Our Twitter-pal Scott Conway, lately of the Richard Tisei campaign and now of unknown (to me) employment, questions whether the League of Women Voters’ now very-famous Scott Brown TV ad, and, presumably, its follow-up radio ad as well, are consistent with their by-laws. So I took a look. Here are some relevant excerpts.
Sec. 1. Purposes. The purposes of the LWVUS are to promote political responsibility through informed and active participation in government and to act on selected governmental issues.
No problem there. The ad is clearly “acting” on a governmental issue, namely, the vote Senator Brown cast to remove EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gases.
Sec. 2. Political Policy. The League shall not support or oppose any political party or any candidate.
No problem there either, though I suspect this is what Conway thinks the League did wrong. But this is the line that interest groups have been skirting for years. The ad obviously does not say “don’t vote for Scott Brown,” or “vote for Scott Brown’s opponent.” It says, rather, that you should call Scott Brown and tell him what you think. That’s not supporting or opposing a candidate. You can read about a case in which the Sierra Club got overly cute with skirting the line, and got fined, at this link – but clearly, the League’s ad is not close to what the Sierra Club did there in terms of “supporting” or “opposing” a candidate.
I didn’t see anything relevant in the rest of the by-laws, so it’s a pretty easy conclusion: the ads are well within the League’s by-laws. I’m still not a big fan of the TV ad (never have been, as my past comments make clear), but the League is well within its own rules in running it. Plus, as things have transpired, the League has certainly succeeded in calling far more attention to Brown’s lousy vote than it would otherwise have received.
Also, if you’re worried about the League’s mission statement, don’t be.
The League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan political organization, encourages informed and active participation in government, works to increase understanding of major public policy issues, and influences public policy through education and advocacy.
“Influences public policy through … advocacy.” Well, there ya go.
Sorry Scott. But thanks for playing! 😀
Since the Great Scott can’t come clean and even tell constituents whether he believes that global warming is taking place could Blue Mass Group sponsor an award for the first constituent who can get the People’s Senator to answer the following two questions:
(1) Is global warming taking place?
(2)Is human action causing global warming?
Is there a league of women voters follow-up radio ad, or are you referring to the Mass League of Environmental Voters and Environment Massachusetts’ radio ad on the same subject? This was a mistake made by State House News as well, but it is important to clarify that these were separate groups running these ads.
Ben
I’m really aging myself here, but I recall that in the mid-1970s the League had a major drive to abolish the Governor’s Council (sound familiar?). They put a question on at least one statewide ballot to that effect. It didn’t pass because the state’s political establishment stood in lock-step against it. It shook things up, however, and the League got mostly positive press for its efforts.
Is the LWV ad on YouTube or elsewhere? I’ve not seen it; it would be helpful to link to it.
Oh, wait, I see… links to earlier BMG stories (which I guess I missed – I don’t read absolutely everything on here, just most things), which do have the ad.
Nevertheless, I still think it would be useful to at least link to the ad – you don’t have to embed it every time like the earlier stories do, but a link would be, well, nice.
Nope. Opinions are expressed forcefully and the majority of the members of the League actually:
1. Know what government IS.
2. Learned or where taught how government works.
3. Believe government, good, clean effective government, is important and worth fighting for.
Did you know Massachusetts is one of only NINE – yes 9 – states that does NOT teach civics in our schools? Our kids can graduate not knowing what a legislature does, not knowing what separation of powers is, not knowing how legislation is created – having not a clue about why they should vote.
That is not just sad – it is wrong. Civics was dropped from the core curriculum in this state 20 years ago.
HINT – I went to school in another state where Civics was in the curriculum EVERY year and we had model governments and debates as part of school. I was shocked when I move to this state and found total silence as to teaching what government is and how it works…outside of the occasional elective.
I wonder – did Scott Brown ever study civics?