WASHINGTON — Hosts of a Los Angeles radio talk show listed a link to Sen. Orrin Hatch's press secretary's phone number on their Web site for their listeners to call to express views on the pending immigration bill now under consideration in the Senate.
Hatch's spokesman Peter Carr is used to fielding a lot of phone calls in one day from reporters looking for information about the senator or Utah, but so far he has received at least 70 calls from California residents wanting to make sure the senator does not support any bill that would allow amnesty for illegal residents.
Carr said the calls started last weekend and he came in the office on Monday to a number of voice mails — somewhat uncommon when the Senate is on recess, but even more uncommon because none of them were from reporters or anyone related to the media. He said everyone has been cordial but he had to resort to e-mail and using his cell phone to attend to his other responsibilities and avoid long conversations with people. He reminded the callers that Hatch does not support amnesty and has voted against it.
Talk show hosts John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou of the "The John and Ken Show," which airs on KFI AM 640 out of Los Angeles, listed the direct phone numbers of all the Senate Judiciary Committee members' press secretaries with the instruction "Grab a snack and beverage, find a comfortable chair and start calling everyone on this list."
"Call them during the Easter break and tell them NO AMNESTY!," said the show Web site www.johnandkenshow.com.
Show producer Ray Lopez said they purposely listed the press secretaries hoping to try a new avenue of getting to the lawmakers' offices. He said often the main numbers "get you nowhere" and that regular staff members do not have time to listen to such phone calls.
He said they knew it was "not the cool thing to do" but that people in Southern California pay a big price for illegal immigrants and they want to be sure their voices are heard.
The station gets classified as conservative, but Lopez said the show is more moderate. It has about 1 million listeners during its afternoon time slot from 3 to 7 p.m.
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