Serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis. © James Conner.
If you have a moment, pay a visit to Montana Cowgirl today. She has the links to reports that the Mailergate researcher at Dartmouth conducted an ethically dodgy experiment in Texas not that long ago.
California officials now have a copy of the mailer that was inflicted on two Congressional districts there. The California mailer looks like the one that flooded Montana, but with the state seal of California instead of Montana’s seal. California authorities are investigating, and they’re not happy. I suspect that CA Governor Jerry Brown will take an interest. His first elective office was CA Secretary of State, the keeper of the seal.
Political scientists across the nation are discussing the situation, and some are defending the experiment, if that’s what it was, as the kind of disruption that’s necessary to advance knowledge. Not only is that argument selfish, it’s dangerously amoral and could be used to justify all kinds of evil conduct.
Some academics think Montana and California officials should chill out, which translates as don’t bring the law’s hammer down on these nice young professors who meant no harm. That’s a plea in mitigation, and far from a proven fact, not a defense for doing harm. Academics who venture beyond the ivory tower to involve themselves in public affairs are subject to, and must be held accountable to, the laws that govern public affairs.
Journalists, however, do not appear to be picking up on the Crowdpac connection. They need to follow that money.
Finally, I’d like to know why 100,000 mailers were thought necessary for Montana. That number might defended as necessary to detect small effects. But it might have been intended to ensure large effects. I’d also like to know how closely the study planned to track individual voters. Montana’s voter registration list contains a person’s voting history. It would not surprise me to learn that the researchers planned to crosscheck the voting histories of individual voters.