In the comment threads, HA reader Phil K posts the contents of two emails he received as a fan and online ticket purchaser of the Everett AquaSox. The first is an invitation to a $100 per person “special fundraiser” for Republican Grand Old Party Party candidate for governor, Dino Rossi. The second is a red-faced email from AquaSox majority owners Peter A. and Peter E. Carfagna, apologizing for violating their fans personal privacy:
We recently learned that our personal privacy policy was compromised in an attempt to solicit your support for a partisan political fundraiser.
In that regard, on behalf of our family ownership group, we would like to express our sincere apologies.
Although we did not authorize this communication nor were we aware of it in advance, we have justifiably received numerous complaints from you expressing your displeasure. We take full responsibility and again beg your pardon.
How did this violation happen? Postman reports that “Dino Rossi’s campaign misused the mailing list of the minor league baseball team.” And how did Rossi’s campaign get ahold of the list? Well, Dino Rossi is a minority owner.
Rossi campaign spokeswoman Jill Strait blames the whole affair on Rossi’s Snohomish County Finance Chair, Tom Hoban, who’s also a minority owner, and claims that Rossi “was unaware that the list had been requested or used” (you know, for an event he’s scheduled to appear at in less than a week), telegraphing the kind of buck stops elsewhere management style we might expect from a Rossi administration.
For their part, the Carfagnas appear sincerely contrite, promising to take immediate steps to ensure an incident like this never happens again.
We take your personal privacy seriously. We will remain vigilant in protecting your email address from solicitors and vendors…
… and Republicans.
Hmm… I’m guessing the Seattle Times is going to want to editorialize on this latest campaign scandal… not!
Scandal??
Hardly.
Here is the scandal Goldy…now AWB picked it up in this weeks newsletter:
Senate Ways and Means Committee budget outlook — Now a $2.7 billion shortfall
Bad news from the Senate Ways and Means Committee: A new outlook from the committee shows the effects of the June revenue forecast. Unfortunately, the budget hole has deepened to about $2.7 billion. According to Ways and Means staff: “As they have done in past, it is anticipated that the Governor and the Legislature will use available reserves and implement spending reductions and/or revenue changes
to balance the 2009-11 budget.” What we’d like to know is what those “spending reductions and/or revenue changes” will be. Stay tuned. Read more at AWB’s Olympia Business Watch blog at http://www.olympiabusinesswatch.com. Contact AWB’s Amber Carter at (360) 943-1600 or AmberC@awb.org.
I take it that this means a NO for Phil K?!!
How so like a bumbling, fumbling, greedy, grasping, power-hungry REPUBLICAN.
You’re a REPUBLICAN Dino. If you refuse to say you’re a REPUBLICAN….
WE WILL DO IT FOR YOU!!!!
Hey CynicAL… don’t you have a day job? Oh wait, I forgot… this is your day job.
I guess since you tried to change the subject so fast, you obviously have no defense of Rossi’s disregard for people’s privacy.
http://www.drudgereport.com/flashrl.htm
David, as a radio host, doesn’t this story make you salivate?
@4 From Drudge, “In its controversial profile, the TIMES reports that Limbaugh is buying a new G550 jet and is making an estimated $38 million a year.”
Good for Limpy. He’ll be able to fly direct to the Dominican Republic, his cargo hold filled with jars of Viagra, so he can have sex with male child prostitutes. Maybe he can buy a kid to bring back and keep around the house for the occasional kicks.
Republican moral values.
@1 As you don’t think that’s a scandal I’m gonna encourage Goldy to give your IP address to the Direct Marketing Associaton for distribution to their 10 million members.
Luigi @4,
The thought of the homemade pizzas I’ll be baking in an outdoor brick oven on July 4th makes me salivate.
Come on… can’t anybody defend Rossi’s arrogant abuse of the AquaSox mailing list and his refusal to take responsibility for it?
@3 See #6.
Well, the majority shareholders DO have good reason to be worried about this abuse of their e-mail list. From their privacy policy, which you can access when you sign up for their e-mail newsletters:
Obviously, the solicitation for political purposes violated that policy. Moreover, it appears that the Rossi campaign MAY have violated the Can-Spam act. I don’t have time to go through the act’s provisions (I’ll leave that to Richard Pope), but a quick review from Wikipedia indicates that one of the prohibited activities including “harvesting” of e-mail addresses for commercial e-mails in the following manner:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E.....harvesting
So using an “automated” means to download the address list from the AquaSox website (probably extracted in .txt format) from it’s database may fit the definition of prohibited “harvesting”.
