November 21, 2009
Congressman Robert Wexler
2241 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Fax: (202) 225-5974
Dear Congressman Wexler,
In May 2008, a letter from you to one of your supporters was forwarded to the Jews for Obama listserv with the introduction, “As you all know, Congressman Wexler has been a strong Obama supporter and advisor to the campaign. Please help him in his re-election bid. Thanks.”
In response, I sent a donation to your campaign, one which I couldn’t really afford given how much I had already spent to help Obama.
When I donated to you, I specified a unique email address, [elided]. Today I received an email message to that address from “Marcy Winograd for Congress”. Since the only time I’ve ever given out that email address to anyone is when I donated to your campaign, the only way Winograd’s campaign could have gotten the address is from you. Shame on you.
I’m sure most of your other supporters are as uninterested in being hit up for donations from California as I am. Apparently you think it’s OK to cause your supporters to be annoyed with unwanted email as long as they won’t be able to figure out that it’s your fault. That, sir, is appalling. Unsolicited email is a huge problem on the Internet. It’s simply unacceptable for your office to add to it.
Please remove my email address completely from all databases and lists under your control. Also, please contact everyone whom you have given my email address and tell them to remove it from their lists. Please confirm to me that you have done these things.
I sincerely hope that you will put a stop to giving third parties the addresses of your supporters without their knowledge and consent.
I have published this letter on my blog, http://blog.kamens.brookline.ma.us/. I hope that your response will make it clear that you understand you’ve done something wrong and won’t do it again, rather than making it clear that you’re just another run-of-the-mill politician who thinks nothing of shafting his supporters when (you think) it’s to your advantage.
Sincerely,
Jonathan Kamens
Cc: Winograd for Congress 2010
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Wexler is a good guy, so I can’t I imagine that he and his staff won’t take steps to fix this. Let us know once he has.
I wish I were as confident as you that he will address this, but in my experience, many politicians who seem to be “good guys” just don’t get it when it comes to unsolicited bulk email. Either they don’t think they’re doing anything wrong, or they don’t care.
Of course, they “got it” enough to exempt themselves when passing the CAN-SPAM act.