The Cameraman Always Wins

Why do people assault cameramen? Don't they realize they have cameras?

It's a continuing mystery, as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce uses one angry-man-versus-cameraman confrontation to blast union-friendly legislation and the Democrats who support it.

The new ad, airing in states like Minnesota and Oregon with key Senate races, shows footage of Kentucky AFL-CIO President Bill Londrigan with his hands all over someone's camera, threatening, "I'm going to take this camera and stick it somewhere where you don't want it." The ad is meant to suggest that workers could face this kind of treatment from "union bosses" -- if Senate Democrats can enact a bill that would let workers simply sign a petition to unionize a workplace, rather than hold a secret-ballot vote. Londrigan was reportedly not amused.

The Chamber is in the midst of its biggest election-season effort yet, committing some $35 million to help pro-business candidates in House and Senate races. A big part of the campaign focuses on opposing that pro-union bill, called the Employee Free Choice Act. (It's awkward to oppose "free choice," so one business group re-names it the "Employee FORCED Choice Act," helpfully retaining the orginial acronym.)

A top issue on Election Day? Hardly. It doesn't even make this list in those "top issues for voters" polls. But it's a huge issue to the business community, which is busy trying to sell it as something voters need to care about.

We've had the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace pound away against the legislation. And the business-backed Employee Freedom Action Committee has raised $20 million and is spending it on TV ads. (Here's the action committee's latest.) Americans for Job Security also got into the act with new ads targetting the Act. All of groups are using the issue against Democratic candidates in hot Senate races.

Meanwhile -- perhaps ironically? -- the AFL-CIO just launched a multi-state radio campaign "urging citizens to vote and telling them how to be prepared to protect their vote on Election Day."

-- Will Evans

7:45 PM ET | 10-24-2008 | permalink

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McGovern Breaks With Democrats

After Democrat Barack Obama does battle with Republican John McCain tonight, a prominent Obama supporter is scheduled to pop up in the post-debate ad breaks, stating his opposition to pro-union legislation that enjoys the backing of Obama and Democratic leaders.

George McGovern, the 1972 Democratic nominee and now a venerated party elder, appears in minute-long ads by the Employee Freedom Action Committee, which is using criticism of the Employee Free Choice Act as a club to beat on Democratic Senate candidates in several states.

While unions say the bill will make it easier for workers to join a union without corporate harassment, McGovern and industry-backed groups say it will take away secret ballots in union elections, allowing the organizers to intimidate workers.

McGovern says in the ad: "It's hard to believe that any politician would agree to a law denying millions of employees the right to a private vote."

At least at first glance, it's also hard to believe that arch-liberal McGovern would team up with Rick Berman, who runs the Employee Freedom Action Committee. It has got to be one of the oddest of odd couples.

Berman has made a career of attacking liberal activists, Democrat-backed policies and labor unions on behalf of industry. He assisted Newt Gingrich in his climb to become speaker of the House. The Employee Freedom Action Committee is one of several nonprofits set up by Berman to engage in aggressive public relations without indentifying the donors behind them. This year, he's spending $30 million to attack Democratic Senate candidates with ads about the labor bill. His group will spend $2 million airing the McGovern ad in key Senate races in Kentucky, Oregon, Maine, Mississippi, Louisiana, New Hampshire and Colorado. (Another group, the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, is plowing this same anti-union ground in Senate races.)

McGovern, on the other hand, is celebrated at Democratic party gatherings. In a dramatic move this spring, he abandoned Hillary Clinton and endorsed Barack Obama in the name of party unity.

Then again, when McGovern says in the ad, "I've always been a champion of labor unions," it may be a bit of a stretch. (He goes on to say, "But I fear that today's union leaders are turning their backs on democratic workplace elections.") He was a congressman and senator from South Dakota, a right-to-work state that prohibits "closed" union shops. McGovern came out against the Employee Free Choice Act in a Wall Street Journal op-ed in August. He also turns up at the Web site of the FirstJobs Institute, a component in Berman's network.

And not that we believe in grudges, but the record shows that when McGovern was on track to win the nomination in 1972, organized labor did all that it could to stop him.