But the Rossi campaign MAY get to skate through that hole, though, because there is a broad exception to the statutue for SPAM sent for religious or commercial purposes.
Anyway, somebody’s got to go through the actual language of the statute, and I don’t have the time right now. But you might note that the Can-Spam Act of 2003 includes provisions for a limited private right of action against companies violating the law. That means individuals can sue violators to enforce the law, and recover damages. I’m wondering if the Washington State Consumer Protection Act might also apply, trebling damages and providing for an award of attorney’s fees.
Well, the majority shareholders DO have good reason to be worried about this abuse of their e-mail list. From their privacy policy, which you can access when you sign up for their e-mail newsletters:
Obviously, the solicitation for political purposes violated that policy. I’m wondering what remedies might be available against a minority owner in such an instance.
Moreover, it appears that the Rossi campaign itself MAY have violated the Can-Spam act. I don’t have time to go through the act’s provisions (I’ll leave that to Richard Pope), but a quick review from Wikipedia indicates that one of the prohibited activities including “harvesting” of e-mail addresses for commercial e-mails in the following manner:
So using an “automated” means to download the address list from the AquaSox website (probably extracted in .txt format) from it’s database may fit the definition of prohibited “harvesting”.
But the Rossi campaign MAY get to skate through that hole, though, because there is a broad exception to the statutue for SPAM sent for religious or commercial purposes.
Anyway, somebody’s got to go through the actual language of the statute, and I don’t have the time right now. But you might note that the Can-Spam Act of 2003 includes provisions for a limited private right of action against companies violating the law. That means individuals can sue violators to enforce the law, and recover damages. I’m wondering if the Washington State Consumer Protection Act might also apply, trebling damages and providing for an award of attorney’s fees.
You can pretty well tell that when the first response posted to a new thread is a trollfuck trying to change the subject, the other side has no defensible argument.
Hey wingnuts, I’ll help you out and do your job for you. What you should be doing is writing something like the following:
Shit does happen and campaigns are managed by campaign managers, that Rossi didn’t know the list was used is plausible.
You know you’re getting whupped when the other side starts feeling sorry for you and tries to help you out.
By the way, if Rossi and his cohorts believe he’s got a right to use the AquaSox e-mail database for their own political purposes, imagine what woul happen if they have access to the various state databasis?
I can see it now: “The Governor’s office is doing some “research”, and we need to see the list of everyone receiving retirement benefits from the state, including their name, current address, and income amounts”.
Michael @ 11:
I realize that you are being sarcastic, but I feel compelled to respond, in advance:
Yes, campaign managers make mistakes, and sometimes the candidate doesn’t know about them in advance.
But the fact that Rossi is a minority owner in the firm makes it probable that his name was used to get the e-mail list, which also increases the probability that he knew about it.
Aside from that, is he going to use ignorance as an excuse for everything that goes wrong in his administration, should he win the election? I can see the news release now: “Gee, the people I appointed in my administration, who were well known to me and worked in my campaign beforehand, screwed up when they (were caught) violating the law in a manner which personally and politically benefited me, but since I don’t pay any attention to whether they are qualified to run a state agency in a professional manner when I appointed them, and now that I am in office I don’t care enough to make sure they do run the office in a professional manner, then you can’t hold it against me when they screw up!”
Now THAT’s the type of personal responsibility which made the Republican GOP party famous!
Instead of “The Buck Stops Here”, Rossi could put a picture of the three monkeys on his desk: “hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil”.
Hey Goldy – Eyman will add another initiative to his long string of successes. 299k signatures turned in. This one will actually start to fix the fucking traffic problem.
Instead of jerking off here on HA, why don’t you get off your ass and do an initiative? Find out how fucking hard it is to actually do stuff instead of just talk about it.
How do you put your picture in the box?
For what it is worth, is there any proof, any evidence that Rossi knew about using the mailing list? If we object to Obama getting slammed for something Clark said, without Obama’s knowledge or coordination, then I think the same applies here.
We should call out Rossi as a villain if we have proof he did knowingly authorize the use of the mailing list. But if we don’t have proof, we are no better than republicans.
Goldy–
So when are you going to discuss the proverbial White Elephant in the living room…aka The Gregoire generated $2.7 BILLION Budget Deficit.
It seems like that matters to virtually all citizens.
Instead you deflect to small stuff impacting a few people.
My guess is you will never, ever post on it Goldy.
My day job is making money for myself. Improving real estate, investing, counting etc.
