ" at 571-522-1332,
I got the same survey call. I don't live in the Town of Herndon either and am not eligible to vote in that election. I did not think the survey was a real survey. I suspected it was automated political advertising pretending to be a poll to get around the Do Not Call list. My letter got published in the next issue.
Telephone Campaign Still Polling Non-Town Residents
To the editor:
I also received a telephone survey about the Town of Herndon election ("Election Survey Polls Wrong People," The Observer, March 17). I also do not live in the Town of Herndon so I am not eligible to vote in the upcoming election. I don't think that the survey was real, so the people who are doing the survey don't really care about the accuracy of the results.
It is my belief that the "survey" was really thinly disguised political advertising. The quality of the questions betrays the interests behind the survey. If I did live in the Town of Herndon I would be tempted to vote against who ever paid for that "survey" just because I would not want to encourage that kind of behavior.
The survey started with a lie. It asked if I would like to take a 45-second survey. The survey went on for much more than 45 seconds. I expect the part about it being a survey was also a lie.
This is not the first automated "survey" I have gotten, that seemed to be political advertising in disguise. We are on the "do not call" list. Is there an exception for political surveys? There ought to be a law. Maybe there is and it is just not being enforced.
Out of curiosity I searched the number that they called from, 571-522-1332, on the Internet. It turns out that "CAZ" has been busy doing this all over the country. I wonder who hired "CAZ" to annoy the good people of Herndon?
After googleing a bit I found out that the company doing the survey, ccAdvertising even calls it's surveys advertising. That is what is on their Political Issues page.
The ironic thing is that ccadvertizing is based in Herndon. Their address is 13800 Coppermine Road Herndon, Virginia 20171. Even though they do these "surveys" all over the country, since they are based here they should have a clue that the Town of Herndon boundaries are not the same as the 20170 zip code for the post office.
The Brewed Fresh Daily had the clue that helped me track this all down.
I don't know if I have the time/energy to track exactly who paid ccadvertizing for their annoying political advertizing calls, still it was fun to be published. It would be good to know who to blame even if I don't vote in the Town of Herndon. I'm sure I know some people who do.