Who's Calling? Why?

The preferable term here is vigilant.  In an era of Citizen's United when massive amounts of money has been handed over to block progressive candidates, propositions, legislation, voter participation and community organizing we owe ourselves heightened skepticism.

Mountain West Research is calling within a progressive group of people we know.  No, the actual number of how many other Encinitans have been called is a mystery, but it seems odd that so many activists are among the list.

Mountain West callers are asking for the resident by name.  In one case the caller did ask a woman who answered, she was #2 on list, if she was registered. Here are some of the questions (paraphrased):

• Satisfaction with city services?
• Encinitas right track / wrong track?
• Biggest local issues?
• Each of the council candidates: Very favorable, somewhat favorable, somewhat unfavorable, very unfavorable
• Who will you vote for?
• If you were to pick a third candidate, who wold it be?
• Who will you vote for for President?
• What is your party affiliation?
• Liberal, moderat, conservative?
• Elected mayor proposition: yes/no? 2years/4years? Prefer current system?
• No statewide issues, no other local legislative races no SDUSD or Mira Costa Bonds

Another resident said they asked her first name, age, political affiliation too. Also, when asked about satisfaction or dissatisfaction, the next question was why?  The respondent was to say in his or her own words why. 

One activist said this was thorough, legitimate poll (as opposed to the recently common "push polls").  To which this cynic thinks, well you need to gather data before designing a push poll. This seems like the stage one date collection. Clarification: Push polls are phone surveys that purport to gather opinion research but which actually use slanted questions to intentionally spread negative information about a candidate.

By simply using the Google machine for a few minutes, a bunch of interesting links came up without strenuous investigative efforts. Among them were the different write-ups on the New Hampshire push-poll violation where Mountain West Research had to pay a $20,000 fine. And another that clarified the New Hampshire Law that states:

“While push polling is legal in New Hampshire, calls must inform those who answer who the telephone call is being made on behalf of or in support of, or if the calls are in opposition to a particular candidate for public office.

They must also identify that candidate by name and provide a telephone number from where the push polling is conducted.”

Enquiring Minds Want To Know

There is not enough information here to make any kind of legal claim right now. But it's early days, critical days. Not everyone in Encinitas who spoke about these calls cooperated.  One woman called Mountain West and asked them who paid for the survey.

"They said they couldn't tell me - their contract said the client was to be kept secret. They could take my information and pass it on but the client did not have to respond." She declined. 

Another person also decided to call Mountain West directly. (Personally, I can't get a straight answer from Cox, Utility Company, Bank or City Staff.  I guess I wouldn't have even tried with Mountain West.)

"I just spoke with Jesse at Mountain West Research about the cost of conducting a poll. He was quite coy. Said they'd be happy to conduct another poll but would need a script and they objectives well defined before quoting a price."

Someone did some local digging and found this Mountain West comment buried under a 2005 election time illegal alien rant. In the comments someone is saying that Mountain West did research for the Prop A - the Paul Ecke faction. That was the 2005 hot topic.

For those standing tall as vigilant voters rather than simply being labeled paranoiac or a conspiracy nut, there's another one to share. First, we contacted Lisa Shaffer and Tony Kranz and neither of them hired Mountain West.  One of the supporters reported the following:

"I got a call last night from a man who said he represented Mountain West Research, and wanted me to participate in a poll about local, regional and national elections. 

I had to strain to understand him and asked him to repeat several things he said. He spoke with an accent I couldn't identify and slurred his words. He confirmed my name and phone number, and asked if I am registered to vote. 

His first question was whether I planned to vote Republican or Democrat in the upcoming election. I responded that I always vote Democrat and would never vote Republican. 

The caller again confirmed my name and phone number, and said he had no more questions for me."

For a fascinating blog post from California (Sierra Madre actually) where you can get a feel for a similar community reaction to our own, check out this post "Have You Been Called By Mountain West Yet?"

Oh and BTW, Mountain West sounds like a crap place to work. Maybe that's why some of the respondents thought the callers were from outsourced locations internationally.

Website www.mwrcenter.com
HQ Ogden, UT
Industry Market Research & Polling Services
Size 100+ Employees

This is just a tiny scratch of the surface by untrained citizens spending several minutes using Google, making some calls, speaking to each other.  What if we were to have the inclination beyond speculation and this triggered gigantic curiosity in this sleepy beach town?  On this anniversary of Occupy Wall Street it would be a healthy challenge and a rollicking good time. It is also a throwback to a time when citizens were aware of the threat to their security.

Editor Postscript: If I get a call I will ask who is paying for it.  Without that information I wouldn't dream of answering any questions.