Judicial Candidate Defends Robocalls on Jurisdictional Grounds
A California judicial candidate says she’s not breaking state law by authorizing robocalls on behalf of her campaign.
Victoria Kolakowski, who is seeking election to the Alameda County Superior Court, told KCBS that the calls are placed outside California and are outside the jurisdiction of the California Public Utilities Commission, which is charged with enforcing the law that restricts the calls. Kolakowski’s current job? She’s a law judge with the utilities commission.
“I’m confident my campaign is following the law in communicating my qualifications to the voters of Alameda County,” Kolakowski told the television station.
The utilities commission code requires the calls to be introduced by a live person, unless they are made to someone who has an established relationship to the caller.
The blog Thomas Hawk’s Digital Connection takes issue with Kolakowski’s interpretation of the law. “So let me see if I get this straight,” the blog says. “Even though robocalls are explicitly illegal in the State of California, a law judge at the California PUC (the very agency that is charged with enforcing this law) thinks that it’s OK to hire some political hack to make illegal calls from outside of the state into the state?”
