Gubernatorial race heats up in TV spots
Posted on 07/30/2002 2:59:34 AM PDT by MeekOneGOP
Gubernatorial race heats up in TV spots
Perry links rival to drug dealers; new Sanchez ad disputes allegation
07/30/2002
AUSTIN - Gov. Rick Perry launched an early strike Monday, a statewide television ad saying that Democratic candidate Tony Sanchez helped drug dealers who laundered money at his Laredo savings and loan.
A Perry spokesman said that the savings-and-loan issue was among a number of ethical practices the campaign planned to focus on.
"We view this as a solid issue," said Perry spokesman Ray Sullivan, "but not as a 'silver bullet.' "
Mr. Sanchez reacted angrily to the commercial as he boarded a bus in Austin for a tour through Waco to Fort Worth.
"The accusation is false," Mr. Sanchez said. "He's crossed the boundaries of honesty and decency and truthfulness."
Mr. Perry's strategy, experts said, is a risky and expensive one, designed to undercut the millions Mr. Sanchez is spending on campaign advertising. By spending ad dollars early, the thinking goes, Mr. Perry can weaken Mr. Sanchez during the post-Labor Day homestretch.
"He's dumping the A-bomb," said a person with access to Perry campaign strategists. "This is like Truman dumping the atomic bomb so he doesn't have to lose a million people on the beach."
Sanchez staffers said they were glad to see Mr. Perry spend money to unleash a major criticism early, with plenty of time for Mr. Sanchez to respond and for voters to get bored with the allegations.
"They're trying something desperate," said Sanchez campaign manager Glenn Smith.
Mr. Sanchez said that the proper paperwork was filed for all of the deposits and that he knew nothing of the deposits or wire transfers at the time they occurred. He said that was not unusual, because the unstable Mexican economy had unleashed a large flow of dollar depositors northward over the border.
Saying it was ready for the Perry spot, the Sanchez campaign matched the 30-second ad with a rebuttal scheduled to run statewide beginning Tuesday.
The Perry advertisement focuses on transactions at the now-defunct Tesoro Savings and Loan, which was founded and controlled by the Sanchez family. Mr. Sanchez was chairman of the board.
In June 1984, the Internal Revenue Service moved to seize about $25 million in deposits left at the thrift by two associates of Mexican drug dealers. The money was deposited in cash, including full suitcases thrift executives had ferried in company cars from the Laredo Airport.
The paperwork served on the thrift called only for the seizure of accounts in the name of the two individuals behind the cash transfers. It did not mention about 68 other accounts opened in the names of the men's associates.
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A federal court in Houston later held that the thrift had no grounds to withhold the money from depositors other than those named by the IRS, even if thrift officials had knowledge or suspicions of connections to drug activity.
Justice Department lawyers had argued that the thrift should have known the non-seized accounts were tainted and turned the money over to the IRS. One of those lawyers, now in private practice, renewed those assertions Monday, adding that the thrift could have done so under federal law without risk of a lawsuit.
The Sanchez campaign dismissed those assertions as unfounded grumblings of a lawyer who lost a case.
Both sides' advertisements included citations to court documents and newspaper stories, shaded to favor one side or the other.
The Perry ad, with grainy images of suitcases being loaded on planes, says the money was wired "to Manuel Noriega's Panama," flashing a picture of the dictator, although he had nothing to do with the case.
The Sanchez spot quotes an Associated Press article to support the premise that "Tony Sanchez was never accused of any wrongdoing, and the bank was totally exonerated by The Department of Justice [and] two federal judges." In fact, the wire service story in question did not state that, but it reported Mr. Sanchez asserting that about himself.
One expert said that the Perry ad's effect on voters may turn on whether it's seen as believable.
"Credible, well-done negative ads have more impact than credible, well-done positive ads," University of Houston political science professor Richard Murray said. "People say they learn something from them. They tend to dismiss the positive stuff as fluff."
