Month: May 2005

Doug Menefee indulges in a little sarcasm over on his site on the subject of Push Poll Madness in which he tracks the twists and turns of the representatives of BellSouth and Cox as they try to worm their way out of the spotlight. Take a look; his amazement is justified. The spectacle of these guys scuttling to get out of the spotlight is revealing.

While Doug’s take on this is fun, on one point I just can’t agree: he takes the protestations of ignorance on the part of the local heads of Cox and BellSouth at face value. I just can’t–and don’t think the idea is credible. The idea that Cox’s Cassard was ignorant of the content a poll that hundreds of his customers–and only of his customers–were receiving is not credible. Of course he knew what was going on, why it was being done, and what its purpose was. No doubt he didn’t think the firestorm would be so bad, else he would have never let it be launched. But ignorant of the basic purpose and nature of the poll? No way. Slithering away by claiming not to know exactly how foolishly they were phrased won’t play. It isn’t the silly “rationing TV” language that should embarass Cassard –it’s that he and his company would even try such a tactic.

The same but more so for BellSouth’s Mr. Williams. His company, on Cox’s account, came up with the idea. He too had to know what was coming down. He too knew what was going on, why it was being done, and what its purpose was. But he had the gall to deny it entirely. It will be interesting if he sticks with his version.

In fact it will be interesting to see if either of them stick with their protestations of ignorance. Their corporations have put them in an impossible position. Either they are willing to engage in deceiving the public or they just don’t know what is going on.

Either way there is no way we should take what they say from now on out seriously.

Let the record show that the last shred of BellSouth’s credibility on the matter of the LUS fiber to the premises project officially was snuffed out by KLFY-TV News on May 4, 2005 at about 10:10 p.m.

In a report on their 10 p.m. newscast, reporter Rick Tillery did a follow-up on newspaper stories earlier in the day (here and here) on residents reaction to the 2005 version of the Verne Kennedy push poll on the LUS fiber project.

Comments from two citizens who appeared on camera tracked comments in the papers. Tillery reported that the poll had been sponsored by Cox “and another communications company.” The story cut back to a second comment from citizen Debbie Ryan, before Tillery said that the identity of the second company was not known “until now.”

At this point, Cox VP Gary Cassard was shown on camera saying that Cox had been invited to sponsor the poll by BellSouth.

The significance of this statement rests in a single sentence in push poll story by The Daily Advertiser‘s Claire Taylor that appeared in Wednesday’s paper. The sentence, in its entirety reads:

BellSouth spokesman John Williams said the company is not involved in the survey.

What an amazing sentence! Let’s examine what it means.

First, it means that BellSouth would not own up to its own actions. Asked directly if the company was involved with the poll, local BellSouth rep John Williams denied it.

There is evidence to suggest that Williams knew he was lying when he answered that question that way.

In our Lafayette Coming Together group, one of our members posted the following on Tuesday night:

I didn’t get the call, but, interestingly enough, the wording below is identical in part to what I heard from a Bell South employee last night at a Neighborhood Watch meeting on the north side of town. We have a big group in our neighborhood, and at the end of the meeting I made a pitch for Lafayette Coming Together and the fiber initiative; immediately after that, a Bell South employee stood up and rattled off that same business about only being able to water your lawns on Monday-Wednesday-Friday and how we should expect the same from any phone and cable service provided by City-Parish government.

So, on Monday night, BellSouth employees were already parroting the language of the push poll. John Williams is either a liar or so far out of the loop that he doesn’t know what’s happening in the company he represents — when everyone else does.

The other thing that happened between Wednesday morning and Wednesday evening is that the heat generated by this story may have finally rent the partnership between BellSouth and Cox.

In the morning papers and in the first part of the KLFY story, Cox’s Gary Cassard was firm in his refusal to name the communications company that had partnered with Cox on the push poll.

In the second on-camera piece, Cassard was, in effect, blowing the whistle on BellSouth. Not only did he name BellSouth, but added that the poll was instigated by BellSouth and that Cox was invited in as a co-sponsor.

