NC DEMS Using Minnesota PHONE BANKS to Solicit Funds! Disgusting!!!

My phone rang a few minutes ago and when I answered, I got a message that I had a call from the NC Democratic Party. I said: "Yes?" and the person on the other end of the phone line went into a "memo" about how the NC Democrats needed my support for legislative issues and did I know about all the problems facing NC with "Health Care"...etc.

The person on the phone had a very "ODD ACCENT" and there was alot of noise in the background making it hard to not only understand her but to hear her.

I asked her: "Are you at a 'Phone Bank' because I hear alot of "background noise." The person answered: "Yes, I'm in Minnesota calling you...and then she got very confused...but broke in and asked if I could give $100.00 to the North Carolina Democratic Party to support them.

I said: "I've given to the NC Democratic Party and just put me down as "Given" on your tally. She seemed more confused and really seemed to need another donation from me.

HERE IS MY PROBLEM!!! WHAT THE HELL....IS THE NC DEMOCRATIC PARTY DOING USING CALLERS FROM MINNESOTA TO SOLICIT FUND? THIS WOMAN SOUNDED LIKE ONE OF THE "INDIANS" who help me with my SERVER problems for my "ISP!"

I'm not trying to get this woman from Minnesota who could barely speak English to lose her job........But WHY AREN'T NC'LINIANS being HIRED BY OUR DEM PARTY TO SOLICIT FUNDS when we have so many out of work with the Furniture Industry, Textiles (Pillotex) and others who REALLY NEED TO BE PAID BY US TO PHONE BANK.

I have given to the NC Democratic Party, I'm involved with it...(And a Contributor to the Progressive Dems, the National Dems and have personally spent my own money during the Kerry/Edwards Campaign for Dems),but if this DISGRACEFUL "Phone Banking for Party Donations" Continues....then there is something VERY WRONG with not only our NC Dem Party but our national Party.

This was so disgusting to me...I don't have words to convey more than my ANGER!!!! (Forgive the typo's in this...I don't have much time and was posting quickly).

KoKo01
Precinct Delegate 0 #XXXXX
AND... a NC DEM PARTY DONOR...in OUTRAGE!

partly on account of teeth chattering from the cold. But it's quite possible the woman you talked to really was in India and was merely told to say Minnesota. Some political parties have hired Indian telemarketers to do their phone banking because it's cheaper. And that sucks.

What were they thinking?

to do their phone banking?

Minnesotans...and ones who don't seem to be able to speak English?

:shrug: Something is so Hokey and Terrible with this....I don't even want to think about it....but I HAVE TO!!! I have TO think ABOUT THIS!

It's awful!

Banks (if that's even believable! to Solicit Funds)???? :eyes:

Seriously KoKo.

You said you're involved with the NC Democratic party.. But what you didn't say was whether you contacted them for their comments.

How do you know it wasn't someone who has nothing to do with the Democratic party just trying to scam you?

You didn't contact anyone, but you're blasting them with allegations?

I dunno.

Seriously... I'm putting on my tin foil hat.. :tinfoilhat:

Sheesh.

I mean the original post.. :crazy: :crazy: :crazy:

You said that you're involved with the Democratic party, but you never checked with ANYONE to confirm the phone calls were on the up and up?

You're blaming DEMOCRATS, when in fact, you have no idea who really called you.

You're jumping to conclusions. Too easy to blame Democrats. :tinfoilhat:

would see I laid out the whole conversation. Obviously you didn't read the post..but reacted from what your script said you needed to say. :D

READ THE Post...then get back to me.

and it's damn hard to get people to do, because few people want to sit in a basement making calls for a couple of hours.

what could have happened is that the DNC is coordinating phone banks for states with no locations or not enough personell in states that do, or, even, the head of the NC party might have asked the head of the MN party for a favor.

seems alot more rational then "the DNC outsourced our volunteer work to paid phone bankers in INDIA!"

would they go to Minnesota? And, let me tell you...I'm not sure it was "really Minnesota" unless one has an "ear for accents" like me. It sounded like "Minnesota via India" and since we know they are training those Indian Call Centers in American Dialect how do I know for sure it was "Minnesota USA or "India Call Center" trained by Minnesotian?"

How would I know the "truth of that?" How would I?

There's probably a very good reason.

919-821-2777

You should have done this before you posted here.

:eyes:

from. She SAID: "Call Bank in Minnesota." It would be helpful before your "mouth off" you read posts....

Asking the caller is not the same thing as asking the NC Democratic Party. Call them and get the actual answer. There has to be a reason the NCDP is using this phone bank. You will either agree with the reasoning or not but why "mouth off" (your words to me remember) before you know the whole story?

