Journalists Looked on to Keep Campaigns Honest
By Tania Valdemoro
Dan Schnur
Cathy Allen
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Two leading political consultants urged journalists to hold their profession accountable for using dubious campaign tactics to win elections even after the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA) banned soft money from federal elections.
“Most people in our profession tend to regard most people in your profession without much regard,” said Dan Schnur, a Republican consultant who managed Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) campaign for the presidency in 2000. “I tell my staffers to look at a reporter as a co-worker. To me, the mutual hostility is misplaced.”
He said that journalists have an institutional prejudice against political consultants, and if they would rise above it, the move might bring about more accurate coverage.
Don’t let your prejudices against our profession delude you, said Cathy Allen, a Democratic political consultant. For example, Allen said journalists are making too much of the possible collusion between politicians running for office and 527 organizations that raise hard and soft money for candidate issue ads, get-out-the-vote efforts and voter mobilization. Under BCRA, commonly known as McCain-Feingold, such independent groups must avoid coordinating their activities with candidates running for office.
“Information is a sieve. It’s not that we talk to one another. It’s just that these things are generally known,” said Allen.
Looking beyond the familiar stories will lead you to new stories and patterns, said Schnur.
One new development to follow is the rise of negative campaigning in other media since McCain-Feingold has begun regulating broadcast issue ads, said Schnur. The law prohibits politicians from paying for “sham” issue ads with soft money if the ad is broadcast on the air and mentions the name of a federal candidate within 60 days of a general election or 30 days of a primary.
Attack ads now are expected to move away from the television and go to direct mail, the Internet and phone banks, said Schnur. Since voters think less of people who use negative ads, you will never see a candidate’s face on an ad where he or she is attacking an opponent. What you hear instead is a “dark foreboding voice,” he added.
In particular, journalists should track the activities of 527 organizations, said both consultants. In the 17 battleground states where voters are expected to determine who becomes president, 527 organizations such as MoveOn.org and The Media Fund have already begun running negative ads against President Bush. These groups have raised unlimited amounts of money for political activities because McCain-Feingold doesn’t limit or ban them from raising soft money like it does with political action committees.
“That’s why God invented running mates and 527s so the candidate doesn’t have to be associated with the trash we put out there,” said Schnur.
“Make candidates stand up by what was said. John Kerry should stand up for every ad that MoveOn.org runs this year. George Bush should stand up for every ad that the RNC [Republican National Committee] and the NRA [National Rifle Association] runs,” he said.
While 527 organizations do not have to disclose their financial activities to the Federal Election Commission unless they are running ads, money in politics has other footprints, the political consultants suggested.
“Follow the money further,” Schnur said. “Look at the money that goes into independent expenditures, 527s and the past contributions of certain donors. All this information is publicly available.”
Despite the fact journalists have a lot of work to do to make the workings of political consultants clearer to the public, Allen noted that political consultants were becoming more accountable to the public for their work.
“This is the first year I’ve seen accountability in our business. We’re starting to see what’s working in the business,” she said.
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