The fact that BellSouth was willing to cower behind a lie while Cox took the heat for the push poll eventually proved to be too much for Cassard and Cox to stand. Media coverage of the push poll story was rapidly turning into a public relations disaster — and (according to Cassard) the whole thing originated with BellSouth! Yet, BellSouth was unwilling to admit to their role in the poll. With friends like these, who needs enemies?

This latest attempt at public deception raises anew questions of BellSouth credibility on another matter that has been the subject of public discussion in recent months. Specifically, this episode should reopen scrutiny of BellSouth Louisiana President Bill Oliver’s threat to have BellSouth try to shut down the Cingular call center in Lafayette if Lafayette voters back the LUS plan.

The Advocate wrote a headline on a story based on Oliver’s meeting with the paper’s editorial board which said Oliver made that threat. The reporter who wrote the story, Kevin Blanchard, said Oliver made the threat.

A Lafayette attorney, Gary McGoffin, was quoted in The Independent Weekly saying Oliver had made a similar threat in conversations with him.

Oliver worked hard to say that everyone was lying but him.

But, the BellSouth modus operandi is well established: when the truth is embarrassing, lie. When you want to deliver a threat, do so in a way the can enable you to deliver it while denying it, then call those who say you said what you said liars. When the facts don’t serve your purpose, make something up.

This pattern has also infected other opponents of the LUS project. While maintaining that all they wanted was a vote, they were assiduously working to kill the LUS project. While saying they want fiber, they are opposed to the only plan that will deliver it. While saying the business plan will fail, they oppose the business approach that will enable the LUS plan to pay for itself. Saying that not a single municipal fiber project is covering its debt service, when the record is clear that they are paying their bills and delivering value to the communities they serve.

I give credit to Gary Cassard for owning up to his company’s part in the push poll. But, his erstwhile partner in this endeavor appears to be allergic to the truth. And, based on the positions taken by other opponents of this plan, it appears to be contagious.

Just in case you’ve gotten out of the habit: Doug’s back. Trip over to his LUS Fiber To The Home (FTTH) site and take a look at his take on the Push Poll Madness. His point is that the incumbents are their own worst enemy.

He may not be back for long (new job and all) but the note is a welcome one in the tune we are singing.

Jim Hildreth, a neighbor to the north, stands up for fiber in a letter in the Advertiser this morning. You don’t have to be from Lafayette to support fiber, you only have to be from the city to vote. This project will be good for Acadiana as a whole and, in my judgment, won’t long remain confined to city limits.

A low cost fiber optic network is a plan that should be supported by all citizens. The benefits will impact generations socially and economically. Look at the Silicon Valley, Austin, Boston or New Mexico as examples.

Lafayette deserves the best and its future is dependent on each of us for support.

Indeed.

The list of endorsements grows. From the Louisiana Conference of Mayors:

Therefore be it resolved that the Louisiana Conference of Mayors endorses Lafayette’s project to develop an FTTP network, as an addition to currently deployed DSL, Cable, and fixed wireless solutions.

Not only is this a win for Lafayette, it is a win for the state and for those who would try to maintain the rights of cities in this state to serve their citizens in the manner they believe best fits local needs. It means that this issue is on the cities’ radar, that they are informed, and that they well recognize where their best interests lie.

They give all the right reasons: global competition, local development, and, explicitly, the right of cities to deploy fiber if they desire.

Clearly Senator Broome’s anti-Lafayette prefiled bill is the inspiration for this move. That bill would force a second vote in Lafayette and would punish the city for exercising its rights by releasing Cox from contractual agreements to pay the city for the use of its property and to continue contractual support for local community operations like AOC. (More detail? Mine. The Advocate’s, The Advertisers) The cities are closing ranks and firing a shot across the legislative bow. It’s the right thing to do. May Senator Broome’s bill die a very obvious and embarrassing death.

