TV viewers awash in negative ad sea
9:29 PM 10/26/02
Tom Sheehan State government reporter and Dustin Block The (Racine) Journal Times

Political junkies may be getting a fix from the flurry of negative campaign ads heading into election day, but average viewers may be discouraged, frustrated and left trying to sort truth from fiction.

"It's just back and forth between the candidates. They say they are going to stop, but I don't believe them," said Tony Carbajal, a retired police officer from Racine.

Despite his disdain, Carbajal said he was convinced not to vote for Gov. Scott McCallum by a Jim Doyle campaign ad that criticized McCallum's use of state planes.

Negative ads can be productive if they address critical issues, but that hasn't been the case for most of the spots for this fall's race for governor, said Mike McCabe, director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.

"It's been a bleak campaign," said McCabe, who says the race is the most negative in state history.

Between 80 percent and 90 percent of ads run so far in the race for governor have been negative, based on McCabe's definition. Negative ads focus on what's wrong with an opponent, rather than what's right about a candidate's own record and ideas, he said.

"The ads don't say anything about what the candidates will do about corruption, the budget crisis or health care," McCabe said.

Between Jan. 1 and Oct. 15, television viewers in Wisconsin were exposed to an estimated 24,000 political ads, or 200 hours of viewing in 30-second bits, based on figures compiled by the Campaign Media Analysis Group and the Alliance for Better Campaigns. Candidates, political parties and special interest groups have spent more than $7.6 million on political television ads this year in the state's three largest markets - Milwaukee, Madison and Green Bay.

Since the primary election in September, at least 20 ads about the governor's race have been produced and aired, mostly during local news. A few more expensive ads have appeared during the World Series and Monday Night Football. Special interest groups and state political parties have joined the fray, but campaigns are responsible for all but just a few of the ads.

Some campaigns use negative advertising in an effort to demoralize independent voters, who can "throw a wild card" into a race, McCabe said.

"Negative ads try to disparage other candidates to the point their (opponent's) own core constituents will be less enthusiastic and likely to campaign," McCabe said.

That reduces the voting pool to hardcore loyalists, who are more predictable, McCabe said.

Whether that's the strategy of either gubernatorial campaign, it may be the effect. "There's too much mudslinging. . . I don't like anyone. For the first time ever, I'm not going to vote for governor," said Larissa Hutchinson, a nursing student from Racine.

Although offensive to some people, negative campaign ads often raise legitimate policy issues, said Ken Goldstein, author and associate professor of political science at UW-Madison.

Claims made in ads often are backed up by research, and if found to be false, backfire on candidates, said Goldstein, who also oversees the political science department's Wisconsin Advertising Project.

"Lots of people say they're turned off by negative advertising, but most consultants will say it's very effective," Goldstein said. The proof is in the fact that candidates are willing to pay large sums to have the ads produced and aired.

In what has been criticized as one of the nastiest ads to date in the governor's race, the McCallum campaign links Doyle's name visually and by audio with Sen. Chuck Chvala, D-Madison, who has been charged with 20 felonies including extortion, misconduct and campaign finance law violations.

"I would not consider the ad accurate. One cannot have been around politics in Wisconsin very long and not know Chuck and Jim hate each other," Goldstein said.

Doyle's name does not appear in the criminal complaint against Chvala, although Chvala and Doyle's name appear underlined together in red in the ad. The announcer repeats Doyle's name five times; the word "corruption," three times; "indictment," three times; and "scandal," twice.

"And Doyle named with Chvala in the caucus scandal," the announcer says as part of the 30-second spot, which interlaces Doyle's mug shot with interior photos of the capital and newspaper headlines announcing charges against Chvala. Doyle has been charged with nothing.

The ad is "factual" and never says Doyle is listed in the criminal complaint against Chvala, said McCallum spokesman Darrin Schmitz.

The connection is made because staffers from both Doyle's office and the Chvala-controlled Senate Democratic Caucus served on a Democratic Party of Wisconsin committee that is the subject of a complaint pending before the Elections Board.

In that complaint, former Democratic official Don Fish claims that legislative and caucus staffers worked extensively on state time and from their state offices to compile voter lists for the Democratic Party. The complaint has been languishing before the Elections Board for 14 months.

In the ad, a list of committee members appears on the television screen for less than two seconds, which would require a viewer to read more than 25 words a second to complete. Otherwise, Doyle is not named in the complaint. Schmitz declined to characterize the ad as negative, saying instead "it speaks for itself."

"The issue of ethics is obviously at the forefront of what's happening in Wisconsin, and voters certainly deserve answers," Schmitz said.

The ad is not factual, however, because no "indictment" has been issued against anyone involved in the legislative scandal, said Jerry Mowris, immediate past president of the State Bar of Wisconsin.

Only a grand jury has power to issue an indictment, and no grand jury was convened in the investigation that snared Chvala and Assembly Speaker Scott Jensen, R-Waukesha. "I think it's pretty inappropriate to use the caucus scandal and people who have been charged against people who haven't been charged," Mowris said.

Schmitz blamed Doyle for setting the negative tone of the campaign immediately after bumping fellow Democrats from the primary. "The attorney general took the gloves off in the primary speech, when he called the governor a loser," Schmitz said.

Some of the most aggressive negative ads from the Doyle campaign criticize McCallum's use of state planes, in particular, taking his family to Rhode Island on one trip.

"So what's worse?" asks an announcer, "Taking the family on a $9,000 trip while cutting health care and education ... Or not telling the truth?"
indentThe ad's language is loaded, leaving viewers with no choice but to conclude McCallum is taking advantage of his post or nasty to schoolchildren and people who need medical care.
indentWhat's not mentioned in the ad may be more significant than what is, however. Despite proposing elimination of $1-billion-a-year in aid to local government, McCallum didn't tinker with the state's two-thirds support of public schools. The SeniorCare program, which helps seniors pay for prescription drugs, also became law during McCallum's 22 months in office.
indentDoyle's ad, which ran statewide in mid-October but is now off the air, criticized McCallum for making more than 400 trips on state planes since becoming governor. Many of the trips, according to the ad, titled "Air McCallum," were less than 40 miles.
indentThe "$9,000" figure, as calculated by Doyle's campaign, is based on the total cost of flying McCallum, family members and staff members to and from Rhode Island for a three-day meeting of the National Governors' Association in early August 2001.
indentMcCallum reimbursed the state for personal costs associated with that flight and all others that involved personal use, Schmitz said. State records show he reimbursed the state $2,652.76 for the Rhode Island trip.
indentMcCallum is allowed to use state planes for official business and for personal reasons if he reimburses the state. McCallum initially was cleared of wrongdoing by the state Ethics Board in the Rhode Island trip, but the board is now investigating state plane use by both candidates.
indent"It's the kind of issue that helps define a person and how they conduct themselves and how they operate," Doyle campaign spokesman Bill Christofferson said. The ad is accurate, fair and relevant, he said.
indentPlanes remain a theme in a current Doyle commercial, but the tone is less accusatory. In the opening moments, Doyle cites planes as a reason Wisconsin government is a "mess right now." Later in the ad Doyle says: "We've got to get rid of all the excess stuff, the perks and the kind of spending that doesn't really help people."
indentCristofferson said the Doyle campaign may start airing a new commercial this weekend but didn't reveal its tone.
indentMcCallum's campaign will continue airing the ad connecting Doyle with Chvala, at least through Monday, Schmitz said.
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-Wisconsin State Journal reporter Dee J. Hall contributed to this story.
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