I know I have been instigating a lot of the media complaints here. I just don't want to go overboard. We end up sounding like a bunch of whiners. We can't change the media. Better to suck it up and beat them.
December 20, 2003
Special Interests Unfazed by New Campaign Limits
By GLEN JUSTICE and JIM RUTENBERG
he Club for Growth, a conservative group that has run advertisements against Howard Dean in Iowa, says it is planning to roll out another spot after the holidays, though new rules intended to curb such commercials start there on Saturday.
"This will not muzzle us," the president of the organization, Stephen Moore, said. "It will just alter the way we operate."
The group is at the forefront of efforts to find a way around rules devised to spare voters a deluge of advertisements, many of them anonymous, generated by unlimited special-interest spending. Other groups say they are using different techniques to adjust to the ban on advertisements bought with soft money 30 days before a primary season.
The efforts underscore the difficulty in trying to limit the influence of special interests, even with the largest overhaul in campaign financing in 30 years.
The new law tries to limit those groups, ushering in a complicated basket of restrictions 30 days before a primary or caucus, beginning in Iowa and moving state by state through the primaries. The restrictions take effect nationwide 60 days before the general election.
In general, organizations in the protected periods may not run broadcast or cable advertising that mentions or depicts candidates if the commercials are financed by unlimited and unregulated "soft money" from corporations or unions. Groups using regulated "hard money" contributions can run advertising without restriction. Parties, particularly, have been curtailed, because they can no longer collect soft money at all.
Because the limits have yet to be tested, it is unclear exactly how they will affect the election, though spots that have already run have drawn complaints.
"We don't like them, we don't condone them, and hopefully, Iowans will not respond to them," said Dave Nagle, a former congressman who is a former chairman of the Iowa Democratic Party.
Special interests accounted for 15 percent, or $1.1 million, of the costs of presidential election advertisements on broadcast television through Dec. 7, according to the University of Wisconsin Advertising Project, a group that tracks such spending. The figures do not include commercials on cable.
While supporters are convinced that the law will work, many campaign strategists and election lawyers say that the ban will not keep special interest organizations off the air and that it may, in fact, make those groups more influential than before, because some can collect soft money while the parties cannot.
"The parties are hemmed in," Ken Gross, a specialist in election law, said. "Outside groups have more latitude in how far they can go."
Some organizations have created special funds tailored to take advantage of exemptions in the law and let them advertise more freely in the protected periods. By avoiding corporate and union soft money and, in some cases, being careful on the legal setup of the organization, some groups, election lawyers said, can raise unlimited sums and still run advertising that mentions candidates, though they are subject to additional disclosure.
The law requires that groups that spend more than $10,000 report spending and major donors within a day of buying advertising.
MoveOn.org, a Democratic group that ran a nationwide commercials campaign against President Bush, has created such an organization, the MoveOn.org Voter Fund. It is set up to allow maximum flexibility in placing advertising throughout the elections, said Wes Boyd, its president.
"We have been set up to be able to get issue ads out there when they make a difference," Mr. Boyd said.
He added that his group had no plans to direct advertising at Iowa and would generally stay out of the primaries. But it may run advertisements that depict a candidate nationwide, including in states that are in their blackout period.
Naral Pro-Choice America, which supports abortion rights, is taking advantage of a similar exemption for organizations that do not rely on corporate or union money. Naral hopes its structure will afford an advantage.
"We are looking at a very aggressive, significant advertising commitment in the last two months of the campaign, when almost every other advocacy group will be off the air," a spokesman, David Seldin, said.
Other organizations are simply adjusting how they spend, toggling between soft money outside the blackout and regulated money when it is in effect.
Such is the case at the Media Fund, established by Harold Ickes, deputy chief of staff in the Clinton administration. Mr. Ickes has promised to raise at least $75 million, largely in soft money to advertise, but said his fund would have enough hard money to run advertising within 60 days of the general election.
The Club for Growth is using a similar strategy, Mr. Moore said.
"If the intent of the bill is to reduce advertising by independent groups and reduce the amount of money spent," he said, "it will have the opposite effect. This election cycle will shatter records. Groups will find ways to do an end run around the law."
Some organizations have said they will direct their money to other forms of outreach, using phone banks and the Internet. Some groups will simply avoid the blackout period or obey its restrictions.
nytimes.com |
