Who is Senator Blumenthal from ‘Telemarketers?’

The anti-climactic ending of Telemarketers saw former telephone solicitors turned muckrakers Pat Pespas and Sam Lipman-Stern confront U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal about taking congressional action when it comes to scam calls. Though Blumenthal seemed receptive to the idea of continuing to crack down on telemarketers, the Senator from Connecticut ultimately had to cut the interview short, and promises of follow-up discussions with the filmmakers through his office went nowhere six months later. In fact, Pespas was even denied the opportunity to take a photo with Blumenthal, though a staffer said he could not because he was rushing off to a vote that had started at the time. 

One thing that definitely came across as the filmmakers being brushed aside is the simple fact that Blumenthal said they could meet with his staff immediately after the Senator left but that proved to not pan out, as well. Staff members did return to the room after the interview, but only to tell the filmmakers to break down their camera equipment. 

Even still, Blumenthal seemed to make promises that a Congressional hearing, at which the ultimate goal of Pespas is to testify, could still happen in the future. He told Pespas:

“We’ve had a hearing on some of the pandemic scams, the false cures, and if need be, we’ll have another hearing.” He then added: “If there’s a need for Congressional action, we will propose it.”

So who is Senator Blumenthal and why did the filmmakers approach him to begin with?

Senator Richard Blumenthal’s life and career

Pespas and Lipman-Stern had landed a sit-down interview with Blumenthal thanks to former Federal Election Commission attorney Ann Ravel, who had said the way telemarketers now operate underneath the veil of Political Action Committees, and defrauding the public in her view, necessitates Congressional action.

Blumenthal has been a U.S. Senator since 2011 and he is currently serving his third term in that capacity, according to his website.

After receiving an education at Harvard College and Yale Law School, Blumenthal pursued a career in law and also served in the United States Marine Corps Reserves from 1970-1976. From there, he went from U.S. Attorney for Connecticut from 1977-1981 to serving in the Connecticut House of Representatives from 1984-1987 and Connecticut State Senate from 1987-1990. His website states he also helped overturn the wrongful conviction of an innocent person on death row within “hours of execution” as a volunteer attorney for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. 

After that, Blumenthal became Connecticut’s Attorney General from 1991-2011, which included a number of legal battles regarding corporate accountability, including for industrial interstate air pollution, Big Tobacco, and a number of tech-based investigations and lawsuits. The latter included leading “a coalition of all 50 states that culminated in historic agreements with social networking sites [including Facebook and MySpace] to better protect children from internet predators,” his website said.

As Attorney General for Connecticut, Blumenthal also targeted scam calls in the 2000s. For instance, Blumenthal was part of a multi-state investigation into fake calls promoting extended car warranties, as the New York Times reported. Blumenthal also won an agreement with AT&T in 2009 that allowed consumers the option to block all unauthorized fees incurred from third parties, the Connecticut Attorney General’s website stated.

Blumenthal’s battle against phone scams did not end when he transitioned to being a U.S. Senator, either. For instance, in 2015 he was part of an effort in collaboration with the Federal Communication Commission to “demand that telephone companies offer robocall blocking to provide relief to consumers,” as the New Haven Register reported. And just like he mentioned in Telemarketers, Blumenthal was the chair of a Congressional hearing on COVID-19-related scams back in 2022, according to a press release from his office.  

However, Blumenthal’s career has not been completely devoid of controversy. Back in 2010, while he was running for the U.S. Senate seat for the first time, Blumenthal publicly apologized for making misleading statements that implied he fought in the Vietnam War, even though he never did and even received five deferments that kept him out of the conflict, as CBS News reported.

Telemarketers series co-director Adam Bhala Lough recently told the Los Angeles Times that “We followed up a couple times and never heard back” regarding Blumenthal, despite providing his office with the 80 pages’ worth of documentation they had asked for. 

However, the LA Times did receive a statement from a spokesperson for Blumenthal in response to a request for comment that seemed to allude to future action not being completely off the table:

“We consistently welcome information and complaints about wrongdoing and consumer abuse. Senator Blumenthal has a long record of leadership on this issue, and we will continue to call for accountability against scammers and telemarketers, especially anyone who impersonates nonprofits and charities.”

We wouldn’t be surprised if Blumenthal eventually circled back to the issue of PACs engaging in telemarketing on behalf of police causes since the HBO Telemarketers series has proven to be immensely popular and may eventually translate to his constituents petitioning the Senator to focus more on the problem. Maybe if that happens, Pespas can finally fulfill his ultimate dream of testifying before Congress on the matter.