Bill Would Force Disclosure of Political Phone Call Sponsors

Senate Republican leader Jim Brulte on Wednesday proposed requiring political telephone banks to disclose the identity of the candidate or committee paying for the call.

Brulte said he wanted to prevent a repeat of a wave of deceptive calls made to Los Angeles voters last week in which mayoral candidate Antonio Villaraigosa was criticized by a woman who sounded like Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina.

Angered at the impersonation, Molina, a supporter of Villaraigosa, led a move by the county board to seek state legislation that would require political telephone banks to identify who had paid for their messages.

Virtually all advertising on radio, television, newspaper and by mail must disclose the source of the campaign material. But Brulte noted that a loophole exempts calls from political telephone banks.

“The loophole allows people to hide in the shadows and launch horribly negative attacks against candidates, but they never have to take responsibility for them,” he said.

The prohibition, which he said he will amend into an existing bill at a hearing next week, would apply to campaign telephone banks that make more than 1,000 calls. Violators would be subject to fines by the Fair Political Practices Commission.

Similar legislation has failed twice previously. Brulte blamed the defeats on the opposition of campaign consultants.