Outside Groups Funding Wave of Attack Ads

Labor unions and a range of other well-financed independent groups are directing millions into the Maryland campaigns for governor and the U.S. Senate, fueling a long-anticipated onslaught of negative advertising.

Much of the investment appears to favor Democrats, public finance reports show.

Even the Humane Society got into the act, announcing yesterday that its political arm would be financing television commercials attacking Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. for allowing bear hunting in the state for the first time in half a century. The ad shows a dead bear hanging from a meat hook.

"We've been frustrated with everything this governor has been doing," said Rachel Querry, a spokeswoman for the Humane Society Legislative Fund. "This is the first time we've ever been able to step up and do something about it."

Independent groups have long been active in state politics, but ever since the federal rules changed on the financing of campaigns, so-called independent expenditures have become a convenient tool for influencing a race without adhering to strict campaign giving limits.

Because the committees must, by law, operate independently of the campaigns, they allow the candidates some distance from what are often the most negative attack ads against their opponents.

One of the most startling ads, which targets Ehrlich's Democratic challenger Martin O'Malley, shows grainy footage of a murder scene where what appears to be a dead body is visible. It began airing Friday courtesy of the Republican Governors Association.

"Baltimore," a female narrator says, "Martin O'Malley's legacy of mismanagement. And now he wants a promotion so he can do for the entire state of Maryland what he did for Baltimore."

The spot was produced by Stevens, Reed, Curcio & Potholm, the Alexandria media consulting firm that created the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth spots during the 2004 presidential contest, in which Vietnam War veterans sought to discredit Democrat John F. Kerry's military service.

O'Malley said yesterday he considered the Swift Boat ads against Kerry to be "some of the most vicious, malicious and dishonest that we've ever seen in American politics," adding that he was not surprised that a group allied with Ehrlich would engage in "smear and false attacks" against him. "We're bracing for the worst in these last two weeks," O'Malley said.

Phil Musser, the RGA's executive director, said O'Malley was engaging in "a pretty lame bait and switch" by using the Swift Boat ads to "change the subject from his record by picking on who produces our television ads."

The national parties also have entered the U.S. Senate race in Maryland, with each candidate receiving more than $1 million in help from his party's senatorial committee. Republican Michael S. Steele also has benefited from a $72,000 expenditure by the National Right to Life political action committee, and the abortion rights group NARAL has signaled its intention to become active for Democrat Benjamin L. Cardin.

The Democratic Governors Association, the RGA's counterpart, has not contributed directly to the O'Malley campaign. But the group is among several backing the Maryland Fund, a so-called 527 group that has been running ads seeking to link Ehrlich with unpopular policies of President Bush.

A disclosure report made public last week showed the DGA contributing $290,000 to the Maryland Fund, which is headed by several longtime Democratic operatives, some with Maryland ties. The Maryland Trial Lawyers Association has contributed $160,000, and the Maryland State Teachers Association contributed $33,000.

The Maryland Fund drew protests last week from the state Republican Party, whose officials questioned the involvement of a political consultant who worked on O'Malley's 1999 mayoral campaign. Any coordination between the campaign and the fund is prohibited under federal law.

John Rouse, executive director of the fund, dismissed that notion as ridiculous.

The largest contributor to the fund -- putting in $600,000 -- was the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, one of several labor unions that have been active in the closing weeks of the Senate and governor's race.

Sue Esty, AFSCME's head of legislative relations, said the union will reach every one of its 30,000 Maryland members before Election Day, by phone and in visits to homes, urging them to back the two Democrats.

"We will make sure every member is spoken to in person," Esty said.

At the same time, the Maryland State and D.C. AFL-CIO has sent several mailers to independent voters, including one that features a photo of Ehrlich and Steele with President Bush.

O'Malley is also getting significant help from 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, a health-care workers union affiliated with the Service Employees International Union. The group has started airing television and radio ads in the D.C. and Baltimore markets as part of what it says is a $1 million independent expenditure effort for O'Malley.

Despite standing to benefit significantly from the independent expenditures, O'Malley said yesterday that he considers their growing influence in U.S. politics to be "an unhealthy development."

"I think the voters would rather see candidates taking responsibility for their message," O'Malley said.

Staff writer Eric Rich contributed to this report.