Prepare for blitz on Social Security reform

By Larry Wheeler
Gannett News Service

WASHINGTON — America, enjoy this moment of calm while you can. Soon, the celebrity TV ads, prerecorded telephone calls, blast e-mails and mailbox stuffers will be back.

This time, the battle will be over how to reform Social Security. The conflict divides clearly into two camps, and each is mapping plans for a complex and exhaustive air and ground war.

"Nothing trumps Social Security," said Derrick Max, executive director of the Alliance for Worker Retirement and Security.

"It affects everybody. If you're not paying it, you're getting it," said Max, whose group represents the National Association of Manufacturers and other pro-business interests.

Two years ago, Max and his business partners spent millions on a major publicity effort aimed at educating Americans about the virtues of changing Social Security to allow workers to keep some of their payroll taxes in privately held personal retirement accounts.

The group's message was broadcast in 19 markets, numerous town hall meetings, direct mail and phone calls.

They're getting ready to do it again.

"I would think the effort we would do (in 2005) would be similar, if not larger," Max said.

The Club for Growth, another conservative advocacy organization, plans to spend $10 million pushing Social Security private accounts next year. The campaign is designed to bolster efforts by the White House and Republican leaders in Congress to pass legislation creating private Social Security retirement accounts.

"We view this as the single most important economic issue confronting the nation," said Steve Moore, president of the Club for Growth, whose business supporters stand to gain if privately held Social Security accounts become reality.

Interest groups on the other side of the Social Security war are shouting just as loudly. Those groups also boast nationwide memberships and deep pockets.

"This is the final showdown," said Roger Hickey, co-director of Campaign for America's Future, backed by the AFL-CIO and other groups opposed to private Social Security savings accounts.

Just this week, Hickey's group sent e-mails to hundreds of thousands of people asking them to pressure their representatives in Congress to oppose the accounts.

"We're urging them to just swamp the Congress with messages that let members know that their constituents oppose privatization," Hickey said.

His group's partners include the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the National Organization for Women. They all plan to ask their members to speak out against private Social Security accounts.

How that message will play out in the living rooms of Americans watching television early next year has yet to be determined.

"It's premature for me to tell you what we're going to be able to do on TV," Hickey said.

Another major player in the battle for the hearts and minds of Americans is AARP, the 35-million-member organization dedicated to representing the views of those 50 and older.

Last year, the influential seniors organization sided with the Bush administration in the debate over a Medicare prescription drug benefit. But that won't happen in the debate over Social Security. AARP adamantly opposes creating private accounts that draw money away from the Social Security system.

"When we talk to folks around the country, our membership is completely against the idea," said David Certner, AARP's federal affairs director. "It's a very tough sell."

Right now, AARP has no specific plan for a TV ad campaign but certainly will use all of its formidable communication tools, Certner said.

"We'll cover the issue more in our publications. We'll likely hold more events, more volunteer training and activities," Certner said.

Gene Pisha and Barbara Weese know what's coming.

Both are veteran AARP volunteers who have led forums on Social Security and private savings accounts.

Pisha, 75, a retired businessman from Dearborn, Mich., believes the politicians and pro-business groups that support private accounts will win.

"I don't think the math will get in the way of passage," said Pisha, referring to the estimated $1 trillion in transition costs associated with creating private Social Security accounts.

Weese, 69, of Leesburg, Fla., said the seniors she knows haven't bought into the rhetoric that they should support private accounts because it will be good for their grandchildren.

"The mood I'm getting down here in Florida is that people are hopeful other solutions will be brought up," Weese said.

They want their grandchildren to have the same, dependable Social Security system they have had, Weese said.