Mark Ballard for Aug. 9, 2009

• By MARK BALLARD
• Advocate Capitol news bureau editor
• Published: Aug 9, 2009

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Politics always has been played with spitballs and corked bats. New technology is taking the game in a new directions, though, really, it all kind of remains the same.

The New York Times, for instance, last week reported how a loose-knit coalition of conservative voters and advocacy groups used social networking Web sites to mobilize crowds that disrupted public meetings being held by members of the U.S. Congress who supported a health-care overhaul.

Baton Rouge got a taste a couple weeks ago when a hundred or so people — who identified themselves as members of local anti-tax “tea” parties or employees of insurance companies — said they were alerted via e-mails, Twitter and Facebook. They descended on a pro-health-care-revamp news conference at the federal courthouse on Florida Street. Once there, the discussion over the details of the various health-care overhaul plans quickly evolved into shouting about the circumstances of President Barack Obama’s birth.

Police officers, who tried to keep tempers from escalating into violence, were vilified nationally by Glenn Beck, the conservative Fox News commentator, and others. You can still watch Beck’s rant on the Internet. Videotaped versions of the protest are available on YouTube.com.

The technologically-inspired disruptions could be behind the limited number of public sightings of Louisiana’s elected officials.

U.S. Sen. David Vitter, R-La., for instance, spoke at the ExxonMobil plant on Scenic Highway behind protective fences and rigid security that limited access. Gov. Bobby Jindal doesn’t announce an appearance on his “Working Louisiana” tours until a couple hours before the event. Though Jindal contends these meetings are to trade views with regular Louisiana people, the only folks showing up say they are supporters who heard about the visit from other supporters.

Political consultant Randy Hayden of Baton Rouge said he sees a future of increased political use of technology. His example is the dramatic rise in the use of “robocalls” — the low-tech, tape-recorded, phone calls into tens of thousands of homes. They spout messages that consultants can tailor to the specific biases of particular voters. It’s controlled and it’s so cheap.

State Rep. Robert Johnson, D-Marksville, for instance, recalled his surprise at one day seeing his stack of phone messages jumped from a dozen or so to a hundred or so, mostly from retirees.

The Louisiana House was about to take up a bill Jindal was pushing to give taxpayer dollars to a limited number of New Orleans parents to use to pay for private schools for their children. It was a pilot program hailed by the governor as a way to help poor children in districts with failing schools. It was criticized by teacher unions as a backdoor way to start a voucher program in Louisiana.

“It amazed me. I must have returned well over 100 of them,” Johnson said, recalling the conversations. “The tagline must have been something like, ‘Do you want to tell Robert Johnson to vote for the children?’ ‘Oh yes.’ ‘Well hold on, we’ll connect you now.’”

Each caller was then connected to Johnson’s office, where, because he was in the chamber of the House, a message was taken.
Johnson said the pilot program didn’t really involve central Louisiana, so it could be just as easy to vote for it and forget it.

“I had to call these people back and say this is not a voucher for any kid in Avoyelles (Parish). This is about vouchers for some kids in Orleans Parish. When they got that, they were, ‘What? Well, don’t vote for that,’ ” Johnson recalled.

He didn’t.