Columnist Jeff German: Critics say anti-labor advertising attack misses mark

Wednesday, Oct. 23, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

A MYSTERIOUS labor-bashing newspaper insert has created an uproar in the last two crucial weeks of Campaign '96.

The four-page advertisement, reportedly bought by an unidentified group of "contractors and business leaders," appeared in Tuesday's Las Vegas Review-Journal.

It attacks organized labor, primarily the state AFL-CIO and the Culinary Union, which have been active in several key political campaigns.

Gov. Bob Miller is accused of being in labor's pocket and opposed to nonunion shops.

Miller and top labor leaders denounce the advertisement, saying it's "distorted" and "inaccurate."

Some, such as Nevada AFL-CIO boss Blackie Evans, suggest it borders on libel. Evans has referred it to his organization's lawyers in Washington.

But Review-Journal Advertising Director Jack Harpster says his paper's attorneys at Donrey Media headquarters in Fort Smith, Ark., found the ad acceptable to print.

"They were convinced the statements could be backed up by facts or that they had been published somewhere else," Harpster says.

Harpster acknowledges the Associated Builders and Contractors of Southern Nevada, a pro-business trade group within the construction industry, requested the ad, which did not run in the SUN.

It was asked to be printed only in the Review-Journal, which has taken anti-labor stands in the past. The Review-Journal handles ads for both newspapers under a joint operating agreement.

Harpster won't say how much the insert cost. But he explains that a person off the street could buy such an ad for $15,800.

Larry Litchfield, the construction association's executive director, says his group lent its name to the insert.

But he adds, "We didn't write it or pay for it."

"We were asked to become involved in light of our historic position regarding unions," Litchfield says.

Litchfield refuses to name the business people who approached his association.

But there are several suspects, including members of the Nevada Republican Party, which has been mounting a television attack campaign against the "big labor bosses" supporting Democrat Bob Coffin over Rep. John Ensign, R-Nev., in the 1st Congressional District.

GOP Chairman John Mason and Executive Director Dan Burdish refuse to talk about the insert.

Jim Denton, running the re-election bid of state Sen. Sue Lowden, R-Las Vegas, who's facing stiff opposition from the Culinary Union, says her campaign "unequivocally had nothing to do with it."

"Sue Lowden's campaign has not been bashing labor," Denton says. "That's why I know we weren't involved."

But that isn't stopping Culinary Staff Director D. Taylor from alleging that labor's current enemies, including Lowden, are behind the ad.

"Most people are smart enough not to be buy into this," Taylor says. "It's pure, unadulterated propaganda that has a political agenda."

Culinary Secretary-Treasurer Jim Arnold agrees: "It's the same old garbage that keeps getting thrown in our faces the last 20 years. We're as clean as can be."

Adds Evans: "We must be getting somebody's attention because they're sure raising hell."

Miller spokesman Richard Urey charges that the faceless people behind the ad have little understanding of the political system.

"Whoever put that together doesn't have a sixth-grade knowledge of American government," he says.

Urey cites one example in the insert that accuses Miller of failing to break a legislative deadlock last year and sign an anti-Culinary Union bill into law.

"The governor isn't in the Legislature," Urey says. "He can't vote."

Urey says the ad has completely distorted the governor's position on nonunion shops, which the contractors association supports.

"There are no signals going out in this state that indicate this state is against nonunion labor," Urey says.

Litchfield, meanwhile, stands by the accuracy of the ad, which also dredges up outdated allegations linking the Culinary Union to organized crime.

Many of those allegations surfaced four years ago in a campaign publication printed by veteran political consultant Don Williams, who acknowledges having a vendetta against the Culinary Union.

Williams says he's convinced the insert is politically motivated, but he insists he had nothing to do with it.

"They obviously pulled out some of the stuff I used four years ago," he says. "It looks like somebody did a little plagiarism.

"But if I was going to spend that kind of money going after the Culinary Union, they would never have gotten off that easy."