Political Quotes

“during the July 1999 hearing on deceptive mail held by the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, several promoters testified that they use different business names and different stationery to send to the same people different-looking mailings to promote the same sweepstakes. So, for example, on day one, a person can get a solicitation to enter a $10,000 sweepstakes, and the solicitation says on the top that ``Company Blue'' is making the offer. In the rules it says ``your chances of winning are 1 in 3 million.'' Let's say you enter that sweepstakes. One week later you get another solicitation for a $10,000 sweepstakes. And we learned that the standard operating procedure for this type of sweepstakes is to send 5 or 6 mailings for the same sweepstakes after the person responds to the first mailing. So on this second mailing, it says ``Company Red'' at the top and the materials look totally different from the ``Company Blue'' promotions. The rules of this second solicitation also say you have a 1 in 3 million chance of winning $10,000, which a reasonable person would think is a completely different sweepstakes. That's also what the promoter wants you to think. So you think you have a chance of winning $20,000 in total. But, you don't. The most you can win is $10,000. I believe these mailings are misrepresenting the facts, and under existing law these misrepresentations are deceptive.”