E-mail pslover@dallasnews.com
Well it sounds to me like Perry is on solid ground and
that Sanchez et al were pretty shady in their S&L business:
The paperwork served on the thrift called only for the seizure of accounts in the name of the two individuals behind the cash transfers. It did not mention about 68 other accounts opened in the names of the men's associates.
After the levies were filed, the thrift turned over the money in the accounts held by the two men. But it allowed about $7.1 million to be wired to Panama from the accounts held by the men's associates after bank lawyers said there were no grounds for withholding money in accounts not held in the name of the suspects identified by the IRS.
A federal court in Houston later held that the thrift had no grounds to withhold the money from depositors other than those named by the IRS, even if thrift officials had knowledge or suspicions of connections to drug activity.
Justice Department lawyers had argued that the thrift should have known the non-seized accounts were tainted and turned the money over to the IRS. One of those lawyers, now in private practice, renewed those assertions Monday, adding that the thrift could have done so under federal law without risk of a lawsuit.
The Sanchez campaign dismissed those assertions as unfounded grumblings of a lawyer who lost a case.
"Credible, well-done negative ads have more impact than credible, well-done positive ads," University of Houston political science professor Richard Murray said. "People say they learn something from them. They tend to dismiss the positive stuff as fluff."Is this a risky crap shoot, or is Perry going to blow Sanchez away?
Please let me know if you want ON or OFF my Texas ping list!. . .don't be shy.
No, you don't HAVE to be a Texan to get on this list!
You saw em, right, TADSLOS?
As state and local budget considerations allow, move toward universal pre-kindergarten for those who want and need to take advantage of it.
Doesn't universal mean everybody no matter what? pre-kinder is already there for those who want and "need" to take advantage of it.
I think I'll email them and ask what he thinks of homeschooling < grin >
Perry learned nothing from Rove and Dubya. When someone goes negative against you, attack them with positive response ads. Be like Daschle and talk about how disappointed you are that the other guy doesn't want to talk about a positive agenda for Texas. Get surrogates on the air saying the allegations are false. That's how you deal with a Sanchez attack not by attacking back. A good positive ad in response is much more effective than a counterattack ad. Perry's campaign is run by novices.
It's more than risky; it's guaranteed to fail. Voters tune this crap out and are more disgusted with it post-9/11 than before. Perry's campaign manager should study martial arts and learn how jujitsu is practiced. One principle is Energy Transfer. It means that you take the energy that your opponent uses to attack you and add to it to attack him. Someone punches at you and you grab the arm and pull him down-- made easier because the puncher is pushing his arm toward you and in the direction you want the arm to go when you pull on it.
I agree with what Murray said. The problem is that he didn't answer completely. The thing that has the most impact of all is a credible, well-done positive response ad. You want the voters to believe your opponent is a power-hungry slimeball who is desperate to win. At that point, they turn off completely your opponent. They don't believe anything he says-- positive or negative.
Attacks will always come-- especially once you actually win. You want to build up a reservoir of credibility with the voters. Hildebeast's VRWC claims worked because they had layed the groundwork for it for months and months. You want voters to rally behind you and take attacks on you as attacks on them. This isn't rocket science. Perry must have some rookies running his campaign.
You have GOT to be kidding. What percentage of the public think that Ken Lay ought to be in jail for what happened at Enron? Have any charges been filed?
Suddenly, the Sanchez campaign is on the defensive, screaming like a stuck pig. That doesn't sound to me like a campaign that thinks Perry just made a mistake that will backfire.
The story about the bank isn't new. It's been around for years. It's shady as hell, and nobody really believes that the bank didn't know what was going on. The Laredo Mafia is real, and this bank was in the thick of it.
I'm willing to concede that Sanchez may not have been aware of this transactions at all. He's a decent guy, and he was running his oil and gas company at the time, as well.
But, at a minimum, he allowed it to happen and chose to protect his Mexican drug dealer clients rather than to cooperate with the authorities. That's a fact, and it is going to hurt the Sanchez campaign.
