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Mystery state-rep cell-phone poll annoys people in South Boston

Who sent out this text poll?

Dave Shea reports he got this message on his phone yesterday, wonders who's behind the poll on the 4th Suffolk race for the seat vacated by Nick Collins when he moved up to the state senate.

Both candidates in the Sept. 4 primary - Matt Rusteika and David Biele - said it wasn't them. Rusteika notes he doesn't call himself "Matthew."

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Comments

On the 29th I received a text, asking to vote for Rachael Rollins for District Attorney.

It was from someone named "Becky" and it started out as, "Hey Tina".

My name is not Tina. Blacklisted number immediately. Out of spite I will be voting for Barry Zuckerkorn...........

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from Heather for Rachael Rollins's campaign. Responded with take me off your phone list, which was replied by 'we'll take you off our texting list'. I should follow up with not, take me off your lists all together.

ETA: FWIW, they got my name and my husband's name correct in the texts we received. But that might have something to do with our having our numbers since, approximately, forever.

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Hey Rachel
I got the same text from "Becky" today 8-15. They got my name right, but I dont know how they got it. I protect my cell phone number.
Anyway Rachel I consider this to be spam. For some people on some plans, this text would cost them money.
Rachel I don't know much about you except based on this , I don't like you, and I will never vote for you for anything, ever and I will urge anyone who I know not to vote for you either.
As the Brits say, "piss off!"

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Mine was from Keith and was sent to Marcie. I am not Marcie. I called them and told them that I definitely would not be voting for Rachael Rollins. I asked them if they thought these garbage texts would help their candidate, to which the guy replied that it was a "mixed bag." Prick.

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Your phone number used to belong to someone else, or someone gave a fake one? I don't think mass texts to people with wrong names are a campaign strategy...

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You would think so, right? But we BOTH got texts like that. When I called, they didn't say that the texts were targeted and that I had received one in error. I have had this cell phone number for several years.

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text from Simone. It asked me if I would vote for Rachael Rollins on Sept. 4.

I'm not flooded with candidate texts, but it's only a matter of time probably.

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the from: name was different. My name was correct..... I am super strict with my normal tower number. Not sure where my spiteful vote will go.

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I urge you to hold democracy in higher esteem than that - voting out of spite towards one candidate for reaching out to you seems not only petty, but also reckless and potentially dangerous.

Please consider that this is an important race and the candidates are doing their best to reach us, to overcome the limited exposure they receive.

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Becky: Hey John! This is Becky volunteering w/ the Rachael Rollins campaign. Rachael Rollins is a progressive Democrat running for District Attorney in Suffolk County. She is committed to real criminal justice reform, and stopping the criminalization of poverty, addiction and mental health. I believe she is the progressive champion we need as our next DA! Will you vote for Rachael Rollins on September 4th?

Me: I’ll answer that when you answer a couple of my questions. For starters, how did you get my personal cell number?

Becky: Good question - we got your contact info from the voter file, which is the publicly available database of registered voters that campaigns use for outreach.

Me: That sounds reasonable. Ok. What is Rachael Rollins's stance on illegal aliens, not only in America, but more importantly to me, in Massachusetts?

Becky: Rachel Rollins supports all Bay Stater's, no matter their immigration status. She's working to make sure the criminal justice system works for all of us in Massachusetts.

Me: Let me see if I understand you correctly. You’re telling me, that today, according to Rachael Rollins, she will fight just as hard for someone who has come to this country illegally, as she will fight for the rights of, say, a United States Veteran, who was born here, and fought for this country, who now has legal issues? Are you saying Rachael Rollins does not see a problem with people who do not come to this country legally, instead choosing to bypass those laws and come here illegally?

Becky: I don't believe that is what she believes or how she would run her office. But I don't want to give you any misinformation. Please check out https://rollins4da.com for more information and let us know if you have any questions! Thank you and have a great day.

Me: 6 hours for that answer. I feel like I already heard enough, before that. To answer your original question, no. No, I will not vote for Rachael Rollins, on September 4th. But, best of luck to her. This is liberal Massachusetts, after all.

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Saying "they should say who they are with" is not the same as "this definitely wasn't me or anyone associated with my campaign" like Matt does here

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You couldn't be bothered to scroll down a little before posting that? Biele denied it as well.

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All I see is him saying that those who conducted the survey should identify themselves. Not accusing him, just surprised he wasn't more direct about it so thought I was maybe missing something.

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Not sure why that wasn't showing up when I clicked the original Twitter links, but I've always found the Twitter UI and the way it threads messages confusing.

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I'm asking because his Twitter feed has just 144 followers.

https://twitter.com/votedavidbiele

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But I don't know a lot about his policy preferences.

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Either she is rude and just lost my vote, or a competitor is playing dirty politics and sending false flag sms spam in her name just to piss everyone off.

Pretty clever if that's their game...

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No. I called them and they are the ones doing it.

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If a candidate for DA wants my vote, they can stop trying to out-reform each other and promise a crack-down on spam and robo-callers.

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If getting a single annoying text is enough to keep you from voting for criminal justice reform, then you are placing a pretty high premium on your own comfort. Annoying text < criminalizing poverty and addiction.

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Hah! You really think someone who thinks this is a great idea is going to be an effective reformer? She’s clearly a loser.

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You've never gotten canvas calls or people knocking on your door to GOTV or gauge support? Just because it came in the form of a text (from a list of numbers you were clearly on) doesn't have any bearing on whether Rollins is a progressive reformer.

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I love that turn of phrase.

Here's such a list, where xxx is your exchange.
617-xxx-0001
617-xxx-0002
[...]
617-xxx-9999

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I'd like to know how they got my private cell number and why they think they can use it for political purposes.

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