Moyer Defends TV Ads Attacking Brown Spots Are Work Of State Gop, But Incumbent Says Content Fair

State Sen. John Moyer, known for his gentle, grandfatherly style, is turning combative to protect his job.

His state Republican allies are running an attack advertisement that casts his opponent, Rep. Lisa Brown, as a big-spending liberal who’s soft on crime and hard on the elderly.

The television ad also portrays the Democrat as a manipulative professor who tries out her social and economic theories on the 3rd Legislative District.

“What bothers me is the meanness of it,” said Brown, an economics professor at Eastern Washington University.

Brown is so offended by the ad - which zooms in on her face and turns it crooked on the screen - that she called Moyer and asked him to yank it off the air.

Moyer refused. The Spokane physician distances himself from the ads, saying they were the work of the state Senate Republican Campaign Committee, not him.

But he defends their content.

“Her votes have to come to the attention of the public,” Moyer said. “I am obligated to bring out her voting record.”

Moyer called the new ad fair political drama. “I think that ads have to catch the public’s attention. If you have an ad that’s very flat, the public doesn’t even look at it.”

Moyer said he intends to continue hammering on Brown’s voting record. He plans to air his own television ads soon that call Brown’s voting habits harmful to Spokane.

Brown called the ads desperation, not drama. She said it shows Moyer knows he’s losing the race to represent the district that covers most of downtown Spokane and its core neighborhoods.

Brown flew through the primary last month with a surprisingly high 57 percent of the vote - to Moyer’s 43 percent.

Brown got that wide margin despite raising only about two-thirds as much campaign money as Moyer.

She said she doesn’t plan to counter the negative ads with spots attacking Moyer.

Instead, her four upcoming television advertisements show her talking in front of the Big Red Wagon in Riverfront Park.

She talks about creating educational opportunities for the poor, representing working families instead of high-paid Olympia lobbyists, as well as “getting the big money out of politics and letting the people back in.”

Brown never mentions Moyer in the ad.

Neither does the ad the Senate Republican Campaign Committee is now running.

It starts by telling viewers that Brown is a college professor and that it’s time to give her a test. A clock starts ticking.

A fast voice-over says, “She voted with Mike Lowry for the biggest tax increase in state history. TRUE.”

In rapid-fire, the ad hits her for blocking welfare reforms and coddling criminals.

It closes with: “For four years Lisa Brown has been trying out her social and economic theories on us. It’s hurt seniors and working families. It’s time for Lisa Brown to go!”

Brown said she doesn’t know how she can be accused of being soft on criminals, or hard on the elderly.

She said she voted against a different welfare bill than Moyer supported, so the two votes can’t be compared.

She also said Moyer slams her for voting for the big tax increase but refuses to say where he would have come up with the money to balance the budget, as the state mandates.

Brown said some of her advisers urge her to run an attack ad about Moyer, such as tying his health care votes to campaign contributions from the insurance industry.

“But that would attack his character, as if he’s on the take,” she said. “And I don’t believe he is.”

, DataTimes