The Oakland-based firm Relay (www.relaytext.com) says its system offers: "Texts that connect. Relay harnesses the power of peer to peer texting to help you turn real conversations into action." The firm says the texts "come from a 10 digit, localized cell phone number" and lead to real conversations that "are personalized and authentic" and "can be sent to anyone, regardless of opt-in status."

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On its website under the link How it works, the firm indicates its system enables clients to upload a list of names, telephone numbers and locations, write a message [example invite recipients to a campaign event with phone banking], have a real texting conversation with the recipient and then collect data (can attend, yes, no, maybe.)

Sponsor

Sponsor

The company's website includes testimonials from its clients which speak for themselves here

In describing itself, the company's website states:

Relay was created by veterans of Bernie 2016, the first political campaign to use P2P text messaging at scale. Since launching in August 2016, we've worked with more than 300 organizations to send over 150 million text messages for event recruitment, volunteer engagement, fundraising, voter identification, GOTV, and much more. Relay users include political campaigns, national NGOs, grassroots organizations, colleges, universities, and independent schools. No matter their size, we're passionate about helping our clients realize the power of peer-to-peer texting to meet their unique goals. And we only work with organizations who share our values.

Sponsor

The firm's statement carries a certain irony. As a delegate to the 2016 Democratic National Convention, Mayor Garcia cast his vote to nominate Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders. Just hours before the polls closed, Garcia wrote on his Facebook page: "...I'm looking forward to the election tomorrow. My vote is not a protest vote against Donald Trump, but a vote for Hillary...I'm excited about the election. I'm fired up. I'm ready. And #ImWithHer."

LBREPORT.com Follow the Money coverage here shows the Garcia/Doud committee -- which lists a payment to Relay under the firm's corporate name "Toskr" -- received the lion's share of its campaign funds from corporate, development, oil/gas interests and two electrical power utilities. It significantly outspent a grassroots LB Reform Coalition PAC effort to prevent a Garcia/Doud backed City Charter Amendment that will now let LB's two-term Mayor/Council incumbents avoid a write-in requirement if they seek third terms.

Sponsor

Sponsor

Toskr (Relay) isn't a small-time operation. The website OpenSecrets.org says it's received over $3 million in 2018 from candidates and groups that used the firm's services related to federal elections visible at this link.

Under "Frequently Asked Questions," Relay says that "For political campaigns and nonprofit organizations, Relay costs 8 cents USD per outgoing message. There are no subscription costs or minimum usage requirements -- just "pay as you go" for the text messages you send. We also charge a $100 setup fee and provide bulk discounts starting at 100,000 messages / month. Our pricing includes free cell phone number validation, local sender phone numbers, training, and unlimited technical and strategic support."

The Garcia/Doud committee's most recent campaign reports indicates that its $6,481 expenditure for Toskr, listed as "Text Messaging Services," is now among the committee's outstanding debts as of Nov. 6 totaling (includes some expenses incurred by the Garcia-run committee prior to the AAA-DDD campaign.)

And the Garcia/Doud campaign wasn't the first to use the firm's services. 7th district Councilman Roberto Uranga's 2018 re-election runoff campaign reported spending $474 for Toskr between May 31 and June 30 for services it described in FPPC coding as "phone banking."

LBREPORT.com is interested in knowing if you or your friends or neighbors received texts of the type described above. If so, don't erase them and let us know at mail@LBReport.com or send us a message via our Facebook page...and we thank you. .

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