Trucking Spent $200K on Nevada Senate Race

Trucking interests spent $200,000 on television commercials in the hotly contested Nevada U.S. Senate race, according to American Trucking Associations officials.

The money helped pay for a television advertising campaign educating Nevada residents about the voting record of Rep. John Ensign, a Republican lawmaker seeking to oust incumbent Democratic Sen. Harry Reid. Mr. Reid won re-election by a 401-vote margin in the tightest election campaign in the nation. Mr. Ensign has until Nov. 27 to decide whether to seek a recount of the race, which was not decided until nine days after the Nov. 3 election (TT, 11-16-98, p. 1).

The ads, which ran for three weeks on Nevada television stations, were part of a more than $300,000 campaign by the Foundation for Responsible Government to promote its fiscally conservative, socially moderate political agenda, said Foundation Executive Director Mark Miller. While the commercials did not specifically advocate Mr. Ensign’s election, they favorably discussed his position on health care and tax issues and urged viewers to call his campaign office.

The commercials took advantage of a loophole in federal law that allows corporations, trade groups and labor unions to spend an unlimited amount "educating" the public about a candidate’s position on issues as long as they don’t expressly advocate the candidate’s election or defeat. Issue ads have grown increasingly controversial since 1996, when the AFL-CIO spent $22 million on issue ads favoring Democrats.

Mr. Reid gained the ire of many trucking interests last year when he tried to ban triple-trailer trucks. His announcement at a Sept. 16, 1997, news conference organized by the Coalition Against Bigger Trucks came two months after ATA contributed $1,000 to his re-election campaign.

ATA and other trucking interests lobbied Mr. Reid aggressively, including organizing a letter-writing campaign to Nevada newspapers by shippers who benefit from triples. Mr. Reid scaled down his proposal to merely study the safety record of triples but announced March 4 that he did not have enough votes to prevail with that proposal either.

In August, CABT took out an ad in the Reno Gazette-Journal thanking Sen. Reid for his efforts. The ad inflamed ATA members tired of ongoing criticism by the group, which receives most of its funding from railroads and rail industry suppliers.

Other than giving $500 to Mr. Ensign’s Senate campaign, however, ATA did not get involved in the Nevada Senate race until the fall.

For the full story, see the Nov. 23 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.