I was thinking of calling myself something like “The Anti-KLOWN”
What do you think?
Or “The Contrarian”
Part of my mission Goldy is to keep you & the other KLOWNS from falling off the LEFT side of the Earth. That is no easy task my friend. So far as I can tell, I have been successful. You dorks are all still here…for better or worse (most certainly for worse).
Answer me this Goldy…
Why are so many of your LEFTIST Groupies who post here so foul??
You actually have some fairly intelligent posters here who dilute their message with obscenity. You have often set a bad example. I shouldn’t complain. It keeps your readership down.
Cynical – Moonbats around here aren’t concerned with such things as “budget deficits”. As you know, moonbats believe that we can tax ourselves into prosperity. If gummint needs more money, all they need to do is steal it from The Producers at the point of a gun. After all, moonbats believe that wealthy people are just “lucky”, and should “give back” some of their “obscene profits” because they have more money than they “need”.
@19 Delusional. It must suck for you to know that you’re going to get your treasonous fascist ass handed to you come November.
@14
Great one.
Notice #’s 18 & 19 aren’t even trying.
@18 “I was thinking of calling myself something like”
You’re obviously too ashamed to call yourself a treasonous fascist. Shame seems to be something all you American fascists have in common.
Hey cynicAL and Mark the asshole:
Here is a defense of Rossi that you might try;
Well, it is not the worst thing a GOP Party-er has done!!!
What a couple of putzes.
So Rossi violates the privacy of hundreds of innocent people for his own policial gain, then foists the blame off onto a staffer and expects to skate with no official sanction.
Governor hell, he’s looking for a job in the McCain administration!
If Rossi hack Hoban were any kind of a stand up guy, wouldn’t he be making a statement admitting that he got Aquasox General Manager Brian Sloan to give him the list by lying to him?
This whole thing puts Sloan in a terrible jam. Either he takes the fall and pretends that he violated the clubs privacy policy as per the statement by the Rossi campaign, or he hangs a minority owner out to dry by calling him a liar.
Wouldn’t the decent thing for Rossi and Hoban to do right now be to release a press statement taking full responsibility for obtaining the list from the club’s GM under false pretenses?
Assuming that is what happened.
The majority owners fail to explain how this came about. And so far we aren’t hearing from the GM, who is only implicated in the whole thing by Rossi’s mouthpiece Jill Strait. Do Rossi’s people really expect to throw the Aquasox GM under the bus for this? Is that the kind of leader Rossi promises to be if elected?
I’d really like to hear Sloan’s side of this.
His email is on the club’s website.
18-19 Cyn-Mark
I’ll take a whack at this. There is no budget deficit. As in many other states, we are required by law to balance our budget. It is balanced.
What we DO have is a projection that says that, according to current assumptions about spending growth, population growth, and business climate (getting rapidly worse due to the Gang Who Couldn’t Shoot Straight in DC), revenues will fall short of projected spending over the next few years. The business climate may improve, which will offset some portion of this, or it may grow worse, which would exacerbate it. Real population growth may be less than the assumptions, or it may be greater. Once we know these things, the Legislature will have to undertake some combination of spending cuts and/or raising revenue to balance the budget. They will. The budget will be balanced. You both will bitch about it before the fact, during, and afterward. Nothing new of any kind will occur.
25 R
That is SO not how they roll.
Here is the statement, up for four hours now, courtesy of the Herald.
UPDATE: AquaSox GM says it won’t happen again
Posted at 11:52 am by Jerry Cornfield
UPDATE: I just had a nice conversation with Everett AquaSox General Manager Brian Sloan who wanted to assure the team’s fans that “the e-mail list is secured and you will not be receiving any more e-mails from any political candidates.”
And for those wondering if the club ever shares or sells the list to third parties, his answer was “no.”
Majority owners of the Everett AquaSox may want to bench minority owner Dino Rossi because Rossi’s campaign tapped the baseball club’s private e-mail list to solicit attendees to a fund raiser at the ballpark this Monday.
Peter A. and Peter E. Carfagna of the AquaSox apologized to fans Tuesday hours after Rossi’s campaign sent out invites to 5,500 addresses on the list.
The Carfagnas wrote:
“We recently learned that our personal privacy policy was compromised in an attempt to solicit your support for a partisan political fundraiser.
In that regard, on behalf of our family ownership group, we would like to express our sincere apologies.
Although we did not authorize this communication nor were we aware of it in advance, we have justifiably received numerous complaints from you expressing your displeasure. We take full responsibility and again beg your pardon.
