Above the Law
As Florida’s Attorney General, part of Charlie Crist’s job is to prosecute e-mail spammers. He even trumpeted in a press release that spam is “an annoying, intrusive form of e-mail that almost all of us receive but few of us want.” When Crist decided to run for governor, he bragged how he helped stiffen the law against unsolicited e-mail. Then he started sending out campaign e-mails to drum up support for his candidacy, gathering e-mail addresses from requests for official state newsletters. “The irony and hypocrisy amazes me,” said one angry voter. “Do I need to file a complaint with the Attorney General’s office?” But Crist refused to back down. “It’s not spam,” said his political director, Arlene DiBenigno. “It’s political speech.” Besides, she says, “We’re not selling anything.” (St. Petersburg Times) ...In other news, a Florida gubernatorial candidate’s political director has no idea what campaigns are about.
Available in This is True: Book Collection Vol. 12