:eyes:

1.) Actively look for a job.
2.) Take your new extra time to spend with your family
3.) Sit in a basement for a couple hours asking people for money over the phone.

And as far as accents go, Minnesota and Wisconsin do have noticeably large southeast Asian communities living in them, and we do live in a nation of immigrants.

I had an Indian couple who used to volunteer for me frequently. They had accents, but they were citizens and very dedicated.

if true, a resident of Minnesota calling NC. Hmmm, what's worse?

and many of them are Democrats. Surely there are many people from Minnesota who are in this category (there are tons of them here in the Wash. DC metro area). Phone banking is often done by unpaid volunteers who simply want to get * and his cronies out of office and this is their way of helping. If I were you, I would check out the facts before getting upset.

person from a "Phone Bank" CALL ME? When I could have been recruited to VOLUNTEER ...OR one of our LAID OFF TEXTILE WORKERS could have been given the job. Obviously they are PAID PER CALL or She wouldn't have HARRASSED ME...Asking me over and over if I "understood the problems NC is faced with and how important it is to support leaders in the NC Hous and Senate."

Give ME A BREAK HERE! I wouldn't give another dime to some caller with an accent from MINNESOTA who wants me to give LOCALLY.

WHAT ARE OUR DEMS THINKING? :WTF:

Because I did!!

Hi there North Carolina Democratic Party...

"Are you phone banking out of the state of hockey-heads?"

I didn't ask it quite like that.. -- and of course I didn't send any info from your post!

But I'll let you know what their response is. I still say the DEMOCRATIC party of your great state is innocent!!!

WHY are you slamming our state party before confirming the facts?

I find it HIGHLY unlikely that the NCDP would be hiring people from MN to phone bank. Why would the call be routed through the NCDP?

I'm sure glad I'm not the only one who thinks so!

It broke my heart that "catmother" jumped in and immediately believed this to be true..

Hysterical...I wonder about YOU that you would categorize my ALERT as Hysterical.

So...which side of the "blanket" are you falling on, here. :shrug?

Hmmmmmm!

I asked. The FACTS speak for themselves. I asked and was answered...and that's why I posted in Outrage? You have a problem with that? I did my homework. Where is yours?

It sounds to me as though it was a scam call, particuarly considering they wanted another donation over the phone.

And yes, this assumption sounds hysterical:

"HERE IS MY PROBLEM!!! WHAT THE HELL....IS THE NC DEMOCRATIC PARTY DOING USING CALLERS FROM MINNESOTA TO SOLICIT FUND? THIS WOMAN SOUNDED LIKE ONE OF THE "INDIANS" who help me with my SERVER problems for my "ISP!"

I'm going to call the NCDP in the am to find out. But, fyi, I didn't get a call and I'm on the donor lists and always get a call when they are doing fundraising.

I will hear back.....but I'm telling you I GRILLED the caller and it was upsetting because I felt she might have kids she's trying to support and she was defensive in revealing she was from Minnesota...even though her accent was part Minnesota and part...well lets put it mildly ...part from outside American Shores. She might have been a "Native American" in that her accent was part Minnesota and party...something else.

Whatever!

She was calling me asking about LOCAL NC ISSUES and I picked up that what she was talking about was FAKE!!!

So, instead of Attacking ME on this thread let's figure out what the hell is going on out there with this. :shrug:

But your assumption. I said I'd call the NCDP tomorrow. (I doubt anyone will answer the phones at this hour).

to find out if it is in fact bogus or not, than why post this until you know for certain?

Its' obvious from the above post that your not exactly certain, not attempting to attack you but lately, all these attacks based on "wondering it something is true" and or "actually knowing if such is true" should make one heavily involved in the democratic party to be a bit more certain before lighting what could eventually become a firestorm if not handled with a bit more care..

Just saying....:think:

always works...doesn't it. :-(

KoKo, Just think about it.

In one of your latest posts, you say...

"So, instead of Attacking ME on this thread let's figure out what the hell is going on out there with this."

Why didn't you take on that attitude from the get-go?!?!

You say you're a delegate and that you're involved with the party.

Then WHY on earth would one suspicious phone call prompt you to send out thread claiming how =DISGUSTING= the party you work with is?? That's just mind-boggling to me.

Now in your latest thread, you're not even sure yourself!!!

When you come out TRASHING the Democratic Party in your state because of a call that could have originated from God only knows where.. and immediately a handful (fortunately a very small handful) of DU'ers jump in agreeing that "Democrats are giving away jobs!" etc..

..it's just WRONG!!

It's threads like this one.. Ones that aren't verified, that make me realize why Kos made the changes they made a few months ago.

You actually had people here agreeing with you on something you're not even sure about..

What changes? And what does that have to do with my posts? :shrug:

I don't post on Kos...so fill me in?

