Ensign to reject Bernstein offer of TV ad ban

Monday, Oct. 2, 2000 | 11:18 a.m.

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Ed Bernstein said he will ban all soft money television advertisements in his campaign and return all political action committee donations if Republican foe John Ensign does the same.

Bernstein, who also proposed limiting their campaign spending to $3 million each, made his offer Friday after negative commercials paid for by Democratic and Republican national party committees began airing.

But Ensign campaign manager Mike Slanker said Bernstein should have made his offer months ago instead of waiting barely a month before the Nov. 7 general election. Slanker said the Ensign campaign plans to reject the offer.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has spent $500,000 in soft money airing ads that criticized former Rep. Ensign's voting record and his anti-abortion position. The National Republican Senatorial Committee also has spent an undisclosed amount of soft money on ads blasting Bernstein's prescription drug plan for Medicare recipients.

Soft money can be donated to political parties in unlimited amounts and was originally intended to finance get-out-the-vote efforts. But the parties have increasingly used this money to run negative ads against opponent politicians.

Through mid-August, Ensign had also raised $1.2 million in PAC money, compared to only $166,184 for underdog Bernstein, according to the FECInfo Internet website. But Bernstein said he did not believe his offer would be more of a disadvantage to his opponent.

"It's hardly a problem for him that he's getting PAC money from special interests," Bernstein said of Ensign. "The problem is that when you think about why we have high prescription drug prices and have to fight nuclear waste, it's because of the influence of the money."

But Slanker said Bernstein cannot be trusted.

"Unfortunately, Ed Bernstein is giving us no reason to believe he's telling the truth," Slanker said. "He's already sucked up soft money to criticize John Ensign. This is nothing more than a stunt."

PACs represent industries, labor organizations and other special interest groups to donate money to candidates and run their own issue-oriented ads. They also donate large amounts of soft money to political parties that result in the negative ads aired in Nevada.

Ensign's PAC money through mid-August included $176,124 from retail and service businesses, $155,920 from single-issue groups, $142,200 from the health care industry, $90,113 from energy and natural resources and $77,000 from finance and insurance groups.

The leading PAC contributors to Bernstein through mid-August were organized labor groups at $87,500, followed by $54,010 from single-issue groups, $11,000 from law organizations, $7,000 from retail and service businesses and $6,000 from agriculture.

Overall Ensign had amassed $3.7 million through midsummer and had about $1.1 million cash on hand. Bernstein had about $1.8 million in receipts, half of which represented loans from personal accounts, and $675,851 cash on hand.

Bernstein said he believes campaign finance reform works only if it is coupled with spending limits. When Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., won re-election in 1998, he spent about $4.9 million, compared with $3.5 million for Ensign.

"I thought the last election was much more expensive than it should have been," Bernstein said. "There's no reason why we can't get the message out with $3 million."

But Ensign had already spent $2.6 million through mid-August, compared with $1.1 million for Bernstein.

Slanker said that if Bernstein were sincere, he would also end his "$1 million" advertising campaign around town to promote his personal injury law firm, Edward M. Bernstein & Associates.

"If he were passionate about this, he should have started his campaign differently," Slanker said. "This guy has no shame."

In the New York Senate race, the most highly publicized of the nation's Senate contests this fall, Democratic first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and GOP Rep. Rick Lazio have agreed to ban soft money ads. But their agreement did not include bans on PAC money or limits on campaign spending, as Bernstein has proposed.

"What's important is to take the influence out of campaigns so people can level the playing field and talk about the issues," Bernstein said.