SPARTANBURG GOP CHAIR REPORTEDLY OFFERED CLIENTS LISTS FOR $10 PER PRECINCT DURING GOP PRIMARY RACES
A high ranking member of the Spartanburg County GOP is alleging that Rick Beltram used his position as party chairman to sell access to a closely guarded, very expensive database developed by the Republican National Committee to track and micro-target voters.
“He has been retailing use of Voter Vault for $10 per precinct and then using a separate program to create walking lists for his clients for an additional fee,” the source told The Palmetto Scoop, noting that access to the program is granted only to party officials and campaigns and that unauthorized distribution is a direct violation of the terms of use and may be illegal.
This new claim intensifies charges that Beltram (pictured above placing Mitt Romney signs during the presidential primary) exploited his post as the GOP county chair to make a personal profit while working against other Republicans.
He recently came under fire from State GOP Chairman Katon Dawson for using his county party office and county party materials to offer consulting services, for a profit, to Republican candidates during primary elections. Dawson told the Spartanburg Herald-Journal last Friday that those actions were “inappropriate.”
It is unclear whether Beltram might face a civil lawsuit if he knowingly abused the valuable technology, but a legal official familiar with Voter Vault said it would be difficult the RNC to prove any wrongdoing as far as the law is concerned.
Sphere: Related ContentThis entry was posted on Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008 at 10:22 pm and is filed under Republicans. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
1. Those list are crap. They should be free.
2. Lots of consultants resale those list.
3 Beltram is an idiot.
4. Toise list are crap…why would anyone want them.
I second that comment!
well I was kinda shocked when I got the letter from Katon Dawson stating Boyer, a candidate for Columbia city council , was a Republican- please support him. The letter implied that I was selected to recieve this letter because I voted in the Republican primary. Trouble is…. I voted Ron Paul, not neocons. So this action lost a vote for Boyer that he would have recieved otherwise…..
Interesting huh? Some people still support Republicans, but Dawson represents Neocons.
Voter Vault is a competitive disadvantage, the data is not just bad it is horrendous, how is it that ten households can have the same phone number? Voter attributes are incorrect as relates to gun ownership et cetera. There is no competitive advantage when both candidates have access to the same bad data.
~Jeffrey Sewell
Resolution: VICTOR
New Technology brings micro-targeting to Main Street
VICTOR enables campaigns to define Victory, Press Release
http://www.sewellconsultancy.com
Principal Consultant: Jeffrey Sewell (Bio) V.I.C.T.O.R. White Paper Executive Summary
Media Contact: Adam Piper (803) 237-0974
Legislative Affairs: Blake Montgomery (803) 917-7742
Request Demo: Call (800) 235-3376
Of course Voter Vault sucks… that’s why this story is hilarious.
Not only did Beltram try to exploit what little power he has by completely abusing his privileges, but he did it with a program that probably causes more harm than good to campaigns.
Folks:
ALL DATA is and was FREE…..to ALL candidates!
Rick Beltram