The attorney general's office says his campaign material is different from spam but some recipients don't see it that way.
By ADAM C. SMITH, Times Political Editor
Published December 21, 2005
As attorney general, Charlie Crist rails against spam e-mails.
"Spam is an annoying, intrusive form of e-mail that almost all of us receive but few of us want. Much of it is just clutter, but some of it can be downright offensive," the attorney general declared in a May press release heralding his efforts to fight unwanted e-mail.
But as a Republican candidate for governor, Crist is annoying Floridians himself by obtaining people's addresses and sending them unsolicited e-mails touting his gubernatorial candidacy and asking for campaign donations.
"It's not spam," insisted Arlene DiBenigno, Crist's political director. "It's political speech. We're not selling anything, we're not being deceptive. We love the First Amendment, and there's nothing more powerful than political speech."
But don't tell that to Dorothy Butler, a 59-year-old postal worker and ardent Democrat from Land O'Lakes. She had signed up for the attorney general's official e-mail newsletters, but was none too pleased when she started receiving Crist's gubernatorial campaign pitches.
"He's not living up to his own standards. To me that is spam because I never asked for any of his political stuff," said Butler.
"My first reaction was, why am I getting this? I'm not a Republican. My second reaction was aggravation because the only I place I could think of where he got my e-mail address was from the state web site," Butler said.
The Crist campaign built a campaign e-mail list in part by filing public records requests for e-newsletter requests sent to the attorney general's office and governor's office.
On Wednesday, state employees received Crist campaign e-mails on their state e-mail accounts: "I need your help to spread our message of consistent conservatism - less taxes, less government and more freedom," Crist wrote. "Your donation of $500, $250, $100 or $25 will go a long way toward supporting our efforts."
One employee with the Pinellas Health Department e-mailed the St. Petersburg Times Wednesday complaining that Crist was misusing state property and resources.
Crist campaign staffers said they recently filed a public records request for the e-mail addresses of people who subscribe to the governor's e-newsletter. The campaign tried to scrub all the state employee addresses but apparently missed some.
The Crist campaign e-mails, they noted, prominently show people how to unsubscribe.
Except that didn't work so well for Joe Spooner, a 41-year-old investment advisor from Tampa. He has no idea how the Crist campaign got his e-mail address, but repeatedly tried to unsubscribe. After the fifth request to be removed, a frustrated Spooner fired off an e-mail reminding the Crist campaign how Crist touts his fight against spammers:
"The irony and hypocrisy amazes me. Do I need to file a complaint with the Attorney General's office? Anybody have the number for the Fraud Hotline?" wrote Spooner, a Republican.
Ultimately, Spooner did get removed from Crist's e-mail list.
Crist is running for the Republican gubernatorial nomination against chief financial officer Tom Gallagher. The Gallagher campaign said Tuesday it uses no state e-mail databases for its campaign.
"This is the season of giving, and I guess Charlie felt what Floridians needed most this Christmas is more spam," quipped Gallagher campaign spokesman Albert Martinez.
Crist has touted his efforts to fight spam as attorney general, including pushing for a 2004 law giving the attorney general authority to prosecute companies that send unsolicited and deceitful commercial e-mail.
In a news release earlier this month about his office shutting down two Tampa spam operations, Crist said: "By enforcing the Anti-Spam law that we were proud to propose, Florida will penalize and shut down those responsible for this unwanted and illegal nuisance."
Butler, the Land O'Lakes Democrat who complained that Crist "abused my privacy" by using her e-mail for his campaign, said Crist's e-mails got past her spam filters. She has asked for the Crist campaign to stop e-mailing her.
"I haven't received anything from anybody except Crist," she said after learning that her e-mail address became a public record after she signed up with state web sites. "God forbid, I should get something from that Katherine Harris."
