DeKalb County residents have been receiving political robocalls from DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston, with the Caller ID showing a telephone number with the 323- area code, which is the Los Angeles area. The calls promote a Democratic Party June 21 runoff candidate for Georgia Labor Commissioner.
One resident wondered why a lawyer and county official needed to camouflage her unsolicited phone calls by using a telephone number from the other side of the United States. They received the call before 8 a.m. Pacific Time on a Saturday and wondered who would be calling them from the West Coast at that hour.
"While campaign calls and texts are exempt from the Do Not Call List requirements, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act contains specific rules they must follow," the Federal Communications Commission states.
The FCC says "all prerecorded voice message calls, campaign-related and otherwise, must include certain identification information." Specifically:
"The telephone number of the calling party must be provided, either during or after the message."
However, no number was mentioned during the 51-second Boston robocall, according to a recording provided to PRISM DeKalb.
Callers who received the Boston robocall also reported receiving one the next day from DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond, who did not provide the required number during his 55-second recorded solicitation.
The recorded call from Thurmond displayed a local Atlanta number, with the Caller ID "Amy Roney." When called, that number does not identify its owner or provide any information.
At least one telephone filter has classified the phone number used by Boston as spam. Calling the California number back reaches a voice mail answering as "[candidate's last name] For Georgia."
The FCC encourages the public to file complaints about political robocalls that violate the rules at fcc.gov/complaints. There is no fee for filing an informal complaint.