Paging Mr. Kettle. Paging Mr. Kettle. A Mr. Pot is here claiming you are black.
Ken Lay has never won a primary. Sanchez has legitimacy because of his primary win. Voters don't want to believe we live in a Banana Republic where people who win elections are honest to God crooks. Most people believe charges will be brought against Ken Lay soon. They don't think that of Sanchez. They hear the ad and then ask themselves why this guy is not in jail (or isn't about to be indicted) if he is a bonafide criminal-- which leads them to conclude that person isn't a criminal at all, which means Perry is lying about Sanchez in their minds.
I think so too. And Perry is in good company ---Dan Morales who ran against Sanchez in the primary election admitted that Sanchez is like a Mexican politician buying himself an election. Sanchez is a rich corrupt man and he had to know where those millions of dollars in suitcases were coming from.
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PERRY'S NEW AD
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| "Suitcases" - 30 Seconds
Script: "Newspapers reported Tony Sanchez's bank laundered $25 million in drug money, stuffed into suitcases, flown to Texas and deposited in his bank." Image: Black and white footage of men putting suitcases into a small airplane and later walking into a bank vault. Facts: Mexican drug lords in 1983 and 1984 used accounts in Sanchez's Tesoro Savings and Loan of Laredo to launder $25 million. Sanchez and bank officials said they reported the cash deposits to federal authorities and were unaware the money belonged to drug dealers. Script: "A federal judge confirmed Sanchez's bank wired millions of laundered drug money to Manuel Noriega's Panama." Image: A photograph of a federal judge's order is overlaid with a mug shot taken after Noriega was arrested for drug dealing. Facts: A federal judge in Houston ruled that Tesoro acted properly when it wired money to a bank in Panama. A second federal judge in El Paso ruled that the federal government could seize money at First City National Bank of El Paso in a similar case involving the same drug lords. Perry's ad based its claim on the First City National Bank ruling. His campaign admits Noriega had no known connection to Tesoro or the money laundering operation. Script: "The Justice Department said Sanchez had a choice: to cooperate with law enforcement or the drug dealers. Sanchez chose the drug dealers." Facts: The Justice Department made this argument in the Houston case, but the judge ruled in Tesoro's favor. Image: Sanchez defends his thrift during a Democratic debate earlier this year, saying, "I'm very proud of the way our savings and loan handled that matter." Script: "Can Texans really trust Tony Sanchez?"
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SANCHEZ'S RESPONSE
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| "Scrolls" - 30 Seconds
Script: "Rick Perry is misleading you about something that happened almost 20 years ago. "Tony Sanchez was never accused of any wrongdoing, and the bank was totally exonerated by the Department of Justice, two federal judges and the IRS. "In fact, the Sanchez bank worked with law enforcement to help the investigation." Images: Perry speaks at a lectern, then source documents scroll across the screen. Facts: Two federal judges ruled that Sanchez's Tesoro Savings and Loan of Laredo had followed the law regarding money that belonged to drug lords. Several federal agents testified in a libel trial that an investigation had found no Tesoro officials who knowingly were involved in a money laundering scheme. But Justice Department lawyers working for the Internal Revenue Service were pressing claims against Tesoro when it went out of business in 1988 because of bad real estate loans. Script: "Rick Perry himself honored Sanchez's International Bank of Commerce for its service to our state." Facts: The International Bank of Commerce was not involved in the money laundering tied to Tesoro. But former Clinton administration officials have complained that the bank helped kill federal anti-money laundering legislation in 2000 that could have been used in the war on terrorism. Script: "Rick Perry. Untrue attacks. A career politician."
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The commercial focuses on $25 million in Mexican drug cartel money that flowed through Sanchez's now-defunct Tesoro Savings and Loan in 1983 and 1984. Sanchez and Tesoro officials have maintained they did not know the money was illegal.