Just for the record: The Louisiana Conference of Mayors is affiliated with the National Conference of Mayors. Maybe the word can be passed up the line? This is one of those (few, I admit) places where Louisiana is well ahead of the curve. A national declaration might help other embattled cities.

If you’d like to see a copy of the document I’ve put one on our server.

Both the Advertiser and the Advocate carry stories today on the ongoing Push Poll Madness. What needs to be said upfront is that I’m pretty sure that the fellows over at Cox and BellSouth are pretty disconcerted. By all accounts–and much of my take on this comes from laughing phone calls last night, personal emails, and emails distributed to Lafayette Coming Together members, not the papers’ take alone. I heard stories of both the pollsters and the people called giggling over the water “rationing” question conspiratorially. A woman said she told a supervisor that she ought be ashamed of herself and her client too. You can just imagine the virtual finger wagging. People are not afraid. They’re peeved and angry. But they are also straight-out amused. And that is neither expected nor welcomed by the folks who paid big bucks in an ongoing project to scare most of Lafayette. You don’t win elections by playing the fool (not even in Lousiana).

It may turn out that our biggest asset in the storm to come is our ability to find humor in almost anything. And, as well, to not take our opponents too seriously (or ourselves, for that matter).

The articles in both papers are fun to read because they reflect much of the humor with which the recipients of the calls responded.

On the tone of the poll, and its intent—

From the Advertiser:

“Everything was negative about LUS and positive about Cox and BellSouth,” Ringo said. “It was just a paid political announcement pushing you to think LUS is bad and everybody else is good. It’s not fair marketing, and I told the lady she should be ashamed.”

From the Advocate:

Ringo, who does marketing in the oil and gas industry, said he didn’t see how the questions asked in the poll would actually be useful to judge public opinion.

Ringo called the poll a “push poll,” advertising disguised as a public opinion poll meant to sway opinion rather than measure it.

“It is a scare tactic,” Ringo said.

On the nature of the poll, mixed feelings:

From the Advertiser:

The pollster also said “that since LUS rations water, how would you feel about receiving cable only a few days a week,” Lavergne said.

“I couldn’t finish. I was laughing too hard toward the end,” he said. “It was interesting all the different angles they played, like if they asked enough questions and played enough angles they were bound to get something you’re angry with the city about.”

From the Advocate:

Resident Kioke Ringo said he was offended by the questions he was asked when called Monday night.

“I kind of got upset because they were pushing me into a philosophy of being anti-LUS by the very nature of the questions,” Ringo said Tuesday

Let me speak up for a little righteous anger in addition to the amusement. This stuff is funny. It’s hard to treat it seriously; it’s hard to imagine why Cox thought this was a good idea. (Or for that matter, how formerly reputable pollster Verne Kennedy decided to field this thing. He used to have a good reputation and his political savvy was considered his chief asset.) But the truth is that Cox did not intend for this to be funny and that both companies are putting out the same bilge about water for their employees to distribute.

Somebody important thought that the people of Lafayette were easily scared — and very stupid. They don’t believe any of this gradu about water rationing or religious programming themselves. You can imagine the broad smiles and giggles around the boardroom table as they came up with this stuff. No, they don’t believe any of it. But they did believe that it was the “smart” thing to do because, without a doubt in their mind to slow them down, they thought people of this city would fall far it. My guess is that the same people who designed the “down-home” Cox ad currently running on cable that uses an actor putting on an Arkansas accent was thought up around the same table.

We ought to be angry as well as amused. And I think we can manage both things at the same time.

And nobody, nobody at all, should be using tactics like this. It inevitably taints the reputation of those who benefit. And the evidence is in. First last summer and then again this week, it is pretty clear that in Lafayette, at least, the cost is far, far higher than benefit. As it should be.

Lafayette Coming Together, Lafayette’s citizen action group, has just launched its website at: LafayetteComingTogether.org.

