Ehrlich on Washington column, August 14, 1995

MEWS FROM Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. Second Congressional District of Maryland 1407 York Road, Suite 304 Lutherville, Maryland 2 1 093 315 Cannon House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515 EHRLICH ON WASHINGTON Week of August 14, 1995 By Congressman Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. TALES OF THE “TELEGATE” SCANDAL Some of you might have received a strange call from my Washington office during the last two weeks. During one long and late night in Washington, members of my staff combed through countless telegrams, phoning constituents to determine if they actually sent some of the two thousand pieces of mail which my office received about the recent telecommunications bill. After extensive research, we discovered a hoax of almost unbelievable proportions. Nearly a half-million telegrams flooded Capitol Hill about the recently-considered telecommunications bill. In a flurry of last-minute lobbying, organizations opposed to this legislation called hundreds of thousands of people throughout the country. Many people who had never even heard of the telecommunications bill later found out their names had been used improperly and illegally. Many of the telegrams, for example, were signed by children. A colleague from Texas reported receiving a telegram from himself, while another Congressman from Illinois received one from a deceased constituent in Chicago. While Chicago has had reported problems with dead people voting in the past, this latest hoax makes it appear that dead people are lobbying as well! Closer to home, at least three dozen of the telegrams my office reviewed were from constituents with no knowledge of the telecommunications bill. One person, in fact, was a Bell