Rossi’s campaign apologized this morning in a statement from Communications Director Jill Strait:
Our Snohomish County Finance Chair Tom Hoban, who is also a part owner of the AquaSox, requested the list from the AquaSox General Manager, who then gave a list of e-mails to one of our campaign staffers.
The campaign believed that since we had received the list from AquaSox management, we had permission to send an email about the upcoming event. We were wrong. It is our fault for not double checking.
Dino Rossi was unaware that the list had been requested or used. We apologize to AquaSox fans who received this email.
Strait said the event is still on. She said the AquaSox knew about the fund raiser beforehand and did give permission to use the team logo on the invitation.
Hoban told me today that he is sorry if anyone was offended. He said he wanted to be sure fans know about all activities going on at the ballpark and they can decide if they want to participate.
“My intention was not to exclude anybody. It is not a partisan event. It is a fund raiser for Dino but it is not targeting any one particular group.
I authorized sending the invitation out to baseball fans because I wanted them to be aware of it and feel comfortable coming if they wanted to.”
If Gov. Christine Gregoire wants to have an event at the ballpark, he said he’d help get the word out the same way. He said a number of groups will hold activities at the stadium throughout the season.
My memory is hazy on this, and I don’t have the time to research…
Didn’t CG, prior to becomming governor, foist the blame for an unsuccessful computer system implementation, on to a subordinate?
Please tell me how that differs from what y’all are accusing Rossi of doing? At least as far as accountability, I mean.
Love – Just wondering…how much have you put into the “Tax Me More” fund?
IDGAF what the state budget is and IDGAF what “services” are provided. All I know is I’m tapped out in the tax department. We need Dino to do what he did earlier with gummint living within its means just like everybody else.
Mrs. Gregoire doesn’t know how to do that.
Hey, Cynical…it’s pretty funny for a cheerleader for George W. Bush to be whining about a few piddly-ass billion dollars.
Hmm, Rossi applying for a job in the McCain administration?
Well, if Brownie can pretend to run FEMA during the Bush administration, then I guess Rossi would make a good fit in that type of Republican-party organization. I see a lot of similarities. Brownie tried to pass off, on his resume, being a low-level aid/intern as being in charge of emergency services. Rossi tried to pass of being a real estate agent as being a real estate broker, which are two considerably different things….
Anyway, you know the Republican drill: find someone who is a loyal party man, but has no independent gravitas. In fact, he’s so dang happy to be “in the big leagues”, he doesn’t mind that his main role is to be in charge of an agency which, if things go right, will cease to exist before he leaves the job. His purpose is simply to go along with “the plan” – that’s why he was brought up to the big leagues.
If things go south and it turns out the agency was REALLY NEEDED – like FEMA was in Katrina – the guys who really control the Republican Party would discard Rossi like used toilet paper which was beginning to smell too bad to keep around.
In the meantime, they will LOVE the way he gets access to confidential data and passes that along to use for political purposes. When he gets caught, he’ll try to blame the people who work for him, but in the end he’ll be the one who takes the blame, to prevent McCain and his close handlers from taking any actual – you know – responsibility for violating the law.
Sorry for the OT post but…
“Sonics, city reach settlement”
Aaaaaaarrrrrggggghhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I find it hillarious that the wingnuts here are so upset about a hypothetical state deficit, when they were so quiet about the HUGE ACTUAL DEFICIT run up by the Bush Administration and it’s lackys in the Republican Congress of 2001-2006.
They keep calling the Democrats names, but the truth has been clear for quite some time: the big spenders were the Republicans, and they don’t have any problem raising taxes – as long as it is imposed on our grandchildren, who will inherit the real brunt of their fiscal mismanagement.
Just out of curiosity, Wingnuts – how do you look yourself in the mirror every morning, knowing that you have to spend the day posting what you know are outright lies? I guess the BIAW must be paying you some big bucks to get you to overcome that guilt. Either that, or you have no conscience at all, and don’t need anyone to pay you to lie for them.
30 MTR
It’s illegal not to pay your taxes. Just a reminder.
DL @ 26 sez
“Once we know these things, the Legislature will have to undertake some combination of spending cuts and/or raising revenue to balance the budget. They will. The budget will be balanced.”
Once we know these things?? That ain’t gonna fly DL. Of course the Budget will be balanced…it’s a Constitutional REQUIREMENT.
The issue is EXACTLY WHAT will Gregoire do in terms of spending cuts & tax increases. This should be the #1 Governor’s Race debate issue. It is a RESPONSIBILITY of hers.