From a mission statement for the group…

Lafayette Coming Together is a group of citizens who have banded together in support of Lafayette Utilities System’s fiber-to-the-home project. Our members come from different political parties, different parts of town, different occupations, races, and ages. We believe that the LUS fiber project represents an important step toward a brighter future for our community, and we are willing to work to realize that vision.

The group aims to be the organization that focuses on facilitating direct contact between Lafayette citizens–canvassing neighborhoods, maintaining an email network, providing a clearing house for information, directly contacting legislators, soliciting donations for “consumables” like buttons, yard signs, and bumper stickers which give each of us a chance to declare ourselves. A person-to-person ad campaign launches today with an ad in the Independent that simply lists the names of those willing to stand up for Lafayette. The group aims to keep the tone as light as possible… it’s the Lafayette way to have a little fun with your seriousness, a little sugar in the coffee. Look for a viral campaign using the tools that modern technology gives us and our community’s humor and creativity. There’s lots you can do without a great pile of money. (And more that you can do with it.)

The following is an email alert sent out last night by the citizens’ group “Lafayette Coming Together”–an LPF ally. Don’t be surprised to find a copy in your email inbox today. Members and their families, friends, and colleagues are being encouraged to spread the word as widely as is possible. Email gives us a fast way to get the word out to many people on the more outragous disinformation tactics of the Cox and BellSouth. (Please excuse multiple copies! Lafayette Coming Together has launched its website at LafayetteComingTogether.org and you can sign up for an email newslette and alert system there.)

The text of the email…(feel free to cut and paste it into your own email program for distribution to your friends. Join our viral campaign!)

Disinformation Alert: There They Go Again

Please forward this email to your family, friends, and colleagues. A “push poll” seeking to deceive the public about LUS’ fiber optic plan is underway right now and if we can let people know what they can expect and what the “poll” is about before they answer the phone we can prevent a lot of unnecessary confusion.

There they go Again….

In a repeat of last year’s campaign of disinformation Cox and Bellsouth have launched a “poll” whose sole purpose is to sow confusion, uncertainty, and fear. Reports are coming in about a telephone push poll that residents are receiving, of the kind that purports to state a “fact” and then asks the respondent how he feels about it. Of course, the point is not to find out what the respondent feels, it’s to feed him disinformation — the poisonous and untrue “fact.”

The one making the rounds now is particularly outrageous, and someone should be ashamed of themselves. Of course, no one is claiming responsibility for the poll, either on the phone or in public. We’ve paraphrased the questions because we don’t have them recorded, but who do you think would formulate questions like these?

* The south side is more affluent than the north side, so it will get fiber first. How do you feel about that?

* Since there is an issue with separation of church and state, you will possibly lose your religious channels. How do you feel about that?

* Watering your lawn during summer months is rationed to Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. How will you feel if you can only watch television on those days?

Word on the street is that a local BellSouth employee was heard presenting some of these same “facts” at a citizens’ meeting last night. But we’ve also discovered that the phone number from which the calls are made belongs to a research firm used by Cox in a similar effort last year.

None of the “facts” hold water. The fiber build-out will be done more or less simultaneously on both sides of Lafayette; religious programming will continue to be broadcast; and, believe it or not, you will still be able to have your TV every day of the week.

Don’t buy it; none of it is true. And don’t let family and friends buy it either. Keep them informed. Please forward this email to as many as possible.

John St. Julien, Mike Stagg, and Don Bertrand for Lafayette Coming Together.

The period of unnatural quiet has ended and the first of BellSouth and Cox’s dirty little tricks has begun. Starting last night a new push poll was debuted in Lafayette. Push polls, an ugly little way of trying to inject Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt into a community, were visited on us during last summer’s period of nastiness. Cox was the worst offender last time but it appears that BellSouth is stepping forward this time.

Here’s a first report on the poll as forwarded from Lafayette residents. According to one email, the push poll includes:

Questions like: The south side is more affluent than the north side, so it will get it first. How do you feel about that? Since there is an issue with separation of church and state. Therefore, you will possibly (probably?) lose your religious channels. How do you feel about that? Watering your lawn during summer months is rationed to Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. How will you feel if you can only watch television on those days? Many more questions along those lines.

