Longshot's sexy robocall garners notoriety

A sexy robocall by a North Coast political newcomer prompted a wave of protest, but also earned Zane Starkewolf a deluge of media attention.

Starkewolf, 27, the longshot Republican candidate for the 1st Congressional District seat, said Tuesday he apologized for the medium -- an illegal recorded message -- but not the message.

A spokeswoman for his opponent, Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, dismissed Starkewolf's tactic as a "sophomoric and tasteless prank."

The 15-second phone message, which went out Sunday to about 100,000 registered voters in the district, featured a woman's sultry voice that began with, "Mike Thompson's been a bad boy."

It criticized the 10-year incumbent for voting for the $700 billion bailout bill and for backing President Bush on the Patriot Act.

Punctuated with an earthy grunt, the message ends with the woman urging people to "vote 'yesss' for Zane."

Starkewolf, a medical technology entrepreneur and a UC Davis graduate, apologized for using robocalls, describing them as "a very disreputable means of making a political statement."

With about $5,000 in campaign funds, Starkewolf said the medium, at a penny per call, was the only advertising he could afford.

Starkewolf said he wrote the call's script, which he "wanted to be noticed," and did not apologize for the message. He said the voice "was a little too suggestive."

Laurel Brown, Thompson's aide, said: "As our nation deals with a financial crisis and two ongoing wars, it's incredible that someone would waste voters' time with this drivel. America wants leaders who'll bring serious solutions, not political smear tactics."

Thompson voted for the bailout bill Oct. 3, calling it a flawed measure. "I had to choose to either do nothing or vote for an imperfect rescue package," he said.

He said Democratic leaders gave assurances that they will address regulations to protect taxpayers and "establish a safer financial system."

Thompson initially voted for the Patriot Act in 2001 but voted against a reauthorization in 2005, Brown said. A former state legislator, Thompson has won five straight congressional elections by a margin of about 2 to 1 over Republicans.

Starkewolf said the calls were aimed at every registered independent and Democratic voter in the district.

He said he halted the calls Sunday after receiving 200 voice mail messages on his own phone, most of them negative reactions to his campaign calls.

On his campaign Web site, Starkewolf wrote that the robocall message "may have been a little overly enthusiastic in the delivery, but I believe it is good to get enthusiasm back into politics."

Comments posted on his blog ran against the robocall, with one person writing, "Bad move, Zane" and another saying "Have you no shame or decency?"

Another blogger noted, "No publicity is bad publicity," and Starkewolf said in an interview he had received more than a dozen media calls from the North Bay, Bay Area and beyond.

The Atlantic magazine's Web site dubbed his message the "Sexiest Illegal Robocall of the Year."

Pre-recorded calls placed by machines are illegal in California unless they are introduced by a live person, the state Public Utilities Commission said.

You can reach Staff Writer Guy Kovner at 521-5457 or guy.kovner@pressdemocrat.com.