As election nears: Candidates,
not 'issue ads,' deserve our attention

		Eye on the  Capitol  John Huebscher

Earlier this summer I suggested we owed a debt of thanks to those of our fellow citizens who have offered themselves as candidates for the legislature and Congress in this election year.

In the weeks remaining in the campaign we owe them our attention as they make the final case for their election.

During the campaign season to date, the candidates have met the voters. They offered platforms and positions papers. They have debated each other. But will they be judged on Election Day by how they did those things?

Campaign ads

Unfortunately, in too many places, these candidates and their ideas will take a back seat as well-heeled special interest groups enter the fray. Soon "independent expenditures" and "issue ads" will flood the airwaves of key "swing districts."

Often conveying negative messages, these ads will by their very number, dwarf the money spent by the candidates themselves. In the process they may divert attention from the priorities of the candidates to the agendas of the special interests.

Some of these ads will be "issue ads." Because such ads do not explicitly endorse or oppose candidates, these ads are not subject to campaign reporting requirements. Thus, we may not know who is paying for them. Nor will we know - until well after the election - how much money their sponsors spent to influence the debate.

The experience of recent years shows that these ads can easily overwhelm the ability of most candidates to define the terms of their own campaigns. Once these ads begin running, candidates feel compelled to address them in their speeches, at forums, and in their own advertising.

The content of a campaign may change, not because voters in a district have asked candidates to alter their messages, but because special interests with large sums of money at their disposal have intervened to take charge of the conversation.

Undue influence

This is not to say that citizens should not use issue ads to share their ideas. But it is fair to ask that those who attempt to influence public policy take responsibility for their speech. One citizen's right to speak should honor another citizen's right to know who is speaking.

But issue ads will exert undue influence on our election only if we let them do so.

One may hope that voters will assess public policy not in terms of its impact on narrow self-interest but in terms of the larger "common good." The common good defines the public interest in terms of all the conditions that impact human life and development. Instead of asking, "where's mine?" the common good invites us to consider "what is best for all of us?"

Common good

The common good will find few advocates in the "airwave wars" about to be waged with issue ads and the independent expenditures. Rather, advocates for the common good must be found among those "faithful citizens" who are focused candidates and informed voters.

It will be up to the candidates to stay "on message" by continuing to share the vision of the common good they have been talking about over the last three months. It will be up to the voters to pay more attention to the candidates than the commercials.

John Huebscher is executive director of the Wisconsin Catholic Conference.