Posted on: Saturday, November 23, 2002
Anti-abortion group seeks to lift ad ban
By Derrick DePledge
Advertiser Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — Hawai'i Right to Life asked a federal court yesterday to suspend new federal campaign advertising rules so it can run political ads before Hawai'i's two special elections replacing the late U.S. Rep. Patsy Mink in Congress.
The new campaign finance law prohibits labor, business and certain interest groups from sponsoring ads that mention candidates 60 days before a general election. The two special elections in Hawai'i are the first in the nation covered by the new restrictions.
"We're taxpaying citizens and Americans and we have a right to free speech," said John Long, executive director of Hawai'i Right to Life, an anti-abortion group. "Anything else seems un-American to me."
The group wants to sponsor radio ads starting Tuesday that discuss the importance of appointing anti-abortion federal judges and identify John Carroll, a former Republican state senator, as a "pro-life candidate" in the Nov. 30 election to fill the remaining weeks in Mink's term. Newspaper ads would run Friday and next Saturday.
In January, the group intends to sponsor radio and newspaper ads with a Christian holiday theme that identify former state Rep. Bob McDermott as a "pro-life candidate" in the Jan. 4 election to replace Mink in the next Congress.
McDermott, a Republican, lost in the general election this month in which Mink was re-elected posthumously.
No other candidates are mentioned in the ads, but people are urged to call the group if they are interested in learning about the other candidates.
Hawai'i Right to Life has asked for a hearing on its request Monday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. A spokesman for the Federal Election Commission, the defendant, said the commission does not comment on pending litigation.
The new campaign-finance law, approved by Congress and President Bush this year, contains the most sweeping reforms since the Watergate era. It bans "soft money" donations — unlimited contributions from individuals, labor unions and corporations — and sets limits on political advertising before elections.
Several interest groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Right-to-Life Committee, have challenged the law in court as unconstitutional. A three-judge federal panel has agreed to hear the arguments and, no matter the result, the challenge will likely reach the Supreme Court next year.
"It's a direct attack on the First Amendment rights of citizen groups," said James Bopp Jr., general counsel for the James Madison Center for Free Speech, a conservative legal group that filed the complaint on behalf of Hawai'i Right to Life.
The complaint claims that the new law is so broad that interest groups like Hawai'i Right to Life that engage in business activities — such as bake sales or walk-a-thons — or receive even minimal union or corporate contributions are barred from running ads right before an election.
The complaint also contends that even if Hawai'i Right to Life is exempt from the restrictions, the law's definition of advocacy is unconstitutional.
Interest groups are legally allowed to run political ads that mention candidates as long as the ads do not expressly call for a candidate's election or defeat. The new law was designed to separate ads that deal solely with political or social issues from direct appeals for specific candidates.
Don Simon, acting president of Common Cause, a reform group, said the law properly limits groups that are sponsoring thinly disguised promotions for candidates.
"The provision is an important one," he said. "Otherwise, these groups can be used as pass-throughs for business and labor money."
