I just got a call fro John Kerry's office with a request for $$.

[napi21]

The program is called "Put Children First" and it is supposed to provide health care for all the children not currently covered in our Country. The lady said he already has 100,000 signatures and needss another 400,000.

I asked how is he going to fund it? She said, well, we're asking all those who sign the petition to contribute $110.00. I responded "so then he's looking for this to be a privately funded progranm then, huh?" She said YES.

I told her I am leaning to a National Healthcare Program that would eliminate having to put on all these bandaids that Congress keeps coming up with! Thanks for calling!

What's up with this?????

[confludemocrat]

1. They won't call me. I've told them to stuff it on other contacts.

wasted my contributions last year

[MockSwede]

30. Ditto

Yep. Still asking for money. Blew it and the money...... Should use his PAC money first.

[Totally Committed]

2. They don't dare call me anymore...

the last person who called and asked for $$$ for Kerry is probably still trying to grow her eyebrows back.

TC

[Mass]

8. This is a scam

This has nothing to do with Kerry. The simple fact they give a number is a very good sign of that.

[MidnightWind]

29. I got the same phone call. Sounded fishy to me.

I told them No and hung up.

[flpoljunkie]

3. JK office surely is not calling folks asking for money. Sounds like scam.

[MockSwede]

31. Not scam in that sense

Emails going around to previous contributors, too. Check it out. Legit offers but scam in sense of better way to do it. Such it out of WalMart.

[Stevepol]

4. I tell all callers wanting money I'm spending my $ where it counts:

I'm supporting those people and orgs that are struggling to restore democracy to America by getting a paper ballot and required audits FOR EVERY ELECTION WHERE VOTING MACHINES ARE USED TO TALLY VOTES.

[second edition]

5. Sorry, but I question your post.

Nothing in it makes sense. John Kerry's program is titled "Kids First" and it is not privately funded health care program. You don't have to donate to sign the petition and it is not meant to be a band-aide solution. It uses monies that are now being given to the rich in the form of tax breaks and actually relieves some of the money burden states endure. It also promotes and requires parental involvement in their children's health care needs.
This issue and "suggested" phone calls such as the one you have just posted have come up before at DU. I suggest you contact Kerry's office and report the call and the misleading information you received and while your at it why not ask for accurate information on the "Kids First" initiative.

[napi21]

6. You may question my post, and I probbably did get the name

of the program wrong. She called me before I even had my first cup of coffee. Sorry! It was called "Kids First", but when I asked how he was going to fund it, she absolutely did say, "we are asking each signer give $110.00!" My response to that was "Oh so he's planning on privately funding this program?" and she said YES!

This lady didn't realize how lucky she was today! Usually, when I get calls like this, all I say is "I don't donate by phone, Thanks, Bye!" and hang up!

I'm not sure if I'm going to bother calling Kerry's office or not. Sounds to me like a waste of my time, and I already did that on this call this morning.

I don't have a problem with a "Kids First" program, except I really believe we as a Country should stop putting bandaids on all the healthcare problems! Let's take the time to develope a good National Healthcare System, one similar to those in every other developed Country! We've been fighting this battle for years, and it just keeps getting worse!!!

[Mass]

9. Clearly a scam...

Nothing to do with the Kerry program. He certainly does NOT intend to solve the problem by creating a fund. This is not what he is proposing.

If you received this call, you were victim somebody who wanted to extort money and were right not to answer, but please, read the proposal Kerry wrote before you criticize what is in it.

[Mass]

7. I have no idea what she is talking about

This is not what Kerry is proposing.

There have been rumors that some of these calls are a scam and have nothing to do with Kerry. This seems to be the case from all you say.

[NYCGirl]

10. It's very weird that you were asked for a specific amount of money.

Strange.

[napi21]

11. Ohm and when I said no, she said well could you do half of that?

I hate these people! All they do is turn me completely off from ever contributing to ANYTHING!!!

[Mass]

12. Clearly a scam....

[tnlefty]

20. I became very suspicious when I received a call from this group

and the woman read a disclaimer to me "because you live in the state of TN, I have to read this statement to you". I asked her to repeat it and asked why she had to read it to me. She again stated because you are a TN resident. It hit me a couple of seconds later. I'm on TN's no-call list and have been since it was implemented.

Received a similar call from someone stating to be affiliated with the ACLU and after being read a disclaimer, I gathered from questioning this person, that this a fundraising company that had been hired and that not all of my donation would be sent to the ACLU. I just said no thanks, I'll donate on-line or via snail mail.

[July]

13. My call started with a request for $1000.

When I declined to pledge that, she moved immediately to $50! WTF?

I told her I'm waiting for Democrats in Congress to step up and represent us.

[LittleClarkie]

28. The idea is that you're giving a dollar for

each million of uninsured kids. 110 million kids, 110 dollars.

Or something like that. There is some correlation to what they've working for, and the dollar amount, I know that. But my memory as to exactly what is fuzzy.

I really have to send in my twenty bucks. Damn, I can't believe I forgot.

[Norquist Nemesis]

14. I'd give a call to Kerry's office and speak w/his Chief of Staff

Ask him if he is aware of an organization soliciting donations for Kerry's Kid's First program and relay the conversation.

This doesn't pass the smell test at all. My gut tells me that down the line there will be an attack ad on Kerry that he accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars for his Kid's First program then misappropriated the funds for campaign expenses (or something along those lines). Dirty tricks are in the making on this one and I'd give them a heads up. Also, if you have caller ID...

