Centerfield

Political Hit Man

If you want to learn about politics at its hardest core, read this article in the Chicago Sun-Times How Democrat fund-raiser scored Dean knockout.

The author of the article, Washington Bureau Chief Lynn Sweet, is currently in residence at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. I attended a seminar yesterday in which she introduced David W. Jones, the fund-raiser who produced the attack ads.

Using a "527 committee" which is allowed under the McCain-Feingold law, Jones raised $663,000 from only 26 donors, including $100,000 from a single donor. He used the money to fund a poll to assess Dean's vulnerabilities, and 3 attack ads that went after Dean: Top Grades, Facts, and the notorious Osama ad.

Despite reports that the attack ads were produced by a Kerry fundraiser, Jones only admitted to having worked for Dick Gephardt, Al Gore, and Tom Harkin in the past. He stated that these ads were his own idea, inspired by his fear that Dean would lead the Democrats into a McGovern-like disaster. He stated that while he tapped donors who supported various Democratic candidates, his initiative was not coordinated with any campaign, which would have been illegal under McCain-Feingold. Indeed, he retained the law firm of Skadden, Arps as counsel to in order to reassure donors that their contributions would not be illegal.

Tray.com has a list of the donors (pdf), which includes, among others, a company controlled by Yankees owner George Steinbrenner:

The Americans for Jobs & Healthcare 527 year-end report indicated they raised $663,000 and spent $626,840 in 2003. Major donors included:

S. Daniel Abraham (FL)(Healthy Foods of America) $100,000;
J. MacDonald Williams, retired (TX);
Duffy Duffy Burdo (NY) $50,000;
Yankees Entertainment & Sports (YES) Network LLC $100,000;
Torricelli for Senate $50,000;
Laborers Int’l Union $50,000;
Int’l Longshoremen Assn $50,000;
Int’l Assn of Machinists $50,000;
Int’l Assn of Ironworkers $25,000;
Swanne Hunt (Hunt Alternatives)(MA) $25,000;
Transport Workers Union Political Contributions Cmte $20,000;
Bernard Schwartz (Loral Corp) $15,000;
Joel Tompkins (Saga Investments) (VA) $15,000;
Anthony Kurtz (NJ) $10,000;
William Harte (Harte Law)(IL) $10,000;
Ken Ziffren (Ziffren Brittenham et al)(CA) $5,000;
Clive Cummis (Sills Cummis) (NJ) $5,000;
Joel Jankowsky (Akin Gump)(DC) $5,000;
John Menks (Menks & Assoc.)(CA) $5,000;
Richard Quible, retired (VA) $5,000;
Richard Ravitch (Ravitch Rice) (NY) $5,000;
Alan Patricof (Patricof & Co)$1,000.

Some of you may recall that George Steinbrenner was convicted of giving illegal campaign contributions to Richard Nixon. This time, it's legal.

When I asked Jones if he had earned fees by placing these ads, he quoted a figure that was between 5% and 10% of the ad budget. He insisted, however, that money was not the motive in placing the ads. By attacking the potential nominee of his party, he risked becoming a persona non grata in his party and losing business.

Of the three ads, the first two, which attacked Dean from the left, made little impression. One highlighted Dean's support from the National Rifle Association when governor of Vermont. The other criticized Dean's past support for reining in the costs of Medicare. With most of the money raised having gone for the first two ads, Jones only spent $15,000 to run the Osama ad a total of 14 times. The ad only achieved prominence when Dean campaign manager Joe Trippi sent a letter to other Democratic candidates asking them to disavow the ad. This become a news peg which gave the ad and its message far more prominence than it otherwise would have, and clips from the ad have been replayed ever since.

In this case, the "old politics" of special interests defeated the "new politics" of Internet and grassroots support. One lesson to be learned from this experience is that fighting back is not always the right strategy for dealing with attack ads. One of the Dean campaigns arguments for Dean's electability is that Dean was a tough campaigner, and would respond to attacks, unlike "weak" campaigners like Michael Dukakis or Walter Mondale. But in this case, Jones claims that he baited the Dean campaign with a small media buy, and that the Dean campaign's overreaction is what made it work.

It's a tough business, and it is important to respond to persistent attacks, especially if they are based on distorted information. But sometimes even in politics it is better to turn the other cheek.

Posted by rickheller at February 20, 2004 08:45 AM