Senate election ads blast at pasts

Tuesday, Oct. 13, 1998 | 11:11 a.m.

At a recent Senate campaign debate, a Sun City resident proclaimed he was so sick of the television advertisements for Sen. Harry Reid and Rep. John Ensign that he turned off his set whenever they came on.

For high-profile campaigns such as the tiff in Nevada between Democrat Reid and Republican Ensign, it is not enough to subject viewers to 30-second sound bites paid for by the campaigns. Viewers also must endure a steady diet of negative advocacy ads from the state parties that encourage their faithful to call the opposite candidate.

The result is a marathon political volleyball game that won't end until the Nov. 3 general election. Because television is the dominant medium to wage the modern campaign, much of what incumbent Reid and challenger Ensign want to tell us about themselves and each other is buried in those ads.

Most of what we've seen, however, is a look into their past records, rather than what they plan to do over the next six-year Senate term.

We've seen both men toss and kick balls with relatives or friends. Reid, tells us he was born in a small wooden shack, and he cites as his greatest accomplishment his role of a devoted husband who has helped raise five children. Ensign has informed us that his great-grandparents settled in Northern Nevada in 1906 and that he learned the values of hard work and family. A separate ad shows a mother thanking the congressman for being her son's Big Brother.

Both candidates have buttressed these positive ads with their stands on issues. Both have reminded viewers that they have fought against the possible shipment of high-level nuclear waste to Nevada.

"I used my seat on the (Senate) Appropriations Committee to help cut $30 million from the waste site budget," Reid said in one ad. "I won't quit until my colleagues understand that transporting nuclear waste to Nevada is dangerous."

Ensign told the TV audience that "Harry Reid and I have worked hard to keep nuclear waste out of Nevada, and we've been successful."

Reid made passing reference in one ad to the fact he has helped pass laws to give Nevadans more water, tax relief and affordable health care. But he devoted one ad solely to his role in the defeat of the source tax, which prohibits states from taxing the pensions of former residents. The ad shows a retiree tending to his garden.

"Retired folks here in Nevada have Harry Reid to thank for cutting their taxes and planting some extra dollars in their pockets," the Reid ad says.

Ensign, however, has taken credit for elimination of the source tax in the House, noting that it took GOP leadership to get the job done.

Ensign also noted in ads that he fought to cut taxes, make criminals work to repay their victims and to have Medicare pay for annual mammograms. In a separate ad, he said he wants to cut government spending and eliminate most foreign aid.

The congressman has devoted ads to both education and health-maintenance organizations. The education ad, showing Ensign talking to students in a classroom and separately with parents, says the congressman would increase school funding by requiring 95 cents of every education dollar to be spent in the classroom. He also would reward good teachers with higher salaries while weeding out poor educators through competency testing.

"Nevada loses 60 cents of every education dollar that we send to Washington," Ensign tells viewers. "It is time to bring those dollars back to the classroom."

The HMO ad, showing Ensign at a town hall meeting and a doctor with both a child and a senior citizen, reminds voters that the congressman introduced a Health Quality Fairness Act as his proposal for health-care reform. Viewers are informed that his bill improves access to emergency care, allows families to pick their own doctors, "stops gag clauses so doctors, not bureaucrats, make medical decisions," and extends patient protection to seniors on Medicare.

Both candidates clearly are going after the senior citizen vote, which is vital in a state with a large retiree population. It was no coincidence that their first debate last month was in the Sun City retirement community.

By spotlighting education and HMOs, Ensign is highlighting two issues with clear partisan divisions. Reid and fellow Democrats, who typically get strong support from teachers' unions, have resisted attempts by Republicans to force competency testing on educators.

The senator has urged more compassion for teachers. He also has said that Ensign is overly critical of teachers and greatly exaggerates the amount of Nevada tax dollars that leave the state for education elsewhere.

Reid also differs with Ensign on HMOs, arguing that patients should have the right to sue their health-care providers. The congressman and fellow Republicans want to restrict litigation, arguing that legal action delays access to health care.

