On Negative Campaign Ads . . .

This will be for information purposes only, their is no political message in it, just information you can use.

Have you noticed in the recent and surely in the upcoming political campaigns, there is a lot of negative advertising going on. This is coming from all sides, not just one. I recently received in the mail seven campaign "Flyers/Cards," for lack of a better description, in one day. All of these were about two candidates in one race. Three of them were asking me to vote for a candidate and had a very positive message, four were giving me disparaging information about an opponent.

If you will remember back to the 2004 election, there were a lot of negativism in that campaign, too. From both sides came information about the other side, so this has been going on full force for several years now, and it's getting worse. If you'll notice the return address for these negative "Flyer/Cards," you will notice they are not from the other candidate, they are from a group such as, The Committee for the Truth, or Real Information You Need.

These groups or organizations are called 527 organizations. That is just a short nick name given them from the U. S. tax code of 26 U. S. C. § 527, you can go to www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/26/527.html for more detailed information on 527 organizations and PACs which also fall under this tax code but have different rules and different limits.

What is real good/bad about these 527 groups is that they can collect and spend as they wish in almost any amounts they wish, for information purposes. This can be done as long as they do not coordinate their efforts with a candidate or a party. The high courts have ruled it is just "Freedom of Speech." They also do not come under the jurisdiction of the U. S. Election Commission or the State and Local Election Commissions.

It is very difficult to discern a 527's affiliation by its name. For instance Progress for America is not a "Progressive/Liberal organization and the League of Conservation Voters is not a Conservative Organization.

In 2004, 527s spent just shy of $440 million dollars on various campaigns and in the mid-term elections of 2006 they spent over $170 million.

I must point out that these organizations are from both sides of the aisle, but some of the most effective were the "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" in 2004. MoveOn.org originally started out as a 527 organization and in 2004 spent over $21 million for various Liberal candidates and issues. MoveOn.org is no longer a 527 organization and now has to follow different rules.

Not all 527s are candidate oriented, some are Pro-Life, some are Pro-Choice, some are for Women's Rights, Gay Rights, Gun Control, Retirees, Immigration Policies, The Environment, etc.

Next time you get an "Anti" whatever or whoever card in the mail, check out the return address. Chances are that it will not be from the candidate's opponent, it'll be from one of these 527s. That way a candidate can truthfully say, "That wasn't from my campaign, I didn't have anything to do with that." Yeah, right!