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American Morning

Interview with Robert Wientzen, Direct Marketing Assn.

Aired September 25, 2003 - 08:37   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Just six days from now a nationwide system to block unwanted telemarketing calls was supposed to go into effect. Now that is on hold because of a call from a judge. Americans put more than 50 million phone numbers on the do-not-call registry. But now a federal district court in Oklahoma City ruled yesterday that the FTC, the Federal Trade Commission, overstepped its authority. That decision was a victory for the Direct Marketing Association.
And Robert Wientzen, the group's President and CEO, is with us now to talk about it.

Good morning to you. Thanks for sharing with us -- Bob.

ROBERT WIENTZEN, PRESIDENT AND CEO, DIRECT MARKETING ASSOCIATION: OK, good morning.

HEMMER: Fifty million customers, can they be wrong?

WIENTZEN: Well, we don't think they're wrong. If they don't want to receive calls, we don't want to call them. About 30 million of those folks were already on a list, either a state list or a list that we've maintained for 18 years. So it's not new for a lot of them.

HEMMER: What is wrong, then, with what the FTC has done?

WIENTZEN: Well, Bill, what we said in our -- in our court case, and the judge agreed with us, was that the FTC simply didn't have the authority to do this. And he agreed with us. We think that people who don't want to get calls should indeed have the right to express that, and we shouldn't call them.

HEMMER: Now there is a major effort right now to get this thing reversed, quite possibly by the 1st of October, which is just Wednesday of next week. If you listen to members of Congress, we'll hear from some of them right now, they are going to put out a full- court press right now to make sure this judge is overturned.

Listen to the talk now in D.C. on this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. BILLY TAUZIN (R), LOUISIANA: This is something that Americans -- 50 million Americans have said they absolutely want the advantage of. And we are determined, bound and determined, before we leave this session of Congress, to make sure they have the advantage of a do-not-call list.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOHN DINGELL (D), MICHIGAN: We will try and have this matter dealt with by the end of the time that it -- that it is supposed to go into place, which is October 1, next Wednesday.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: You fear that it's just a question of time before you're reversed again?

WIENTZEN: Well, I think there's going to be a do-not-call list. But this is a great example of the sort of political sound bite that makes this attractive. It's not 50 million people on the list, it's 50 million phone numbers. That probably...

HEMMER: That could represent families, too, on one, which actually increased that number to 50 million.

WIENTZEN: Well, indeed, but we know it has a lot of cell phones. It has a lot of people who have been on the list, our list, for as long as 18 years. This is a great political game that we're seeing here. Congress, I think, acted a little bit too quickly, and perhaps they are going to rectify that.

HEMMER: So your position is that you think the government should not have authority in saying who is on your list and who is not, is that correct?

WIENTZEN: We don't think the government should have a role in regulating the kind of advertising activity that goes on.

HEMMER: OK, then if that's the case, what kind of list do you favor, then?

WIENTZEN: We think a list that expresses people's desire not to be called is appropriate. As I say, we've had it for 18 years. We think it's probably a better thing not done by the government. You know government might want to regulate how you operate your show a lot more strictly.

HEMMER: Well, let's hope not.

WIENTZEN: And I doubt that you'd like that either.

HEMMER: A member of Congress also said yesterday, said this is as popular as a skunk at a church picnic.

WIENTZEN: Well, it's a great political issue. We understand that. But the serious aspect here is that people who don't want to get called are probably not going to buy and we don't want to call them, either. HEMMER: Do you think it's just political or do you think there's a question of politeness involved in this as well? If people don't want their phone ringing, why can they not have the FTC step in and say you know what, we're going to give you this option?

WIENTZEN: Well, again, Bill, it's we don't oppose the concept of people expressing their desire not to be called. We've been doing just that and respecting that for 18 years. Our point here is that the FTC did not have the authority to do this. The federal court agreed. There are some other technical issues that suggest this could be done a lot better. But politically, this was a very attractive thing, and I'm afraid the FTC rushed it a little bit too quickly.

HEMMER: We'll see what happens in midweek next week, OK?

WIENTZEN: Fair enough.

