The phone at my studio rang! “Thank you for Calling Skin Art Creations,” I sang out in the familiar greeting, “How may I help you?” My lovely wife Debbie’s voice filled my ear from the receiver. “Honey,” she said obviously trying to contain her excitement, “A Shirley Thompson from Congressman Tom Reynolds office called and you have been nominated for the National Leadership Award.” She caught her breath, “She wants you to call her so that you can discuss the information for the press release.” I mumbled something that sounded like “Uh-huh” as she continued, “I looked him (Tom Reynolds) up on the Internet and he is a Congressman.” Interesting, I thought, “Is he a Republican or a Democrat?” I asked. “Just a moment,” Debbie said. “Let’s see, hmmm, it doesn’t say.” She continued to lightly mumble to herself as she does when researching on the web. “I can’t find anything on what party he is,” she said obviously frustrated. “Go to www.congress.org ,” I told her, “See what you can find out and call me back.”

Fifteen minutes later Debbie called back. “He’s a Republican,” She said, “He’s from Williamsville, NY.” I could hear the questions in her voice and I urged her to continue. “I also looked up the National Leadership Award and I found a blog from a guy at www.hackwriters.com that had nothing good to say about it. The guy said it is a scam.” I asked her to read the blog comment to me and I told her to stop when she read one part of the blog, I said, “Give me that phone number, let’s see what this is about.” Debbie recited the number to me, 1-866-338-8289 (this is the actual phone number I included it in case you would like a National Leadership Award).

I called the number and told the gentleman that answered that I was returning Shirley Thompson’s call and I asked if she was available to speak with me. The young man, who told me his name was Bob, informed me that Ms. Thompson was busy on another call but that he would be willing to answer any question he could for me. “Well,” I started, “Apparently I have been nominated for some sort of award and she (Ms. Thompson), wanted to talk with me about the press release.” The nice young gentleman asked me my name and my city and soon had found me. I was really impressed, on file Bob had my age, IQ, shoe size, hat size, jock size, the names of all my pets, past, present, future and the number of friends I had before my mirror cracked. “Oh yes Mr. George,” the helpful young man said, “You have been nominated by the National Republican Congressional Committee for the National Leadership Award.” Tongue in cheek I said, “Really, wow, imagine that. So who nominated me Bob?” I asked. “The committee did,” the young man told me. “Oh, the committee.” I said. “Yes,” said my new friend Bob, “and Congressman Reynolds has a special message just for you,” he said gleefully. “Please hold for Congressman Reynolds.” Wow, Congressman Reynolds wants to talk to me personally. I waited in anxious anticipation. There was a small click and then the electronic recorded voice of Congressman Reynolds filled my ear;

"Hello, this is Congressman Tom Reynolds. Thank you for taking time to call. The United States Congress needs to hear from small business people like you, to hear just what it’s like out there, and to hear how much a tax-break would help you. Your voice is important to Congress, and we want you to help us shape policy that will help small businessmen like you in communities like yours. You have been nominated for the National Leadership Award by the Business Advisory Council because you have shown true leadership qualities in your community. It will be my honor to shake your hand along with other community members at the Presidents Annual Dinner. Thank you. Please hold on and someone will be right back with you."

I waited for my new friend Bob to come back on the line. The next voice I heard lead me to believe that either my new friend Bob had either gotten a sex change in the 30 seconds it took for Congressman Reynolds to run his spiel or Bob had now been replaced by his twin sister Roberta. “So Mr. George, pretty exciting,” Roberta bubbled, “I bet you are overwhelmed.” You have no idea, I thought. “Well, I just don’t know what to say,” I bubbled back. “Yes, it is indeed exciting Mr. George,” Roberta continued reading from her script;

