News

September 6, 2008

Non-profit hiring people to help Obama

Ad offers no hint it’s political. Those hired will run offices and train others to get the Democrat elected.

By Jerry Lynott jlynott@timesleader.com
Business Writer
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WILKES-BARRE – The contact person on the fliers is fictitious, but the jobs that Progressive Future is advertising are real.

The non-profit advocacy group is hiring people to enlist support for the Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama.

Fliers have appeared in the downtown as part of the group’s effort to build a staff of several hundred in Pennsylvania, said Dave Masur, state director for Progressive Future.

“We’re getting a lot calls, a lot of interest. We have staff on the ground,” Masur said Thursday.

A bright yellow flier taped to a street light pole on Public Square read, “JOBS FOR EDUCATION, HEALTH CARE & THE ENVIRONMENT,” with the group’s name and contact information listed below.

But when people call the phone number and “Ask for Michael,” as directed, they’ll find out there is no one by that name on the other end.

The group has a limited budget and wants to use its money as efficiently as possible, Masur said. The fake contact name is a way to measure whether the flier is effective.

It is, he added. “We’ve been getting across the state, hundreds if not thousands of calls.”

The group, based in Denver, is hiring directors to run local offices and train college students and others as canvassers, paid at a rate of $6 an hour, to help elect Obama. The federal minimum wage is $6.55 per hour; in Pennsylvania it is $7.15.

Progressive Future considers Pennsylvania one of the three big swing states along with Ohio and Florida, Masur said.

It also considers education, health care and the environment three major issues on which Obama is stronger than his Republican opponent, Sen. John McCain.

The flier had no indication it was political or in support of Obama’s campaign. Masur said another one the group uses says, “Jobs for Obama.”

The group is not attempting to deceive people and lead them to believe they are responding to an ad for jobs in any of those fields, Masur said.

“When people call the information is pretty clear,” he said.

Jerry Lynott, a Times Leader staff writer, can be contacted at 570 829-7237.

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