Buffalo, NY (WBEN) Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz's campaign says it has received numerous reports about phone calls made late last night and in the early morning hours, supposedly done on behalf of the Mark Poloncarz for Erie County campaign. The campaign calls it a dirty trick.
Important Advisory: we are getting reports that voters received phone calls between 1-2AM asking whether they like the job I'm doing, as if it's a poll. These are NOT from me. These dirty tricks are reprehensible. If you got such a call please call my HQ at 204-8006 to report it. pic.twitter.com/6yHTtFIZnz
— Mark Poloncarz (@markpoloncarz)
October 11, 2019 "For the record, the Poloncarz for Erie County Campaign did not send those calls and would never use those tactics against an opponent," says the campaign in a statement. "These dirty campaign tactics are reprehensible. For so many of us a late-night call brings panic and fear about the health of a loved one. Be it a child away at college or an aging parent, a call in the middle of the night signifies an emergency. The people we spoke with today are furious and want answers."
The campaign says this is a well-documented trick used to annoy people and turn supporters away, and it comes from a desperate place. Poloncarz Campaign Spokesperson Pete Anderson says that it's despicable to be scaring senior citizens with a late phone call.
"We don't know where they're coming from; we're doing everything we can to try to figure that part of it out," said Anderson. "Right now, we're at the point where we just want to assure our supporters that it is not our campaign calling them late night and we would never do something like that."
Voters have indicated the call came from 716-235-1027, which appears to be an anonymous Google Voice number. The campaign says while it is tracking down the source of these calls, the campaign encourages anyone who received the call to contact Campaign Headquarters at 716-204-8006.
