Iowa bill would fine political liars
By Charlotte Eby
Thursday, January 20th, 2005
qctimes.com
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DES MOINES — In an attempt to do away with false campaign attack ads, a group of Iowa House members are proposing a new law that would result in fines to campaigns caught lying about an opponent or their opponent’s record.
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Supporters of the law say Iowa campaigns have become too negative and sometimes downright untruthful. They based their proposal on similar laws in Ohio and Nevada.
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One of the bill’s sponsors, Rep. Scott Raecker, R-Urbandale, has collected a file of what he found to be false campaign literature from last fall’s legislative races.
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“I don’t know how we can legislate all of this. My basic premise is that if you’re running for public office and want to be a public servant, you shouldn’t be lying and deceiving about yourself or your opponent,” he said.
“I think it sets a tone,” he said of the proposed law. “I think it sets the bar and it says what we expect of ourselves and others who want to run for office.”
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If enacted, the law would be enforced by the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board, the body that regulates Iowa elections.
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Candidates for state, county, city or school board offices found to knowingly use false information about their opponents could face fines of up to $2,000 per violation.
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Rep. Geri Huser, D-Altoona, said Iowa is proud of its campaigns and elections, and she feels the public would support the measure.
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“We’re hoping that this puts it out there that we want candidates to make their best effort to make sure that all the information they provide to the public is truthful and accurate,” said Huser, who is co-sponsoring the bill.
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House Speaker Christopher Rants, R-Sioux City, said some of last year’s Democratic legislative campaigns made “flat-out inaccurate statements” about some Republican lawmakers’ votes.
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Rants said some even accused legislators of taking votes in committees of which they were not even members.
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“We need to inject some accountability back into these political campaigns so that people don’t just make stuff up,” added Rants, who supports the law. “That is essentially what they were doing.” |