[WebeBlue]

15. Got the same call, woman asked me to donate $110.00

I got this call 2 or 3 days ago, saying from Friends of John Kerry; need help with donations for medical for kids; requesting donation amount, specifically identified as $110.00.

Explained I am with a lot of organizations, no way could I donate to them all. She said understandable, how about $50.00. I then was agitated and said, I'm with MFSO, and my efforts are to get 'our kids' home from Iraq. She then got agitated, and hung up.

It sounded like other kinds of typical telemarketing to me, but because used Kerry name, at first I was inclined to believe, and was feeling bad since it was 'Kerry' and all....but if it really was related to Friends for Kerry, then I was also disappointed in the use of practiced telemarketing. Also very puzzled at fund raising from supporters of Friends for Kerry for the Health for Kids, which I thought Kerry was doing using existing funding strategies; not Raising Funds from private citizens.

Thanks for the postings here, it does indeed sound like a SCAM and info ought to get to Kerry.

[0007]

16. I got a call from Austin wanting $50 to fight junior's Supreme Court

nomination.

[ladeuxiemevoiture]

17. I got this call, let them put my name on petition but declined to give $$$

I have no idea if it's a scam.

[bunny planet]

18. I doubt that was really Kerry's office. I get emails directly from his pac

and they never suggest a specific donation amount and never say it's a private program. Doesn't sound like that was a legit contact from Kerry's office. That's not even the name of his program, I believe it's 'Kids First'.

[LittleClarkie]

26. I think the Friends of John Kerry are in charge of this

and I must say, I'm not happy with the telemarketers they've chosen. I get the feeling these folks are on commission.

The two offices are not allowed to coordinate, so his Senate office can't tell the Friends of John Kerry what to do. And I would imagine the same deal is with Keeping America's Promise, which is the PAC that's involved with raising money for Democratic candidates.

So I don't doubt that this is legit, but that some, if not all, of the telemarketers are muttonheads and don't always know what their talking about.

The Kids First Act is being funded through Medicaid. Period.

[Booster]

19. Thanks for pointing this out. They are either asking us to send

money for things that should be covered by our taxes, or to sign petitions so they can do things they should be doing without petitions. I'm getting a little tired of the donations/petitions crap. Just do your damn job in Wash. and we wouldn't have half the problems we do. After the last election I'm going to be a lot more careful/thoughtful about who I send money to.

[LittleClarkie]

23. Ads to publicize the act he's trying to get through Congress

would not be covered by our tax dollars. He's not trying to fund HEALTH CARE with the calls. He's trying to fund the campaign to get HEALTH CARE with the calls. The HEALTH CARE would be funded with MEDICAID. That was the proposal in the bill.

S214 The Put Kids First Act

Look it up if you want to know what the actual proposal is.

This is disinformation. The OP is not correct. The telemarketers are kind of annoying, but that's the worst I can say.

It is good that you think carefully before you give. That is a very good thing, esp. since some of us have less money with Bush baby in the White House.

However, I keep thinking that we have to be careful, because we also complain that corporations have to much influence with their giving. That was the exciting part of this last campaign, the growth of grassroot, small donor giving. Well if the small donors start saying that they're being treated as ATMs and stop giving, who do you think the politicians are going back to. That's right, the corporations. And if that happens, then all the people who complained about being ATMs better not complain about corporate donors. Pick one people, pick one.

[blm]

21. I think it's to put up ads that shame Republicans not supporting the bill.

Kerry has run ads against Tom DeLay and Roy Blunt and others in their home districts.

He's also putting up full page ads in papers.

If anyone was collecting for the Kid's First Act, it's for ad dollars to put up more ads against GOP adversaries.

He's been doing this for over 6 months now, so I'm surprised you didn't know about it by now.

[LittleClarkie]

22. The Friends of John Kerry is a PAC and a separate org.

from his Senate office. It legally has to be kept separate.

I got the call too. I thought the point was that the money was funding the organization's work.

I also am not sure I like the telemarketing group they got for this task. They're entirely too pushy, and I don't like being asked for my card number over the phone. I insisted on being mailed something.

And I haven't sent it back yet. Thanks for reminding me.

I'm almost certain the idea is NOT to fund health care through the phone calls. There are television ads being placed in certain states, for instance, that need paying for.

If the telemarketer said that, they were mistaken. The idea is to pass S214 The Put Kids First Act, which I believe puts the funding on Medicaid. It would be including all children in an existing system.

That bill is the reason he's been taking little tours around the country. It's the reason he works the subject of children's health care into every damn interview. He's on a mission from God on that as well as the Firing Rove petition (four emails so far). It's almost monotonous.

But I do agree I'm not sure I like the telemarketers they've hired.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

24. never mind

[Crunchy Frog]

25. I got a similar call several weeks ago.

Only they were saying that they needed the money in order to generate more signatures. I don't remember what it was that I said to put them off. I remember seeing some posts on DU about it at the time, but could never quite figure out what the consensus was as to whether it was a scam, or legit.

I don't know if your call was from the same people, or maybe a copycat or something.

[LittleClarkie]

27. That's closer to the intent, I believe

To generate more signatures and to fund any ads. There have been some television ads I know. They were posted on his website.

I think they're legit, but the telemarketing campaign leaves something to be desired.