Democrat Governor Tom Vilsack today criticized the national Republican Party for using computer data about a voter’s income and credit card purchases to tailor personal messages to voters.The governor says Iowans should be notified if their financial data is being sold to a political party or a business.For example, in Missouri the Republican Party is using computer software which writes letters to voters on specific issues they’re interested in, and it’s all based on voters’ financial data and their responses to polls. Vilsack says the information is being used in a way the he thinks a lot of people would find it offensive.Iowa Republican Party executive director Dee Stewart says Vilsack’s trying to create a smoke screen for campaign tactics used by his fellow democrats. He says the democrats will likely be doing what Vilsack has accused republicans of doing.Stewart says the Iowa Republican Party is not using financial and purchasing data from credit card companies and other computerized businesses.Vilsack has a 32-member privacy task force examining how to ensure Iowans’ medical records and financial data are kept as private as possible.