Reid and Ensign also have used TV to attack each other. Reid launched a series of ads with the mantra: "How can we trust John Ensign ... We can't." One, showing an elderly woman vanishing from a hospital bed, says Ensign voted to cut funding for nursing home care. Another shows a pair of hiking boots stomping on flowers as the ad displays a newspaper quote from Ensign that "environmentalists are socialists."

Another Reid ad shows a young boy, who is eating a hamburger, reacting with disgust when the announcer notes that Ensign "voted to eliminate federal meat and poultry inspections." Likewise, a young woman drinking water in another Reid ad shows concern when it is announced that the congressman "voted against enforcing the Clean Water Act."

Ensign has responded that such ads distort his record by implying that he favors bad food and dirty water.

The Reid ad that has rankled Ensign the most, however, quotes the congressman as having told the Las Vegas Review-Journal in 1994 that "I think Social Security was a terrible idea." The ad shows an elderly man who discovers that an envelope supposed to be containing a government check is actually empty.

In a response ad, Ensign states: "Harry Reid's negative ad attacking me is wrong, and he knows it. The truth is politicians set up Social Security so they could borrow from the trust fund and put in phony IOUs. That was a terrible idea. I co-sponsored the Social Security Preservation Act to stop politicians from raiding the trust fund.

"Social Security is a sacred contract with the American people. Let's keep it. Let's put real assets in the trust fund, not IOUs."

Ensign's campaign hasn't used as many negative ads as has Reid's, but the congressman fired away using a baseball theme to review the senator's record. The ad states that Reid voted for new taxes on working Nevada families, voted to tax Social Security and "raid the trust fund," voted to raise the gas tax and spend the money on "liberal programs instead of Nevada roads," and voted to give himself a $12,000 raise.

"No kidding folks, this guy bats left," says the ad. "No wonder Nevada wants to trade. John Ensign. Nevada values, not Washington values."

Pegging the senator as a tax-raising politician is a reference to his support of the 1993 federal budget reconciliation bill, which Reid credits for the nation's healthy economy.

Reid has portrayed himself as a target. One ad, in fact, shows Reid standing in front of a target and ducking as a giant plunger arrow comes his way.

"They must think I'm a pretty powerful senator because they're spending millions trying to defeat me," Reid tells viewers. "These outsiders are lying about my record to get your mind off how strong our economy is here in Nevada. They want you to forget that we've balanced the federal budget, cut government spending and raised family income."

In another ad, Ensign is chided for accusing Reid of voting for the largest tax increase in history. The ad shows an unflattering picture of Ensign being gobbled up by a Pacman-like TV set.

"The charge is a lie," the ad says. "What Sen. Reid voted for was the 1993 federal budget that economic experts say has lowered the deficit and generated historic economic growth. Be careful, Congressman Ensign, this sleazy commercial can come back and bite you."

In the "truth in advertising department," Ensign's ads have come under the most fire.

"I haven't had to repudiate the ads," Reid said. "Others do it for me."

But Ensign also said that Reid's ads against him "have not been truthful, taking things out of context. I can document everything in ours."

An Ensign ad depicting the congressman along with Sen. Richard Bryan, D- Nev., touts their joint bill aimed at revamping the public lands exchange process while protecting Nevada's environment and providing money for schools. Ensign, who accused Reid of killing an earlier version of the bill, has said the legislation proves he can work with a senator from the opposite party.

But Bryan issued a statement reaffirming his support for Reid's re-election bid. Reid, in fact, co-sponsored the Senate version of the land swap bill, which passed the Senate last week.

It was also reported that the mother in Ensign's Big Brother ad, Rhonda Butler, was wanted in California for the illegal use of nearly $4,000 in food stamps. Ensign said he was unaware of the warrant against Butler but would stick by her and make sure she repays taxpayers.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southern Nevada also issued a statement to clarify that it does not endorse political candidates. But Ensign said he is proud of his affiliation with his "little brother" and that Reid's attack on their relationship is "sickening."

Gov. Bob Miller, a Democrat, also has protested another Ensign ad that quoted the governor as having praised the congressman for supporting a GOP Medicaid proposal in 1995. Miller, who is backing Reid, said he actually criticized Ensign's position on Medicaid. But Ensign said Miller didn't object to that quote when it was used by the congressman during his 1996 re-election campaign.

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