Anonymous Robocall Attacks Jim Graham
Yesterday afternoon reports came in about a robocall attacking Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham. The call was anonymous, with no message indicating who was behind it or who financed it. Last night TBD posted the audio of the call, which features a woman's voice telling the listener that Jim Graham paid for an abortion for his chief of staff's girlfriend. The narrator then goes on to describe Graham as "immoral" and "wretched."
The Graham campaign has contacted the Metropolitan Police Department, the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. According to Graham spokesperson Chuck Thies, the call likely violated federal law which requires automated calls to identify their source and purpose.
Both of Jim Graham's Democratic challengers have denied any involvement with the call. Bryan Weaver said via email "[n]either my campaign, nor anyone affiliated with my campaign had anything to do with these phone calls. I find them as disgusting as everyone else and its unfortunate that whoever is doing this couldn't just let the race be run and won on the issues." Jeff Smith also stated his campaign had nothing to do with the call.
Marc Morgan, the Republican candidate for the Ward 1 seat, stated "we had absolutely nothing to do with it." Morgan acknowledged that the very pro-life content of the call could cause people to point fingers at the GOP candidate. "Whoever was behind it should own up to it and apologize," said Morgan. Morgan says his campaign is dedicated to "covering the issues" and that they are not interested in delving into negativity.
The awkward scripting of the robocall seems to indicate it may have originated from outside of the District. The message hammers Graham on the abortion issue, yet never once mentions Ted Loza's name. The inflammatory language is evidence the call likely came from a group more concerned with a pro-life agenda rather than Ward 1 politics.
How will this call impact the campaign? The script from the call makes the claim that the Loza abortion was "no secret" because it was "reported in a local paper." Last year, Mike DeBonis and Jason Cherkis reported on the story for a Loose Lips column in the Washington City Paper. Given that the story ran long before the election heated up this year, there may be plenty of Ward 1 voters who were unaware. However, the call doesn't aim to "inform" voters of this story, it doesn't even mention the newspaper by name. The distasteful language and the lack of identification will likely lessen any impact and instead make it look like what it is, a poorly executed last-minute hit job.
Thies believes that authorities will quickly discover who was behind the call. In the meantime, the political fallout will likely be minimal. This robocall is toxic, and it would only harm an opponent to draw attention to it.
Heading into Labor Day, though, Jeff Smith referenced the call in an email to supporters. In the message, Smith wrote "P.S. Yesterday, some Ward 1 residents received degrading phone calls about alleged adultery and other personal accusations surrounding our opponent - Jim Graham. The calls do not appear to be affiliated with any political campaign, but rather some sort of personal vendetta between Graham and a disgruntled individual or set of individuals. However, we want to make it clear that these calls are not associated with our campaign or any known supporters."