Doyle tries to protect no-call list
11:27 PM 10/02/03
Phil Brinkman State government reporter

Gov. Jim Doyle appealed to President Bush on Thursday not to undermine Wisconsin's no-call law for telemarketers by writing federal rules that could supersede the state law. <

Doyle, Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager and state Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D-Middleton, the author of the law, also vowed to protect the popular program despite court challenges to a similar federal program. That could mean removing the exemption on charities and political organizations from complying with the law if that's what it takes to keep the registry, backers said. <

"We will fight, whether it may be in court, in the federal bureaucracy or in the state Legislature, against any effort to weaken or undermine our no-call law," Doyle said. "Wisconsin citizens want to protect their peace and quiet." <

In a letter to Bush, the Democratic governor said the administration is giving mixed signals over whether state or federal rules should prevail in Wisconsin once the federal law goes into effect, originally scheduled for this week but delayed because of legal challenges. <

That's significant because the federal law contains what backers of Wisconsin's no-call law say are major loopholes in the effort to rein in unwanted telephone solicitations. <

Under the federal law, for example, a telemarketer may continue calling past customers who are on the list for up to 18 months after they last did business with the company. Wisconsin's law only allows a business to call a current customer on the list, and then only if the call relates to goods or services that person is already receiving. <

Federal regulators have suggested Wisconsin's law may only apply to telemarketers located in the state, while those calling from outside the state may be allowed to follow the weaker federal law. More than half of the telemarketers registered in Wisconsin are outside the state. <

"I don't think Congress intended that states like Wisconsin that have already done this and done it really well should have to back off and have less effective no-call lists," Doyle said. <

Meanwhile, a federal court judge in Denver has put the federal no-call registry on hold, saying it unfairly restricts the First Amendment rights of businesses while letting charities and political organizations continue to solicit money without having first to check to see if a person's phone number is on the list. <

Wisconsin's law also exempts charities and political groups. <

If the ruling is upheld and Wisconsin's law is successfully challenged on similar grounds, Erpenbach said he has prepared legislation removing those exemptions. <

"If the choice is giving the charities the exemption or getting rid of the no-call list, I think the choice is very clear that we have to close those .