Posted on 09/07/2006 11:06:22 AM PDT by edzo4
The owner of DataUSA Inc., a company that conducted political polls for the campaigns of President Bush, Sen. Joe Lieberman and other candidates, pleaded guilty to fraud for making up survey and poll results. Tracy Costin pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Costin, 46, faces a maximum of five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 when she is sentenced Nov. 30.
As part of her plea agreement, Costin agreed to repay $82,732 to the unidentified clients for 11 jobs between June 2002 and May 2004. DataUSA is now known as Viewpoint USA.
According to a federal indictment, Costin told employees to alter poll data, and managers at the company told employees to "talk to cats and dogs" when instructing them to fabricate the surveys.
FBI Special Agent Jeff Rovelli said 50 percent of information compiled by DataUSA and transmitted to Bush's campaign was falsified, the Connecticut Post reported Thursday.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Edward Chang said on several occasions when the company was running up against a deadline to complete a job, results were falsified. Sometimes, the respondent's gender or political affiliation were changed to meet a quota, other times all survey answers were fabricated.
So what were the results of the poll of cats and dogs?
Oh. I thought it was common practice to rig polls. And now they are persecuting someone for it? WoW. Light is shining into the shadows of polling.
53% of cats disapprove of Bushes handling of the Iraq war
Media Schadenfreude and Media Shenanigans PING
Making it up poll results BUMP (election 2004)
sorry I searched for "poll" and "fraud" and didn't see it
That the democrats will take the House and Senate.
We need more government regulation of pollsters. :)-
How about a Sarbanes-Oxley type of monster regulation that requires pollsters to register, pass background checks, submit montly reports, testify about their basis of selection, statistical sampling methods.........etc. ?
Yes: 110%
No: -10%
Too stupid to vote: 12%
And 99% of the dogs wnat some of that sandwich you're eating. Please please please?
The cats were indifferent, and the dogs were all following the pack.
Thanks for the ping.
This story is fascinating. How much phony polling is really going on out there? Certainly if a pollster contracted by a candidate wanted to sabotage the campaign of his/her client, submitting fraudulent polling results is one "effective" way to go about it.
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