The Republican Presidential Task Force is after me again. A few weeks ago this task force offered to put my name on a list that would be memorialized in the George Bush Presidential Library - for $10 a month. I put that letter in the circular file.
This time the task force thinks it's found a way to get into my bank account. Look for it in the mail - it's called "automatic transfer."The approach is tricky. With a three-page letter, the task force sent me a $25 check. On the back of the check, in small print over the endorsing line, a note says: "In accordance with the terms and conditions stated below, I authorize my bank to charge my account each month in an amount equal to one-half of the face amount of this check and to transfer such amount to the Republican Presidential Task Force."
If I endorse the $25 check and deposit it, I will be agreeing to participate in the "testing of the Republican Party's newest candidate support concept called `Candidate Escrow Funding' or CEF."
I don't like the idea of giving the Republican Presidential Task Force - or anyone else - unlimited access to my checking account. It is a "revolutionary new concept designed to give our incumbent and challenger candidates the extra edge they'll need this November."
According to the letter, the testing of this new concept is "being conducted at ABSOLUTELY NO COST" to me. I am just asked to try CEF for two months at the task force's expense.
The trick is that by endorsing the check I authorize these people to take $12.50 from my account each month thereafter. If for any reason I am "not completely satisfied," I am instructed to call 1-800-877-6772 and terminate my involvement. But if I AM satisfied, then the automatic transfer will continue and I will "join the ranks of a small, dedicated group of concerned Americans who have made an ongoing financial commitment to helping elect candidates who truly support our president and his programs."
Well, this is sort of like signing up for a book club with the promise that you can get out at any time you desire. "No obligation." Except when you DO decide you want out, nobody can believe it. So 24 phone calls, eight letters and 12 more books are needed before the club lets you out.
The Republican Task Force thinks the automatic transfer is the answer to all its financial problems. It can "dramatically slash mailings, administrative and postage costs." It can use "hi-tech voter identification programs, hi-tech voter registration programs and hi-tech voter turnout programs."
This is all possible because of the new "powerful electronic weapon" called CEF. WEAPON is an apt word to describe it. It may represent the end of the task force's financial problems, but it is only the beginning of the financial problems of rank and file Republicans everywhere who receive $25 checks in the mail.
So when yours comes, take my advice and burn it - quickly - before someone else endorses it. And if you know anyone who doesn't read small print and thinks this is a generous gift from the Republican Task Force, tell him! Don't cash the check even if you are promised that your name will be included in the new edition of "Who's Who in the Republican Party," along with Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon.
I called the Republican Task Force in Washington to make sure this was no scam and to ask if the automatic transfer is legal. Wendy DeMocker, a communications representative, told me the task force is concentrating more and more on the automatic transfer. And it is perfectly legal as a result of the 1979 Electronic Funding Transfer Act, making it possible for people to pay all sorts of bills by automatic transfer. "It is a very streamlined way of collecting bills," she said.
This still doesn't mean that any of us should be snookered by it. If you want to support Republican candidates, do it because you want to - not because you were tricked into it.