I sense from your comment DL that you expect voters to simply TRUST Gregoire and the Legislature. WHY SHOULD WE?? THEY created this mess. It’s obvious action will have to take place.
So what is HER plan?????????????
Apparently there is NONE other than let’s wait & see!!
C’mon DL…voters have a right to know.
What do you think she ought to cut??
Will you support tax increases??
31. ArtFart spews:
“Hey, Cynical…it’s pretty funny for a cheerleader for George W. Bush to be whining about a few piddly-ass billion dollars.”
I’ve never been a Bush fiscal cheerleader dumbass.
@36 Must you constantly whine? What is it with you fascists and the incessant whining?
Gee, lots of bad news, in addition to the Sonic’s settlement. From current headlines on MSNBC:
1. GM stock falls to it’s lowest level since 1954, a Merrill Lynch analyst says that GM may not have enough cast to successfully compete after this year, and bankruptcy is a possibility.
2. DJIA down another 166.75, officially in “bearish” territory after having lost 20% since last October. That means the DJIA, at 11,215.51, has gained only an AVERAGE of 0.79% per year during the 7-1/2 years of the Bush Administration – well below the rate of inflation. Investors in DJIA index funds would have been better off putting their money in a savings account at the bank.
3. Oil prices pass $144 p/bbl.
4. Struggling Starbuck’s woes likely to get worse, even after cutting the 600+ stores announced yesterday.
5. United Airlines will cut 950 pilots, American Airlines will cut 900 flight attendants. Other airlines have said that they will make further cuts, also. In the meantime, foreign airlines are preparing to capture the international routes from their weakened U.S. competitors.
I’ve always wondered what it was like to live through 1929. Now I’m afraid I am seeing it. And no, despite some wingnut arguments, it can’t be blamed on Obama. This economic downturn was created on Bush’s watch, and is a result of Republican financial management principles – cut taxes for the wealthy, and the hell with everything else.
rhp–
Get a grip you freak.
Stop hyperventilating.
I think you should sign up for the Suicide Watch Hotline.
Tremendous Stock buying opportunities coming up. My powder is dry. Gold nuggets are strewn all over the investment playfield…just waiting to be harvested.
What is it with you Far-Left wingers and panic?? Does it feel good to be so pessimistic? The market always looks months & months ahead. If you have confidence in O-blah-blah, you should be investing like a bastard!!
The truth is, the underlying worldwide economy still has tremendous strength. Hell, we have Rush Limbaugh with a $400 MILLION contract buying jets, fine cigars etc.
rhp==Mr. NegativePants
Maybe Bush has already started his retirement party at the White House? I envision he and Cheney are drinking margaritas, with mambo music in the background, as staffers cheering each DJIA drop, with cries of “How Low Can You Go????”, with everyone taking spots in the pool on the final number for the Dow at the end of Bush’s term – and everyone’s betting on the low numbers!
Yea, the worldwide economy has strength. But I had kind of hoped that MY COUNTRY would have a strong financial strength. If you are willing to abandon it to make a buck, it tells lots about you. For myself, I’m still trying to save what’s left of my country, for my kids and grandkids.
I’m just hoping that enough is still left when the ADULTS take charge next January – and it sure isn’t going to be the Republicans. They had their chance, and they screwed it up big time.
Funny, all I hear from the Republican sector is how I need to IGNORE the obvious signs of negligence and mismanagement and have a POSITIVE attitude. But when a Democrat takes charge, listen to all the complaints – hell, they are already trying to blame Gregoire for a deficit projection which hasn’t even happened yet, and is unlikely to occur! Hypocrites.
Oh, and by the way, the subject is Rossi’s campaign making unauthorized use of the AquaSox e-mails, in violation of their own privacy policy. I’ve yet to hear an adequate explanation of defense of that.
I’ve always wondered what it was like to live through 1929. Now I’m afraid I am seeing it. And no, despite some wingnut arguments, it can’t be blamed on Obama. This economic downturn was created on Bush’s watch, and is a result of Republican financial management principles – cut taxes for the wealthy, and the hell with everything else.
——-
We face a variety of serious problems, some that can be placed at the current administration’s doorstep, some that have been in the making for years. The next administration will have its hands full, and neither candidate has (yet) provided a convincing set of solutions. See, for example:
http://www.taxpolicycenter.org.....?ID=411693
Personally, my biggest concern is the direction of oil.
Wiley is at it again, with a timely comic:
Rosie Outlook
(Note: link is to “today’s” strip, so using the same link after today may not work).