It's also worth wondering what impact the ad might have tonight -- a presidential nominee from 36 years ago talking about a bill that's pretty much guaranteed to go unmentioned by the 2008 contenders.

-- Will Evans & Peter Overby

2:59 PM ET | 10- 7-2008 | permalink

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New Wave Of Ads On Union Elections

The Employee Freedom Action Committee has rolled out a new wave of TV ads blasting Democratic Senate candidates for supporting legislation that would make it easier for unions to organize workers. The ads blame Democrats for wanting to eliminate secret ballots in union elections -- and many of them feature a photo of the candidate with his or her mouth awkwardly open.

The group -- run by the firm of Rick Berman, who heads a number of industry-funded nonprofits -- is pushing a similar message as the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace. The two groups share twin goals: defeating the Employee Free Choice Act and damaging Democratic chances to pick up Senate seats. The new ads are running in Kentucky, Oregon, Maine, Mississippi and Colorado.

On the other side, the union-backed American Rights At Work just launched a series of print and billboard ads promoting the legislation as a boon to a struggling middle class. Labor argues the measure would allow workers to choose a union without as much harassment from corporate management. The Service Employees International Union gave $250,000 to American Rights At Work in 2007.

-- Will Evans

4:47 PM ET | 08-27-2008 | permalink

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Pinch-Hitting For The Party

An unusual number of conservative groups this week put up attack ads in Senate races around the country. Among them: the American Future Fund, Americans for Prosperity, Freedom's Watch, and two anti-union organizations.

Now comes confirmation of the puzzle's missing piece. These independent ads are running just when Senate Republicans can't afford to do hit pieces of their own.

John Ensign of Nevada, chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, blames other Republican senators. He didn't name names, but issued this statement Friday morning:

I recently challenged my colleagues to step up to the plate and help me provide the resources our candidates need to compete in races across the country -- to match the DSCC [Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee] expenditures in targeted races. It has become clear that my call has gone largely unanswered. I have no control over the timing or content of IE ads, but I have had no choice but to decrease the total budget of our IE Unit. It is still my hope that my Republican colleagues will engage in this election and help match what the Democrats are doing. If they do, I will adjust our budget accordingly.

Both the NRSC and its House counterpart are hurting this year, compared to the Democratic Hill committees. June 30 cash-on-hand figures were $24.6 million for the NRSC, $46.2 million for the DSCC.

When Ensign refers to "independent expenditures," he's talking about one of the more bizarre arrangements created by the campaign finance system. But it's also the legal vehicle for the national parties to run attack ads and be only semi-accountable for them.

A party committee (say, the NRSC) puts together an independent-expenditure team, gives them some millions of dollars and -- literally -- sends them across town to set up shop. Anything the IE team does is legal, provided there's no coordination with the NRSC mothership.

But if there's not enough money for that, as Ensign now says, the NRSC has to depend on the kindness of, well, not quite strangers, but outsiders.

-- Peter Overby

6:29 PM ET | 08-22-2008 | permalink

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Group Uses Union Issue to Target Democrats

The Employee Freedom Action Committee, which goes by different names in each state, is airing ads targeting Democratic Senators and Senate candidates on the issue of secret ballots in union elections. The ad is running in the following locations under these names:

KY: Kentuckians for Employee Freedom, targeting Senate candidate Bruce Lunsford
LA: Lousianans for Employee Freedom, targeting Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA)
ME: Mainers for Employee Freedom, targeting Rep. Tom Allen (D-ME)
MS: Mississippians for Employee Freedom, targeting former Gov. Ronnie Musgrove
NH: Granite Staters for Employee Freedom, targeting former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen
OR: Oregonians for Employee Freedom, targeting state Speaker of the House Jeff Merkley

The ad below is adapted to name the Democratic Senate candidate in each state.

UPDATE:
The same ad, targeting Rep. Mark Udall (D-CO), began airing Aug. 13 under the name Coloradans for Employee Freedom.

-- Will Evans

2:15 AM ET | 08- 1-2008 | permalink

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