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Rauner on Dirty Trick Robo-Calls: Harsh Punishment in Order

By Ted Cox | November 6, 2014 1:19pm | Updated on November 6, 2014 4:02pm
 Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez is looking into "malicious robocalls" that disrupted voting in the city on Tuesday.
Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez is looking into "malicious robocalls" that disrupted voting in the city on Tuesday.
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DNAinfo/Ted Cox

DOWNTOWN — The Cook County state's attorney is looking into the "malicious robocalls" to city election judges last weekend that disrupted voting in Tuesday's election.

Without going into additional detail, Sally Daly, spokeswoman for Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez, confirmed Thursday that the office has opened an investigation into the calls.

Gov.-elect Bruce Rauner said Thursday he hadn't looked into whether anyone involved with his campaign had any role in what one Chicago official called "a new dirty trick."

"I've heard just a little but about that. I don't know much at all about it," Rauner said at a River North news conference. "But I hope if there's any issue there it gets fully investigated and if there's any improprieties that it gets dealt with very harshly."

 Gov.-elect Bruce Rauner said of the robocalls that he hopes "if there's any improprieties that it gets dealt with very harshly."
Gov.-elect Bruce Rauner said of the robocalls that he hopes "if there's any improprieties that it gets dealt with very harshly."
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DNAinfo/Ted Cox

The Chicago Board of Election Commissioners first told of the calls on Tuesday, when it had to struggle to get election judges to cover polling places after more than 2,000 of the estimated 10,000 judges failed to show up.

That was after they'd received robocalls over the weekend telling them they had to attend another training session or vote a certain way if they wanted to serve as judges. Board spokesman Jim Allen called it "a new dirty trick" in politics.

The disruption produced long waits at some polling places, discouraging voters.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the City Council passed a resolution Wednesday calling for hearings into what they called "malicious robocalls," with the mayor saying it threatened the integrity of the democratic process.

Emanuel said they were out to identify who had paid for the calls and how they obtained the phone list for city election judges.

Randy Samborn, spokesman for U.S. Attorney Zachary Fardon, said the office's policy was not to comment on whether an investigation was ongoing. Yet Emanuel said Wednesday he had asked both the state's attorney and federal officials to open investigations.

Emanuel said the calls seemed intended to confuse judges and, therefore, hold down vote totals in the city, to the apparent advantage of Republican Rauner in his campaign to unseat Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn.

Chicago Republican officials, however, denied any involvement. Quinn nonetheless swept 49 of the city's 50 wards, but with vote totals below what he had pulled in four years ago.

Allen said Tuesday the calls had been traced to 224-649-5601. A reverse-phone-number directory identified it as a suburban Northbrook landline.

Callers hear a taped message: "Thank you for calling back. We attempted to reach you to participate in a marketing research survey or on behalf of a political organization. We apologize for any inconvenience. To be removed from future calling, please press nine. If you would like to be connected to one of our customer-service representatives, please press one now."

Yet that only produces another message saying, "This selection is not valid."