Campaign finance - reformed

I'm so relieved that campaign finance has been reformed. Now things have become less complicated.

Groups File Complaint Over Anti-Kerry Ad:

The (Swift Boat Veterens for Truth) bought $500,000 worth of airtime to run the ad in Wisconsin, Ohio and West Virginia.

In the complaint to the Federal Election Commission, the watchdog groups argued that Swift Boat Veterans for Truth should have used only limited contributions from individuals known as hard money on the ad and should disclose its donations and spending in reports to the FEC.

'We this think is open and shut, that the only purpose of this group is to influence the presidential election,' said Fred Wertheimer, head of Democracy 21.
Mike Russell, a spokesman for Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, said the ad is legal because it does not tell viewers which candidate they should vote for in the presidential race.

'The ads are not meant to influence the presidential election. The ads are meant to tell the truth about John Kerry's service record so people can make their own decisions,' Russell said.

The veterans group said it has at least 5,000 new contributors and has raised more than $230,000 since the ad started running last week.

Are the ads meant to influence the presidential election?

Of course they are.

But why a privately-funded group cannot air its views - views of men who were in Vietnam with Kerry and who are very strongly opposed to him - in the court of public opinion is a mystery to me.

Is the squelching of inconvenient opinions the purpose of this reform?
- posted by total @ 8/11/2004 04:11:00 AM .