Quote from you:


It's threads like this one.. Ones that aren't verified, that make me realize why Kos made the changes they made a few months ago.

Being an "involved Dem" gives me the right to point out if they are using phone banks outside my state. And, if other DU'ers get these calls it alerts them also. How do you know my my post isn't "verified?"

Are you questioning my Democratic credentials? Is that what your questions are about?

the caller and with what I can make out, the caller was not exactly sure in her answers to you....

Than later in the thread, you stated you were contacting other members to assure such was fact or a bogus call?

I don't know, it does sound a bit confusing...

I've removed the names for privacy reasons:

DEM PARTY OFFICIAL #1:

Thanks for your email. The ASDC ("Association of State Democratic Chairs" -- an organization made up of all the state parties in the nation) has contracted with a single vendor to make calls on behalf of all the state parties in the country. While I would certainly prefer to have a North Carolina phone bank doing these calls, through this deal cut on behalf of all the state parties in the country, we are able to cut our fundraising costs IMMENSELY. As a result, more of the money raised goes directly to electing Democrats in North Carolina.

I can understand your feelings on this. But, given the cost savings, I believe that it is the right decision for our state party. It has nothing to do, of course, with Minnesota being cheaper or better than North Carolina. It's simply that, when one vendor makes calls on behalf of all the state parties in the country, the phone calls have to be made from somewhere.


-----------------------------------------------

DEM PARTY OFFICIAL #2

You'll be glad to hear that this is a nationwide phone bank run by the DNC. Here's what Hilary Brinson Wilkes, the NCDP fundraiser, says:

> The call the woman received is from our Dollars for Democrats program.
> It is a program run by the DNC for state parties which is why the phone
> banks are not in NC. Please apologize for any confusion!
>
>
I agree that it would be more effective if it were at least done regionally and certainly by people who were more articulate & quicker on the uptake.

I mean, after all, the woman did have an accent.

jobs that could be filled with laid off workers in every state in the union. This is money that is going to one firm "Myers Technologies" in one State in the Union when there are Democratic Organizations in every State who could hire their own people. It's "Outsourcing" and one wonders how much of a cut in Donations Myers Technologies and AccuDate are getting from the DNC.

The acccent that I'm talking about is not making fun of Minnesotans. The accent of the woman who called sounded like one of those "Call Centers in India." She may be an immigrant from India or Pakistan who moved to Minnesota....but how do I know that the calling center is really using Minnesotans and not just saying they are based in Minnesota when in fact it's Bombay, India?

And we're talking what, at most 20 jobs that will probably last a month, and that's a stretch. It could be five people working two weeks.

So again, you're laid off, and you have three options:
1.) Sit in a basement in Minnesota asking people for money over the phone for a month
2.) Actively look for a job
3.) Spend more time with your family.

And, also, it's not really outsourcing if the jobs weren't in NC to begin with, and definitely not if it was moved from a location in the United States... to a location in the United States.

I find it hard to believe a phone bank in MN would be cheaper to run than from NC. You might want to contact them and ask where this vendor is at. Could be the vendor headquarters is state-side but contracts out calling from India (not that that would be any better).

I HOPE the Party knows better than to outsource anything overseas. We expect this kind of thing from the Republicans but not Democrats.

and see if I can find a way to tell where that phone bank is. I've just gotten a couple of e-mails from folks here who are very upset about this also, feeling our State Dem party should be hiring here. One questioned how sucessful it is to have folks calling NC Dems who obviously are telemarketing over having a local person who sounds like them. Particularly for our older voters (who vote the MOST) having a personal touch is important.

Because you can start a phone bank in MN at 8am and call east coasters at 9am their time.

As time progresses you can call West Coast places up until 11pm Central time, which would be 9pm Pacific Time.

If the phone bank were on the east coast, you'd have to be working till midnight to reach 9pm Pacific.

If you were on the West Coast, you'd have to start at 6am Pacific Time to start calling the east coast at 9am Eastern.

So, being in the middle (like in MN) gives you the best balance.

For some reason, a lot of non-profits have phone banks in Minnesota. I worked briefly for an environmental group that would call members for donations from a call bank there. So it doesn't surprise me that the NC Democratic Party would do the same thing. I'm not sure why, there must be some legal or tax advantage in Minnesota.

but maybe they have a really big call center there in Minnesota that they might not have in other states.
I'm just mentioning this as I've worked for AT&T in Alabama as well as BellSouth in Louisiana. There used to be several call centers doing what I did in other states, but that was then, and this is now. Most of them have closed due to cut costs and transfer calls to the bigger 24/7 offices.
Downsizing and layoffs are a bitch. I say this from experience.
I understand your frustration and anger, but I don't think you should hold this against the Democratic Party.