GOP candidates and anti-abortion campaign run identical ads against ballot initiative
Donors to the campaign against Initiative 439 are also funding Republicans running for the University of Nebraska Board of Regents and the Legislature, who can buy advertising at lower rates.
Opponents of a Nov. 5 ballot question that would restore abortion rights in the state are funneling money to Republican candidates for the University of Nebraska Board of Regents and the Legislature, whose campaigns in turn are using the money to run reduced-rate television ads against the measure.
On the ballot as as Initiative 439, the measure would guarantee the right to an abortion in the state constitution “until fetal viability … or when needed to protect the life or health of the pregnant patient.”
A competing measure, appearing on the ballot as Initiative 434, would enshrine the state’s 12-week abortion ban in the state constitution.
Supporters of both measures are engaged in a TV-ad war, flooding the airwaves to get their messages out.
But now two of the regents seeking reelection, Rob Schafer and Jim Scheer, and Tanya Storer, who is a candidate for the Legislature, are running the same ads used by supporters of Initiative 434, with the lone exception of the “paid for by” disclaimer at the end.
Individual candidates can run ads for far less — about one-third as much in some cases — than Initiative 434 supporters pay.
Under federal rules, local TV stations generally offer individual political candidates “preferred rates” given to major advertisers, such as Ford Motor Co. or Miller Brewing Co. An analysis by the New Republic notes that each TV station charges dozens of different rates, depending on such factors as the time slot and whether other ads can be bumped if necessary.
Schafer’s campaign recently received $75,000 from U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts and major GOP donor Tom Peed, whose families are bankrolling Initiative 434, according to filings with the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission.
Scheer’s campaign got a $1.5 million donation on Oct. 24 from a group called Common Sense Nebraska, which has received money from Catholic Vote of Madison, Wisconsin. The next day, Scheer listed an in-kind contribution in the same amount to the Initiative 434 committee, money that could be used to buy TV ads.
Common Sense Nebraska lists a post office box at a Lincoln law firm as its address on campaign statements. The contact phone number listed on its filings belongs to Axe Capital, an East Coast hedge fund.
Storer recently reported a donation of $88,000 from Common Sense Nebraska, which she then donated as an in-kind contribution to Initiative 434.
Schafer, Scheer and Storer did not respond to questions from the Nebraska Independent about whether they accepted the donations with a proviso that they use the money to buy ads supporting Initiative 434.
Gavin Geis, the executive director of Common Cause Nebraska, said the Legislature needs to address the issue,
“A ballot initiative organization and a candidate running the exact same ad leads to confusion about who is funding these efforts and creates an unfair advantage. By contributing airtime to ballot initiatives, candidates can shield donors from disclosing their support for the proposal and give them a financial advantage over their opponents, due to federal rules that give candidates discounted airtime,” he said in an email to the Nebraska Independent. “This is another way the wealthy control what happens without the public knowing until it’s too late. It’s clear that the Legislature needs to step in and change the law to ensure transparency and a fair playing field.”
Allie Berry of the Initiative 439 group assailed the use of the ads by individual candidates.
“In the final week of this election, the politicians behind Initiative 434 are doing everything in their power to maintain control of our healthcare decisions,” she said in an email to the Nebraska Independent.
