Firm Blamed for Bogus Telegrams to Congress

WASHINGTON — Long-distance telephone companies admitted Thursday that as many as half of the 500,000 messages they flooded Congress with during a battle over a telecommunications bill were bogus. They blamed a telemarketing subcontractor.

“The House of Representatives and the [long-distance] coalition have been the unwitting victims of this extremely unethical, improper conduct,” former Sen. Howard H. Baker Jr., the chairman of the coalition, wrote in a letter to House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.).

Baker said NTS Marketing of Lynchburg, Va., had generated “a large number” of telegrams to House members without getting the permission of those whose names were signed to the messages. In some cases, the people had died. Telephone calls seeking comment from NTS Marketing were not immediately returned.

Following the group’s admission, Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.) issued a statement saying it “tells us that a great deal of money is being made in an elaborate game to con members of Congress.”