**UPDATE** NUMBER IDENTIFIED**
I have finally tracked down what this number is. Apparently it is a left-wing group that uses this 1-800 number as a re-direct to the Capitol Hill switchboard. You call the number, hear the message, and then it re-directs you to the real switchboard. The message is not being hosted on the government service.
This is not the normal number of the Capitol Hill switchboard.
Well, we have gotten to the bottom of this Capitol Hill switchboard number business. It is really the work of a left-wing group called Families USA. They are trying to pass off this 1-800 number as that of the switchboard, but it is not. (Here is an ad from a few years ago where they feature the number.)
But isn’t it interesting how these lefty groups have to lie to their own people? I mean, they are selling this as the number to “contact your Reps and Senators” as if it IS the Hill switchboard. This lefty group is even misleading its own folks! Brazen, eh?
Original post appears below…
-By Warner Todd Huston
Well, this certainly can’t be legal… can it? If you call one of the numbers that leads you to the switchboard for Congress, the number you’d call to be put through to your Congressman or Senator’s office, you get a short message selling Obama’s healthcare snake-oil before being transferred to the switchboard operator.
How can this even be legal? After all, this isn’t the Democrat Party hotline we are talking about here. It is the main phone number representing all of Congress, not just Obama and his nationalized healthcare policies. I repeat, this is the phone number for all of Congress, not an activist’s number to sell Democrats and their policies.
I just cannot see how this is legal, and even if it is legal it is gauche and not right. Can the message for the Congressional switchboard be used for partisan purposes? I just can’t see it being legal.
While it lasts, try it yourself and you’ll see. The number is 1-800-828-0498.
Here is the transcript of the message you’ll hear:
Thank you for calling your Representative and your Senators.
Please urge them to vote yes on health insurance reform. Because the American people can no longer wait for more choices, lower costs, and coverage we can count on.
After this little message the phone rings once again and is patched through to the switchboard operator.
Here is the audio that I recorded just in case the Obama administration does the “transparent” thing and makes this message disappear down the memory hole.
(H/T Lennie at Lake County Tea Party.)
____________
Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer, has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and is featured on many websites such as NewsBusters.org, RightWingNews.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, TheRealityCheck.org, RedState.com, Human Events Magazine, AmericanDailyReview.com, and the New Media Journal, among many, many others. Additionally, he has been a frequent guest on talk-radio programs to discuss his opinion editorials and current events and is currently the co-host of “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Conservatism” heard on BlogTalkRadio. Warner is also the editor of the Cook County Page for RedCounty.com.
He has also written for several history magazines and appears in the new book “Americans on Politics, Policy and Pop Culture” which can be purchased on amazon.com. He is also the owner and operator of PubliusForum.com. Feel free to contact him with any comments or questions : EMAIL Warner Todd Huston
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I called the 800 number and recorded the call, asking a supervisor what was happening. (We were both confused at first.) It turns out that the Capitol switchboard does not have an 800 number, and that a ‘progressive’ lobbying group called Families USA owns that number and is deceiving folks, telling them they’re calling their reps. Here’s the audio of my call where you can hear the explanation.
http://tinyurl.com/CapitolSwitchboard
Families USA has set up a website called Stand Up for Health Care, where they tell you to call your member of Congress, give you talking points and then tell you to report your results.
http://www.standupforhealthcare.org/page/s/CallCongress