Campaigns & Elections' Politics - February 2008 - (Page 33) News referred to me as “shadowy.” And referre ed in the pre-election issue of Time magapre-e election zine, Viveca Novak described my ad in a an article h headlined, “And Now for the Nasty Stuff.” f.” In 2000, Sharpton had yet to shed his rabble-rousin rabble-rousing image for the respectable iming age he projected during his 2004 presidential proje ected campaign, so Gore’s link to Sharpton was bad o for him pol politically, particularly among white litically, voters. You know how I knew the ad was workw ing? Everyone was attacking it, even some Everyo one on the Right. On “The O’Reilly Factor,” Ri Bill O’Reilly told me, “I don’t like your ad.” O’Reill ly The night before, the normally unflappable Left-wing Alan Colmes proclaimed the ad “shameful” Al lan on “Hannity and Colmes.” After the 2000 election, IE ads such as mine attack2 ing Gore were outlawed by the McCain-Feingold act. wer ere So-called 527 groups were created as a legal loophole. 27 The brainchild of George Soros and MoveOn.org, the brainchi ild 527s were designed to allow MoveOn.org to lower the de esigned boom on George Bush. Geo orge But in 2004, the mother of all negative 527 ads, in my 200 04, never-humble opinion, was created and aired by me. Having le researched John Kerry in 1996 for the National Republican Jo ohn Senatorial Committee, I had lots of dirt on the Massachusetts C senator that wasn’t yet known to the American public. tha at As a private attorney back in 1982, Kerry secured the early priv ivate parole of a career criminal, George Reissfelder of Boston, f who pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of a police ofplea eaded ficer in Florida. He had committed this crime after escaping a Massachusetts prison during a furlough, reminiscent of M Willie Horton. e Ker erry Kerry argued that Reissfelder had earlier been wrongly convi victed convicted of murder in Massachusetts and had unfairly served t jail time (which was true). Kerry convinced the parole board F in Florida that, given this past injustice, the board should ma ake make it up to Reissfelder by granting him early parole for hi is his attempted murder of the cop. The parole board agreed, se setting Reissfelder free after he’d served just five years of his 1 15-year sentence. Not long after his release, Reissfelder continued his criminal ways, involving himself with a mafia-controlled drug ring in Boston. He was wanted for questioning by the police regarding the still-unsolved Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist, the largest museum robbery in U.S. history. When law enforcement showed up at his residence, they found him dead—a suspected mob hit that was never confirmed. My 527 ad pointed out that, despite the fact that Reiss- felder did serve time he shouldn’t have, Kerry nonetheless secure secured early parole for a man who had pleaded guilty to trying to kill a Florida police officer. The ad also pointed out that Reissfelder went on to live a life of crime until th his death. The ad then showed a picture of Reissfelder de morp morphing into a picture of Willie Horton, the obvious messa message being that both men had committed heinous crime crimes while on furlough from a Massachusetts prison. The a ended with this voice-over: “John Kerry’s supad port o Michael Dukakis’ insane furlough program should of come as no surprise. After all, guess who was Michael Dukakis’ lieutenant governor? That’s right, John Kerry.” At that last moment in the ad, Kerry’s image morphed into l Duka Dukakis. Aft After the ad aired, I immediately received some not-verynice phone calls from Reissfelder’s surviving relatives. Afp ter berating me, they legitimately pointed out that the ad be opene opened old wounds for them since Reissfelder had died 22 years earlier. I honestly hadn’t stopped to consider such consequences. ho Unfortunately, good people are sometimes related to people Unfor who do bad things, and these good people can get hurt in d the process of disclosing the bad stuff. But does that mean pr in order to protect the good people, we should close our ord eyes to the bad people and their actions? More importantly, t does it mean it wasn’t a legitimate campaign issue regardi ing th wisdom of a man on the brink of being elected the president? presid O K, I know what you’re probably thinking. Is all this negative stuff I’ve done really good for America? Is it helpfu to know every personal and professional foible of evhelpful ery po politician? After all, if we’d known about the philandering of JFK during the 1960 election or of FDR during the 1928 election, neither man would have been president. Th Those are excellent questions. He Here’s my answer. Come to your own conclusion about the m merits of opposition research and negative campaigning. But al consider this: If it’s smart to look at the Carfax hisalso tory o a used car before buying it, why should anyone object of to disc discovering the history of politicians before electing them to ser you? serve Arm with all the facts, the public can generally sift Armed throu which ones are relevant and which are not. That through is how true democracy works. If it weren’t for oppo men like m it would be the American public who lived in the me, shado shadows. Stephe Stephen Marks is a Republican political consultant and the author of Confe Confessions of a Political Hitman. His book is reviewed in this issue on page 48. o February 2008 Politics 33 http://MoveOn.org
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