Posted on 02/29/2004 7:18:18 AM PST by Valin
Washington- As footage of Osama bin Laden played across the screen, an announcer warned about the dire consequences of electing Howard Dean, a presidential candidate with no military or foreign policy experience.
The message of the 30-second ad was abundantly clear. The messenger wasn't.
The spot, which ran in some early Democratic primary states, included a tag that said it was paid for by "Americans for Jobs, Health Care and Progressive Values," but it gave no hint about who financed the group or what its agenda is beyond attacking the then-Democratic front-runner.
The 2002 campaign finance law may have shut off an important avenue of special-interest "soft money" - unlimited cash to the political parties for party- building activities - but it has given rise to a host of new, well- financed special-interest groups that have lately been taking their message directly to voters. Like the bin Laden/Dean ad, those messages tend to be sharp-edged and stealthy.
The groups, known as 527s for their designation in Section 527 of the federal tax code, are not bound by the ban on unregulated soft money placed on political parties. In fact, some are attracting fat donations from people and special-interest groups who used to give directly to the parties.
The law requires 527s to report their donors periodically to the Internal Revenue Service or the Federal Election Commission, but deciphering the role of the players behind the ads - and their agendas - can be tricky.
"At the moment they watch the ad, the real identity of the group running it could be a mystery," said Steve Weiss of the Center for Responsive Politics, a campaign watchdog group that monitors 527s.
"The voters don't realize who is paying for the ad, and the agenda of the financier is very important to know. Those paying for the ad may be trying to accomplish something that may not be at all obvious."
When the finances for the group behind the bin Laden/ Dean ad were finally made available, they showed that it was paid for, in part, by a $50,000 contribution from former New Jersey Sen. Robert Torricelli, who also had raised money for U.S. Sen. John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, the current Democratic front-runner.
The FEC last week issued a narrow advisory opinion reining in some of the activities of 527s with affiliated political action committees. But the opinion didn't address the activities of other 527 groups, such as Americans for Jobs, Health Care and Progressive Values, which appear to fall between the cracks of federal election law.
Scrambling to provide some guidance as the election swings into high gear, the commission plans to issue new rules by the end of May.
In the meantime, the consensus among the largest groups is that they will continue with their ad campaigns until the commission says something more definitive.
"We always knew we would have to be nimble and mindful of the new laws," said Jim Jordan, spokesman for America Coming Together, ACT, which has financing pledges of $55 million. "We are plowing straight ahead."
ACT, a pro-Democratic group run by labor, environmental and abortion-rights activists, plans to run get-out-the-vote operations and ad campaigns around the country.
MoveOn.org, another pro- Democratic 527 formed in 1998 to protest the impeachment of President Clinton, has run some hard-hitting spots in early Democratic primary states. One, which began running two weeks ago at a cost of $1.5 million, features a polygraph machine needle jumping as President Bush lays out his case in the 2003 State of the Union speech for invading Iraq.
The rise of 527 organizations has been largely a Democratic phenomenon, in direct response to the 2002 campaign finance law. An analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics found that 527s identified as "Democratic/ liberal" had raised $27.3 million through last year while "Republican/conservative" groups got $3.5 million.
Unions were the biggest givers to pro-Democratic 527s, along with billionaire financier George Soros, who had donated $6.5 million through December, the analysis showed.
The Democratic Party traditionally has relied more than Republicans on large, unregulated gifts of "soft money," which are now banned.
Some of that money is now supporting Democratic causes by flowing directly to special-interest groups such as ACT and www.MoveOn.org.
Not all of the big 527 players are Democratic. Club for Growth, a fiscally conservative Republican group, was one of the earliest players and has proved to be one of the most provocative. It ran an ad attacking Dean in Iowa as a "government-expanding, latte- drinking, sushi-eating, Volvo- driving, Hollywood-loving, left- wing freak show."
Stephen Moore, the group's president, said he is gearing up for a new round of ads portraying Kerry as a "typical tax-and- spend liberal."
© 2004 The Plain Dealer. Used with permission.
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