Airwaves Full Of Political Sound And Fury Gop Returns Fire After Labor Launches Ad Campaign Against Nethercutt’s Record

Like the Hatfields and McCoys, labor unions and the Republican Party are engaged in a blood feud over the current session of Congress.

The arguments are over Medicare and the minimum wage. The weapons of choice are radio and television airwaves.

Among the victims is thoughtful debate, which is being lost in a cross fire of 30-second ads.

Both sides feign innocence at any suggestion of misleading advertising and accuse the other of gross distortions of fact.

Yet, even a cursory review shows the radio ads flooding Spokane’s airwaves are quick hits of political propaganda carefully crafted to obscure and oversimplify complicated issues.

Take Medicare. On that front, an ad by Washington Citizens Action, a coalition of consumer and environmental groups, takes aim at U.S. Rep. George Nethercutt, R-Spokane.

“He voted five times to cut Medicare benefits by $270 billion,” the ad claims.

Another ad by the national AFL-CIO says Nethercutt blocked a minimum wage increase “after he voted to cut Medicare.”

“That’s a lie,” said Nethercutt of both ads. “We did not vote to cut Medicare.”

Whether Congress voted to cut Medicare during the protracted battle over the 1996 budget is a contentious ongoing debate.

Congressional Republicans say they voted to slow the increase in Medicare over the next six years.

Democrats, labor unions and other groups say that amounts to a cut because the increases won’t cover the cost of inflation plus the rising number of people who will turn 65 and go on the national health care system.

Beau Boulter of United Senior Citizens Inc., a conservative advocacy group for the elderly, said Republican changes to Medicare will cover the difference by allowing the elderly to open Medical Savings Accounts and increasing participation in managed care plans.

Max Richtman of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, disagrees.

The non-partisan Washington, D.C., organization opposes the changes. Republican increases may not provide the same level of services, Richtman said. The changes the GOP proposes are largely untested and may not work, he added.

Ritchman and Boulter do agree that it’s a debatable point, hard to address in 30 seconds.

Republicans are counterattacking, sending letters to stations asking them not to air the union ads.

The National Republican Campaign Committee, which works to get Republicans elected and re-elected, accuses the AFL-CIO of “a deceptive advertising blitz” and claims that radio and television stations around the country have pulled the union’s ads.

“That’s a lie,” said David Saltz, a spokesman for the national AFL-CIO offices in Washington, D.C.

Actually, some stations have pulled ads, but not nearly as many as the Republicans claim.

The union didn’t even buy time on some stations that the Republicans claim pulled ads, he said. In other cases, the stations delayed broadcasting until the union provided documents to back up its charges, but later aired them.

The ads are part of a yearlong political campaign for which national leaders of the AFL-CIO have budgeted $35 million to highlight such issues as the minimum wage and Medicare.

The national Republican committee says $26,000 of that fund is being spent on ads in Spokane. Saltz refused to confirm amounts for any location.

Washington state Republicans are fighting back with their own ads that feature union members angry with the national AFL-CIO campaign.

Ads in Spokane use a stage hand, flight attendant and communication worker, all union members from Western Washington. They criticize the AFL-CIO for using their union dues in a political ad campaign.

“I’m not a helpless pawn,” John Horohan of Seattle says in one commercial. “I called up my union and demanded that they not use any portion of my dues for political activity.”

John Leinen of the AFL-CIO’s Spokane Labor Council said he knew of no local union members who have asked to withhold the political activity portion of their dues.

, DataTimes MEMO: Three sidebars appeared with the story: 1. ‘Pledge’ The ad: “Pledge” a 60-second radio ad sponsored by Washington Citizen Action. It accuses Nethercutt of voting to cut Medicare by $270 billion “to pay for a $16,892 tax break for the wealthy.” The background:The group is a coalition of environmental, consumer and social action organizations that is fighting Republican budget changes. Opponent’s reaction: Nethercutt calls the ad a lie because his votes did not cut Medicare, they merely slowed the rate of growth. Campaign response:Washington Citizen Action says the GOP proposal is a cut because the number of patients and inflation will increase faster than the amount budgeted. That means either services will have to reduced, or people will pay more through co-payments or higher deductibles, and those are cuts. Analysis:The ad is technically defensible, but a poor reflection of the ongoing controversy. It does not mention that the reduction in Medicare, $270 billion, would occur over five years. It quotes a two-year figure for the estimated tax break, presumably to get a bigger, more dramatic figure.

2. ‘John Horohan’ The ad: “John Horohan,” a 30-second radio ad sponsored by the state Republican Party. A union member talks about his lifetime membership, cites disagreements with Democrats, and complains about his dues being used to support them. “They’ve neglected the national defense, they’ve destroyed the public education system, the federal income tax has gone from 2 percent to 25 percent,” he says. Opponents’ reaction: Local union leaders said they have not yet heard the ads but realize that some members will be unhappy with the national ad campaign. Analysis: The ad is fair because it presents opinion, although many of the opinions are clearly debatable. The income tax rates have been raised over a period that included both Republican and Democratic administrations, for example, and the public education system is controlled by states and local jurisdictions, not Congress.

3. ‘People’ The ad: “People,” a 30-second radio commercial, complains that the minimum wage has not been raised since 1991, while corporate profits have skyrocketed and “Congress even gave itself a 30 percent pay raise.” It then criticizes Nethercutt for votes against a minimum wage increase “after he voted to cut Medicare and college loans, all to give a big tax break to the rich.” Opponent’s reaction: Nethercutt defends his votes on Medicare as a way to save the system. He opposes an increase in the minimum wage, but says the line about raising congressional pay is ridiculous - that happened several years before he was elected. Campaign response: David Saltz of the AFL-CIO defends the ad as completely factual, saying the votes on the minimum wage and the Republican budget are matters of record. The ad does not accuse Nethercutt of voting for the pay raise. Analysis: The debate over Medicare aside, the ad is carefully crafted to suggest that Nethercutt and other members of Congress have raised their salaries while blocking the minimum wage. Many members of Congress - including the majority of those from Washington and Idaho - where not in office when that vote took place.