From the Southern Illinoisan (Carbondale, IL)

October 3, 2004
IT'S THAT AD TIME OF YEAR
Political advertisements for state races find a niche in Southern Illinois
Author: NICOLE SACK
THE SOUTHERN

CARBONDALE — If you turn on your television, you may have difficulty tuning out the ever-increasing number of political advertisements leading up to the Nov. 2 election.
This political year brings with it a few anomalies that will change the number and the types of television campaign advertisements aired. The biggest race in the nation is spending little time advertising in Illinois. What presidential television commercials voters do see are most likely directed at the swing state of Missouri, not the Land of Lincoln, which is expected to fall as a Democrat-leaning “blue state” come November.
The U.S. Senate race has captured attention of the nightly news and newspaper front pages. But when it comes to advertising, the campaign of Democratic front-runner Barack Obama campaign has put four commercials into rotation around the state's media markets, while the campaign of Republican Alan Keyes campaign is just hoping to air advertisements sometime in the fast closing 30-day window until the general election.
But wait. There is a niche market in Southern Illinois for political advertisements. Enter the 59th District state senate and Illinois Supreme Court races.
Mike Lawrence, interim director of the Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, said voters will see a huge amount of advertising for Forby and Summers since it is one of the very few competitive state senate races in Illinois.
“You have a lot of money the leaders have raised and they don't have to spread that money over a lot of races,” Lawrence said. “There is going to be a lot of money available to both Forby and Summers. A lions share of that money will be spent on television commercials. We are going to see a lot of these commercials, probably more than we want to see.”
Lawrence said it is a longshot that the GOP might regain control of the state senate in this election, but it is still import the Republicans pick up as many seats as they can to move toward a majority. Just as importantly, he said, the Democrats will try to hold those seats and control of the Legislature.
The current commercial tally card has GOP challenger Ron Summers with five variations of television advertisements, while State Sen. Gary Forby, who was appointed to the state senate last year, stars in two commercials, with the possibility of a reaction commercial on the way.
Lawrence said the usual pattern for political advertisements begins with a positive introduction, then negative reaction ads and a positive end.
“People say they don't like negative advertising,” he said. “But unless it goes over the line, people tend to respond positively to it. Negative advertising will stop immediately when it stops moving numbers in the directions that campaigns want them to go.”
The advertisements in the Illinois State Supreme Court race began in earnest last week with a rocky start.
A 30-second spot for 5th District Appellate Judge Gordon Maag, Democrat from Glen Carbon, was pulled from the air just four days after its debut.
In the commercials Maag stated, “I serve on the board of Shriners' Hospital (in St. Louis). We provide free medical care for thousands of sick children.”
The Shriners' organization complained the advertisement too closely resembled an endorsement. Federal regulations prohibit charitable institutions from endorsing political candidates. Maag sits on the board of the Shriners' Hospital in St. Louis.
On Wednesday, Jay Fleisher, attorney for Shriners' Hospitals for Children, asked Maag to stop airing the ads.
Brendan Hostetler, spokesperson for Maag, said the spots have been pulled from rotation and have been replaced with “very similar” spots.
“They were just uncomfortable with using the Shriners ad in a political advertisement,” Hostetler said. “A charity that helps out thousands of children on a yearly basis is more important than any political campaign.”
Steve Tomaszewski, spokesman for Washington County Circuit Judge Lloyd Karmeier, the Republican candidate for Illinois Supreme Court, said while the Maag ads were not the right thing to do, he said the two candidates must stick to fairly generic commercials.
Under the rules of the Illinois Supreme Court, the candidates cannot take a position on something that might come before them in court. Maag and Karmeier are restricted by what they can say about themselves and each other, however, there are no restrictions on what outside groups can say about the Illinois Supreme Court candidates. The trial lawyers are expected to weigh in heavily in Maag's favor while business groups are expected to support Karmeier.
There are no restrictions on campaign contributions in Illinois, said Cindi Canary, director of Illinois Campaign for Political Reform. The ICPR is a non-partisan public interest group that conducts research and advocates reform to promote participation in government and address the role of money in politics.
During the reporting period between Jan 1. and June 30, contributions made to the Democratic Party of Illinois caught Canary's attention. Of the $707,622 taken in by the DPI in that time, $686,500, 92-percent, was from lawyers.
“I don't remember in the years that I have been reviewing these reports that I've seen such a concentrated percentage from one industry,” Canary said. “Until you see it spent, you don't know where the money is going. But it certainly appeared like there were some storm clouds brewing.”
Canary said there is a new rule for state candidates that requires independent groups to disclose how much money they raise and spend in the 60 days before elections.
“We are seeing that these groups don't do any advertising outside the election window, they are advertising to influence elections,” Canary said. “When you are in election season and you are running an as that clearly infers who is the good guy and who is the bad guy that is not an issue ad, it is an election ad. You still have your free speech rights, but you have to say who you are.
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She said the hot spot for third party groups buying commercial time will be in Southern Illinois. She said she is interested to see if the new disclosure requirement scares anyone off.
“In hot race it is television that drives the money,” Canary said. “It is the main expenditure. It is the big cost and that is what everybody wants to get in on.”