And in response to that the following email:

I didn’t get the call, but, interestingly enough, the wording below is identical in part to what I heard from a Bell South employee last night at a Neighborhood Watch meeting on the north side of town. We have a big group in our neighborhood, and at the end of the meeting I made a pitch for Lafayette Coming Together and the fiber initiative; immediately after that, a Bell South employee stood up and rattled off that same business about only being able to water your lawns on Monday-Wednesday-Friday and how we should expect the same from any phone and cable service provided by City-Parish government.

Sounds like talking points are being circulated and employees are being coached.

The purpose of this sort of stuff is to turn neighbor against neighbor with lies. It would be political suicide to serve only South Lafayette. AOC has church services now. Water conservation –that’s just silly. But it’s not that they hope any of these will stick. They hope they can bombard you with so much junk that all you’ll recall is that “bad things are said about fiber.”

Don’t fall for. It’s all Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt. And, of course, outright lies, like the attempt to raise racial anger. These guys are shameless. And there is no reason to respect them. Remember: our future is in your hands. Don’t let men of this character determine our future.

It’s ugly. And it has begun.

Update 3:20: Apparently one person who received the call has traced it back to the number of a firm previously used by Cox. So maybe Cox paid for this one as well. Either way, what is clear is that the talking points are coordinated. These guys are in it together.

A second source says that the first question asked by the “pollster” is if the respondent is from LUS, LCG, or the news media. An honest “yes” earned a quick hang-up from the other end. I guess they don’t really want to talk to anyone who is informed. My suggestion: say no and keep a tape recorder handy. Wouldn’t it be fun to have an MP3 of this to email your friends?

Join the fight. Email: StandingUp@LafayetteProFiber.com to find out how.

Along the lines of my remarks this morning that Team CajunBot was one among several signs that Lafayette could compete on a national stage to I refer you to this morning’s Advocate story “Lafayette receives high marks.” It looks like I, and CNet, are not the only ones to notice something good brewing in the Hub City.

From the story:

Lafayette continues to receive props for its business-friendly climate and high-tech innovation.

Leading all Louisiana cities, Lafayette ranked 68th in the country for doing business in the latest edition of Inc. Magazine… [the story]

Lafayette showed the highest growth in Louisiana for information technology jobs, which grew 21.5 percent in the last three years.

The only other city in Louisiana with growth in that sector was Baton Rouge, which grew 1.3 percent.

And it’s not just Louisiana in which Lafayette is pulling ahead:

Inc. concluded in its study that high-paying technology jobs have declined in areas like Silicon Valley and Boston and popped up in smaller towns, where the cost of living and doing business is lower and quality of life is high…

“Lafayette continues to be a progressive city, and when you combine that with a business-friendly climate, the reputation we are garnering as a technologically savvy city and the excellent quality of life that we enjoy, it can only help in our efforts to bring business and jobs to this area,” Durel said.

We’re shaping up as a unique place to live and play; a community with a progressive and positive ideas about what is possible; and as a community where we take the future into our own hands. Any successful entrepreneur is bound to feel a kindred spirit.

But wait! There’s more:

In October, Entrepreneur magazine named Lafayette as one of the four most attractive areas in the country for high-tech business.

And at no extra charge:

In 2003, the Milken Institute ranked Lafayette first in growth in wages and salaries out of the largest 200 metropolitan areas in the country…

According to Dee Stanley the good news doesn’t stop there:

And Lafayette’s plans for a fiber-optics network available at low cost to every home and business in the city — coupled with LITE and state initiatives in research — will help attract more attention from high-tech business, Stanley said.

We just need to keep the ball rolling. It’s in our hands.

(Thanks to a blog tipster for alerting me to this story. I wouldn’t have caught it until I had time to read the physical paper. That is, maybe never. 🙂 )