FRIENDSWOOD, TX – Two weeks ago Bob Smither, Libertarian candidate for Texas’ 22nd Congressional District, called upon his opponents to stop engaging in deceptive polling tactics. The voters of District 22 have been subjected to a month of push polling and other unethical survey techniques designed to artificially favor certain candidates.

Unfortunately this problem continues unabated as a survey conducted last week by an unknown pollster indicates.

The latest incident involves a telephone survey conducted during the week of September 24th. The survey, which came from an unidentified pollster, presented voters with a choice between three candidates:

Democrat Nick Lampson
Republican Shelley Sekula-Gibbs
“Liberal Party” Bob Smither

Several recipients of this poll independently verified to the Smither campaign that the pollster incorrectly identified Bob Smither as a member of the non-existent “Liberal Party.” In reality, Smither belongs to the Libertarian Party. Upon learning of this poll, Smither made the following remarks:

“This incident is the latest in a long list of dirty polling tricks in CD 22. It is obvious that the campaign which conducted this poll intended to change voter's perception of Bob Smither by attaching the label ‘liberal’ to my name. The 22nd district is not a ‘liberal’
district, and as a Libertarian I strongly reject the big government philosophy that this word suggests.

This poll’s misidentification of the Libertarian Party was no accident.

Several of my supporters received this poll and were given the same choice – “Liberal Party.” I am the only fiscally conservative candidate in this race. Whoever authorized this poll clearly intended to deceive the voters by suggesting otherwise.”

The poll in question also gave no indication that Mrs. Sekula-Gibbs is mounting a write-in campaign, and will not appear on the ballot as a choice.

Several previous incidents of deceptive polling techniques have characterized the District 22 campaign. In late August an anonymous autodial poll excluded Smither, one of only two names that are on the ballot, as a choice entirely, and another contained a series of “push poll” questions. The Sekula-Gibbs campaign also circulated poll results showing her with an 11 point lead over Mr. Lampson. The Smither campaign later obtained the wording of this poll and discovered that it intentionally excluded Smither from the choices, and incorrectly suggested that Mrs. Sekula-Gibbs was on the ballot.