HEMMER: Bob Wientzen, thank you, Direct Marketing Association, the President and CEO.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired September 25, 2003 - 08:37   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Just six days from now a nationwide system to block unwanted telemarketing calls was supposed to go into effect. Now that is on hold because of a call from a judge. Americans put more than 50 million phone numbers on the do-not-call registry. But now a federal district court in Oklahoma City ruled yesterday that the FTC, the Federal Trade Commission, overstepped its authority. That decision was a victory for the Direct Marketing Association.
And Robert Wientzen, the group's President and CEO, is with us now to talk about it.

Good morning to you. Thanks for sharing with us -- Bob.

ROBERT WIENTZEN, PRESIDENT AND CEO, DIRECT MARKETING ASSOCIATION: OK, good morning.

HEMMER: Fifty million customers, can they be wrong?

WIENTZEN: Well, we don't think they're wrong. If they don't want to receive calls, we don't want to call them. About 30 million of those folks were already on a list, either a state list or a list that we've maintained for 18 years. So it's not new for a lot of them.

HEMMER: What is wrong, then, with what the FTC has done?

WIENTZEN: Well, Bill, what we said in our -- in our court case, and the judge agreed with us, was that the FTC simply didn't have the authority to do this. And he agreed with us. We think that people who don't want to get calls should indeed have the right to express that, and we shouldn't call them.

HEMMER: Now there is a major effort right now to get this thing reversed, quite possibly by the 1st of October, which is just Wednesday of next week. If you listen to members of Congress, we'll hear from some of them right now, they are going to put out a full- court press right now to make sure this judge is overturned.

Listen to the talk now in D.C. on this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. BILLY TAUZIN (R), LOUISIANA: This is something that Americans -- 50 million Americans have said they absolutely want the advantage of. And we are determined, bound and determined, before we leave this session of Congress, to make sure they have the advantage of a do-not-call list.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOHN DINGELL (D), MICHIGAN: We will try and have this matter dealt with by the end of the time that it -- that it is supposed to go into place, which is October 1, next Wednesday.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: You fear that it's just a question of time before you're reversed again?

WIENTZEN: Well, I think there's going to be a do-not-call list. But this is a great example of the sort of political sound bite that makes this attractive. It's not 50 million people on the list, it's 50 million phone numbers. That probably...

HEMMER: That could represent families, too, on one, which actually increased that number to 50 million.

WIENTZEN: Well, indeed, but we know it has a lot of cell phones. It has a lot of people who have been on the list, our list, for as long as 18 years. This is a great political game that we're seeing here. Congress, I think, acted a little bit too quickly, and perhaps they are going to rectify that.

HEMMER: So your position is that you think the government should not have authority in saying who is on your list and who is not, is that correct?

WIENTZEN: We don't think the government should have a role in regulating the kind of advertising activity that goes on.

HEMMER: OK, then if that's the case, what kind of list do you favor, then?

WIENTZEN: We think a list that expresses people's desire not to be called is appropriate. As I say, we've had it for 18 years. We think it's probably a better thing not done by the government. You know government might want to regulate how you operate your show a lot more strictly.

HEMMER: Well, let's hope not.

WIENTZEN: And I doubt that you'd like that either.

HEMMER: A member of Congress also said yesterday, said this is as popular as a skunk at a church picnic.

WIENTZEN: Well, it's a great political issue. We understand that. But the serious aspect here is that people who don't want to get called are probably not going to buy and we don't want to call them, either. HEMMER: Do you think it's just political or do you think there's a question of politeness involved in this as well? If people don't want their phone ringing, why can they not have the FTC step in and say you know what, we're going to give you this option?

WIENTZEN: Well, again, Bill, it's we don't oppose the concept of people expressing their desire not to be called. We've been doing just that and respecting that for 18 years. Our point here is that the FTC did not have the authority to do this. The federal court agreed. There are some other technical issues that suggest this could be done a lot better. But politically, this was a very attractive thing, and I'm afraid the FTC rushed it a little bit too quickly.

HEMMER: We'll see what happens in midweek next week, OK?

WIENTZEN: Fair enough.

HEMMER: Bob Wientzen, thank you, Direct Marketing Association, the President and CEO.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com