Chamber of Commerce Alters Medicare Ads

08/01/2006

WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S. Chamber of Commerce slightly altered ads praising lawmakers for backing the Medicare prescription drug program as Democrats complained that two Republicans weren’t in office when Congress approved the plan.

The Chamber also pulled a spot focused on an incumbent who voted against the program.

The original spots praised the three GOP incumbents for having “supported the Medicare Part D law giving seniors a quality drug plan,” part of the Chamber’s $10 million advertising and get-out-the-vote effort for the midterm elections.

On Tuesday, the national business federation acknowledged that versions of the ads now say freshmen GOP Reps. Mike Sodrel of Indiana and Michael Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania “support” the program. Congress acted on the plan in late 2003; Sodrel and Fitzpatrick were elected to the House in 2004.

The Chamber also confirmed that it has stopped running an ad praising Rep. Steve Chabot in Ohio, who voted against the prescription drug plan.

Bill Miller, the federation’s political director, denied that the group made the changes because of criticism from the House Democrats’ campaign committee, which sent letters to television stations challenging the accuracy of the ads.

“I haven’t even seen the letters,” Miller said. He dismissed the criticism as “much ado about nothing.”

Miller said the group had the word “supported” in the initial ads for Sodrel and Fitzpatrick - the same language used in other commercials praising incumbent members of Congress. However, Miller said he changed the word to “support” in other versions to avoid any problems.

Still, he said he stands by the use of either word because the candidates backed the program on the campaign trail and during their first years in Congress.

The Indianapolis Star reported in October 2004 that Sodrel said during the campaign that he would have voted against the program.

As for Chabot, Miller said the group decided to use the airtime it bought in Cincinnati to run ads backing Rep. Geoff Davis in Kentucky because his re-election race is the more competitive of the two. Cincinnati’s media market reaches viewers in northern Kentucky.

Bill Burton, a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesman, dismissed the group’s explanations. “By getting the central fact of so many ads wrong the Chamber has shown itself to be crooked with the facts and incompetent with their millions,” he said.