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Politics

Ladies and gentlemen, act like it

By WILL VAN SANT
Published December 18, 2006

To combat the venom and distortion found in so many political contests, Pinellas County leaders want candidates to promise they'll be nice.

Under an ordinance being crafted, candidates would be asked to sign a pledge that requires they follow a Code of Ethical Campaign Practices.

Signing would be voluntary, and there would be no penalty for promising to obey the code and then regressing into standard campaign tackiness.

It's presumed that nonsigners and violators would be set upon by reporters and citizens groups, which would serve as a motivation for candidates to pledge and obey.

The effort is being led by County Commissioner Karen Seel, who said she was appalled by some of what she saw and heard during the November elections.

"I was astonished by the amount of money that was spent on negative campaigning and on the tone," Seel said. "It was way over the top."

Hyperbole, perversions of fact and sins of omission marked the Florida Senate race between Kim Berfield and Charlie Justice, for instance.

Both sides slung their share of mud, but few ads matched a TV spot that sought to tar Justice for voting against criminal background checks for school employees.

Justice had supported checks, but voted against them as part of a larger bill that he thought was flawed.

"Liberal extremist Charlie Justice voted to put the rights of pedophiles and sexual predators ahead of protecting our kids," the spot proclaimed.

As now written, Seel's ordinances requires that the pledge be presented to any candidate whose district, whether in whole or in part, touches Pinellas.

The mechanics of getting the pledge to contenders for municipal and county offices are simple. Just how, or whether, the pledge would be relayed to candidates for state and federal office has not been decided.

The new law would resurrect some functions of Citizens for Fair Campaign Practices, a local group formed in the early 1990s.

The group asked candidates to pledge they'd run clean campaigns. In a given cycle, usually about 85 percent took the pledge. The group had a review board, which would rule when a complaint was brought against a participating candidate.

Seel's ordinance creates no such board.

The group disbanded in October, after having lost membership and traction for several years.

Darryl Paulson, a professor of government at the University of South Florida who chaired the group for a time, said it had a deterrent effect.

"It played, I think, a fairly important role in Pinellas politics for about 10 years," Paulson said. "There were substantial news stories about these activities and whether the code of conduct had been violated."

The new ordinance troubles Paulson despite compliance being voluntary, a provision that avoids thorny issues involving candidates' free speech rights.

The professor doesn't think politicians in office should be setting standards for those who want to win office.

"I would just be very leery of any attempt by government, no matter how noble and just, to dictate the terms and conditions under which a candidate can run," Paulson said.

Under the ordinance's proposed oath, candidates in Pinellas would, among other things, promise to:

- Reject campaign material that distorts or misrepresents facts.

- Avoid unfounded accusations and innuendo about an opponent's personal life.

- Not make an opponent's race, gender, religion, disability or sexual orientation a campaign issue.

- Publicly repudiate the support of any group or individual who resorts to such tactics.

The ordinance is modeled on one adopted in Broward County in 2000. Lori Parrish, then a county commissioner, sponsored the ordinance. She's now the county property appraiser.

The law has proved a dud in Broward, she said.

"To be honest with you, it's a toothless tiger," Parrish said. "I don't think it accomplishes a whole lot."

A chief reason it's difficult to curb negative campaigning is that the tactic works, and has for some time.

Among the barbs John Adams tossed at Thomas Jefferson in his 1796 presidential victory were charges of drunkenness, gambling, impotence and adultery.

Some research shows that negative political ads are particularly effective at suppressing voter turnout, which can favor one candidate over another.

So that revulsion you feel at a particularly obnoxious ad?

"That's precisely the point," said Shanto Iyengar, a professor of political science and communication at Stanford University. "You want to make people disgusted. Because if you are disgusted, you are less likely to vote."

Seel readily grants that the ordinance won't eradicate unsavory campaigning, and she agrees with Paulson that it would be better for a group of citizens and not the government to intervene on behalf of clean elections.

But in the absence of such a group, she feels moved to act.

"I don't have unrealistic expectations," Seel said. "I just hope that this will raise the bar and make people think about the kinds of campaigns they are running."

The County Commission is expected to hold a public hearing on the ordinance in January.

Will Van Sant can be reached at 727 445-4166 or vansant@sptimes.com.

[Last modified December 18, 2006, 06:21:32]