Political groups should be labeled equally
If the Chronicle is going to attach labels to conservative political groups, then the same must be done with liberal political groups. It's called consistency. In Saturday's Chronicle there is an article about a 527 group, Texans for Truth, that is being accused of violating campaign fund-raising laws:
The complaint says Texans for Truth is accepting contributions and running advertisements to influence the presidential race and therefore comes under campaign finance limits, which cap individual contributions at $2,000 from an individual and $5,000 from a political committee.
Texans for Truth has reported a $100,000 contribution from Daniel O'Keefe, a California television producer.
Glenn Smith, a Democratic political consultant who organized Texans for Truth, said Friday that he hadn't seen the complaint and could not comment on its charges.
Smith said most of the group's contributions are small and not representative of the big money already being spent in the election.
Texans for Truth's ads came after another group, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, ran TV ads criticizing Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry's Navy service in the Vietnam War.
The watchdog groups have complained to the FEC about the Swift Boat group and other pro-Republican groups. Those complaints are pending.
The closest the Chronicle reporter comes to acknowledging that Texans for Truth is a pro-Democrat group is when he writes that the group was founded by "Glenn Smith, a Democratic political consultant." But the reporter has no problem saying that the Swift Vets group is a pro-Republican group.
If you follow the links at Texans for Truth, you can see that Glenn Smith is the founder of DriveDemocracy.org, "a Texas-based organization initially funded through a generous start-up grant from MoveOn.org." OK, now we're getting somewhere! One look at these groups' websites will show that these are not non-partisan groups, any more than the Swift Vets are non-partisan. As such, they should be labeled accordingly.
Also, the story mentions television producer Daniel O'Keefe without giving any background. Ten seconds on Google would have provided plenty of helpful information on O'Keefe, if one was interested in finding some more information. O'Keefe is a John Kerry fundraiser who says he is mad at President Bush for not fighting in Vietnam and for his handling of the Iraq war. It would be safe to label him a liberal.
The Chronicle needs to think outside the liberal box and label these groups appropriately. It's a little thing, but it's a thing that grates on the nerves of many readers.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 09/25/04 08:22 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Sphere | Comments (2)
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