May 1, 2002 1 min read

Can you believe Pennsylvania lawmakers pulled another fast one? Gov. Schweiker in April signed into law a telemarketing bill that continues most of the language of the old 1996 act but with important consumer protection provisions. Telemarketers under threat of substantial penalties and fines cannot contact consumers who have placed their names on a do-not-call list. The intent is to protect telephone customers from unwanted, annoying and possibly harassing phone calls. Have you guessed yet who can ignore do-not-call lists? You’re absolutely right. Any call made “on behalf of a political candidate or a political party” is excluded from the definition of “telephone solicitation call.”

While you can effectively tell the vacuum cleaner salesman and the magazine pusher to buzz off by adding your name to the do-not-call list, “party workers” can still interrupt your dinner.

Admittedly, these political calls usually come just twice a year before the spring primary and the fall general elections, but they can be just as unwelcome and irritating as credit card “courtesy calls.”

Unfortunately the Legislature somehow sees a difference between telemarketers selling stuff you don’t want to buy and those reciting a political spiel you don’t want to hear.