“For only a $500.00 election year donation you will become an Honorary Chairman of the Business Advisory Council. You will have no voting authority but will be sent periodic surveys for your valuable input. But that’s not all Mr. George, as Congressman Reynolds said, you will receive a personal invitation to attend the Presidents Annual Dinner where you will be seated with a mix of people made up of other top Republican leaders. Congressman Reynolds always looks forward to meeting the leaders and shaking their hands. It can’t get any better right Mr. George? Well, it does! You will also receive a wall plaque stained in dark mahogany with a replica gold gavel and a genuine bronze plaque inscribed with your name. All of this for only a $500.00 election year donation which can be conveniently broke down into two payments of $250.00 each. So what do you think about that Mr. George?”
“That’s pretty impressive,” I said, “but how did you get my name and contact information? I asked. “From a list of top Republican Business Leaders in your Community” came the lovely Roberta’s reply. “I see,” I said, “So Congressman Reynolds picked me personally?” I inquired. “Well no the Congressman’s Business Advisory Council Committee nominated you.” Roberta said cheerfully. “Wow,” I said sugar dripping thickly from my vocal chords, “So tell me Roberta, why would a Republican Congressman from New York State want the financial support of a Democratic Representative Candidate from Kansas?”

In radio there is a term for what happened next it is called, “Dead Air.” I patiently waited while Roberta checked her emergency responses check list looking for the right response and came up empty. Unless of course this is the right response;

“Umm, well uh, lets see, umm, uh your name is, umm, uh on a list of lets see, um, Republican leaders, uh in your umm community, uh could be a mistake, umm.”

“So, tell me Roberta, how does a registered Democrat get on a list of top Republican Leaders?” I pressed. “Well um, yeah there has been a mistake we will take your um name from our list.” Roberta continued to stammer. “Aw,” I whined, “Does this mean no plaque and that I won’t get to shake the Congressman’s hand?” Roberta promptly hung up on me and here I thought we had formed a real connection.

So now I have to ask myself, “How low will they go?” Being in politics myself I find myself in the tough position of having to ask for campaign contributions. It is nothing that I can avoid but it is a thing that I will not be deceptive about. I personally hate having to ask for contributions but if I am going to finance my campaign and hopefully be able win the election so that I can be of service to the people in my district I have to do it. I will not however stoop to using a telemarketing scam disguised as a award presentation to raise funds. You see, political fundraising is safe from the guidelines setup for the “National Do Not Call List” so a political fundraising committee may stretch the limits of credibility and decency by trying to scam a person into thinking that they were “Picked from a list of top Republican leaders” for a leadership award given for just a small contribution. And do not doubt that it is indeed a scam.

It is no more than a flim-flam. It is a new take on the old “Engraved Bible” gimmick. The Mark is contacted by the Con Artist who has a Bible engraved with the name of a recently departed loved one. The Con tells the Mark that he is a Bible salesman who was contacted by the deceased to engrave a Bible. The salesman is sorry for the loss and asks the Mark if they want the Bible. After all it was the loved ones last request and it would be a way to honor their memory. The Mark buys the engraved Bible for $50.00 and the Con Artist who got the name of the deceased loved one from the newspaper obituaries pockets a $40.00 profit. Get the picture?

I know that the Republican party is hurting but this is truly a new low. They cannot even raise funds honestly for their party. The Republican’s must now resort to using lies, deception and false recognition to raise money. Oh, by the way, the part of the blog posting on www.hackwriters.com  that I told my wife to stop reading on was this, "You won a National Leadership Award. Congressman Tom Delay called you in person!" Tom Delay? Imagine that, House Whip Tom Delay used the same scam in his fundraising. Apparently the members of the Republican House are all using the same campaign telemarketing flim-flam game. Lying and stealing are next door neighbors and the Capitol is just down the street from the White House.

I promise that I will strongly resist the temptation to sink as low as our Republican friends. Besides…. I believe that they already sold that bridge in Brooklyn, didn’t they?

"The elected official works for the people! You do not make promises to your boss which are beyond your power to keep and expect to hold your position."

-Jim George- Democratic Candidate, Kansas State House of Representatives District #12