In New York City, Democrat Frank Barbaro is trying to unseat Rep. Vito Fossella (R) with the help of 70,000 e-mail addresses acquired from Advocacy Inc. Barbaro aides said the former state Supreme Court justice plans to contact all of these registered voters once or twice a week until the election with carefully tailored messages. For instance, Democratic women in one part of Brooklyn will receive e-mail about Barbaro's opposition to real estate development there. Men registered as independents will get a more generic point of view.
And all of it will cost very little. A single, paper mailing to 70,000 voters would run about $35,000, said Barbaro spokeswoman Denise Devlin. In contrast, the campaign bought the 70,000 e-mail addresses from Advocacy Inc. for 15 cents each (or about $10,500), pays the company $1,000 a month to maintain them and can use them for free whenever it wants. "We can communicate with voters quickly and inexpensively," Devlin said.
Another Advocacy Inc. customer -- a pro-tax-cut group in Pennsylvania called Philadelphia Forward -- sent 2 million e-mails to voters over two weeks this year and instigated 80,000 anti-tax faxes to City Hall. In Arizona, the Democratic Party is using e-mail lists purchased from the company to persuade voters to sign up for absentee ballots and vote early. "The coupling of e-mail with vote-by-mail is a very powerful combination," said Bob Grossfeld, a Phoenix political consultant.
One of the largest clusters of users of off-the-shelf e-mail lists are members of Congress. Last fall, the House of Representatives voted to give e-mail a privileged place in its franking system -- the system under which lawmakers use taxpayer money to pay for communications with their constituents. Since then, dozens of legislators have been paying companies like Stone's to organize their e-mail programs and get their constituents' e-mail addresses. According to the House Administration Committee, at least 130 lawmakers in the 435-member House send e-newsletters to their constituents.
In February, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), the Democrats' minority leader in the House, invited three electronic lobbying firms to a private meeting of the entire Democratic Caucus at West Virginia's Coolfont Resort. The three firms, which lectured the members of Congress on cutting-edge e-mail methods, were Stone's Advocacy Inc., Democratic Network, and DCS Congressional, a firm part-owned by former Rep. Tom Downey (D-N.Y.) that's affiliated with an electronic lobbying venture.
Republican lawmakers are also hiring e-mail consultants. The GOP e-lobbying firms that have branched out into lawmakers' offices include Rightclick Strategies, Constituents Direct and Integrated Web Strategy. Integrated Web Strategy of Phoenix is run by Max Fose, the 32-year-old computer whiz who four years ago helped popularize the use of the Web for political fundraising, which is now burgeoning. At the time, he was Internet manager for the presidential campaign of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).
Lawmakers pay lobbying firms like these between $6,000 and $20,000 a year to compile their constituents' e-mail addresses, keep track of their correspondence and often recommend how to compose e-newsletters. Legislators who use the service say that's a small price to pay given its speed and efficiency. "It doesn't cost us much and there's no folding or stuffing," said Jack Pratt, chief of staff to Rep. Steve Israel (D- N.Y.). "You push a button and it's gone."
Lawmakers get an extra benefit, too. They can communicate electronically with anyone who subscribes to their newsletters right up until Election Day, something that's forbidden for the old, snail-mail-style of franked correspondence. The ability to contact 10,000 or more constituents right before an election gives an incumbent a significant advantage.
"Normally they [members of Congress] are asking me for money," Downey said. "This is a sort of turnabout-is-fair-play situation."
Some critics say the arrangement is too fair. "There's certainly the danger of a conflict of interest here," said Schwartz of the Center for Democracy and Technology. "The same firm that's creating a [House] member's e-mail box also wants to flood that same box with e-mails from outside groups. Lawmakers have to be wary."
Ryan Turner, policy director of the nonprofit Community Technology Centers' Network, thinks the threat goes beyond appearances. He worries that the lists firms compile could be abused unless safeguards are in place to prevent them from selling to their lobbying clients the e-mail addresses they collect for lawmakers.
For their part, the lobbying firms scoff at such fears. They say they function as arm's-length consultants and keep their hands off the lawmakers' e-mail lists. "We're only providing technical services," Stone said. "The lawmakers have full ownership of the list and we don't."
Nor do Stone and VCS's Daly worry about critics who complain that their national e-mail list is merely an invitation to spam. "Nobody really wants to get political advertisements, but elections do get run and people communicate," Daly said. "How people react to this e-mail, assuming they get a whole lot of it, is going to be very interesting to see."