But Perry's ad claims that as federal agents closed in on the money laundering ring, Tesoro transferred $9 million to a Panamanian bank.
"When given a choice of turning over drug-related funds to federal authorities, Mr. Sanchez and Tesoro instead allowed the drug money launderers to spirit the suspect funds to Panama, then a hotbed of international drug activity," said Perry spokesman Ray Sullivan.
Perry has raised the money laundering as a campaign issue before, but the harsh ad was surprising coming more than three months before the election. Perry's aides said the commercial was necessary because Sanchez has run weeks of commercials questioning Perry's integrity. Those ads suggest that some of the governor's vetoes and appointments were tied to campaign contributions.
Sanchez responded personally to the new Perry ad in a rare question-and-answer session with reporters. He also responded with his own television commercial, accusing Perry of being a "career politician" who engages in "untrue attacks."
As Sanchez's campaign bus rolled up Interstate 35 from Austin for a campaign event in Waco on Monday, Sanchez offered reporters an explanation of how Tesoro became involved in the Mexican drug money laundering scheme.
Sanchez said at the time a Mexican money broker named Mardoqueo Alfaro approached Tesoro officials, Mexicans were regularly making large cash deposits in U.S. financial institutions along the border because of a crashing Mexican economy.
"Mexico was collapsing. They called it saca-dolares, take out the dollars," Sanchez said.
He said Alfaro represented himself to thrift officials as a reputable businessman. Sanchez said thrift officials checked into his background, made sure Alfaro declared his imported cash with customs and then the thrift reported the cash deposits to the U.S. Treasury.
"I'm being accused of laundering drug money by Rick Perry," Sanchez said. "That's a lie. Nobody's ever accused us of any of that. We were never involved with that."
Alfaro and his representatives brought money into the United States by airplane in suitcases. One load was for about $5 million. Tesoro officials met the plane to bring the money to the institution.
First City National Bank of El Paso and a California bank also were being used by Alfaro in the same operation.
Alfaro maintained his innocence, but he disappeared in Mexico after being indicted.
The scheme fell apart in June 1984 when federal agents arrested two Alfaro associates in California.
The Internal Revenue Service then tried to seize all of Alfaro's funds in El Paso and at Tesoro. The institutions held some funds under an IRS levy, but released others on the demand of Alfaro associates. Tesoro wired $9 million to a bank in Panama, while First City allowed the withdrawal of $2 million.
The IRS went after both institutions claiming they improperly released money that belonged to the U.S. government and should repay the money with interest.
U.S. District Judge Harry Lee Hudspeth ruled in November 1984 that the funds Alfaro deposited in First City were drug money subject to seizure by the federal government. Hudspeth also noted the activity at Tesoro in his order.
But when the case of IRS sanctions against Tesoro came before U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes of Houston in March 1988, the judge ruled that Tesoro acted legally and properly in its handling of the Alfaro funds.
Sanchez's campaign also gave reporters copies of testimony from a 1987 libel case Sanchez brought against a Laredo newspaper over its reporting of the incident. A former assistant U.S. attorney, a federal drug agent and an IRS agent all testified that no Tesoro officials knew of the money laundering.
Perry's campaign responded by claiming the former federal attorney had no contact with the Tesoro case and by noting the drug agent later pleaded guilty in an unrelated money laundering case.
Perry's campaign also offered former U.S. Attorney Dan Hedges and former Justice Department lawyer Michael Green as proof that Sanchez and Tesoro officials should have known the money was drug funds.
Green, who handled the government case before Judge Hughes, said Tesoro won on legal points but said the thrift could have avoided sanctions by turning the money over to the IRS.
"The judge's ruling said it was OK what they did," Green said, but "it wasn't the right thing to do morally."
But Green and Hedges also said they were not alleging Sanchez or Tesoro committed a crime.
This is why the ad was a stupid move. My suggestion would have been smarter politics.
LOL! 
hehehe A no brainer for me. Thanks!
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