Just who does approve of this advertisement, anyway?

Frontiersman editorial board

What can we believe when it comes to campaign advertising anymore? Politicians have taken to endorsing their own endorsements with the little disclaimer at the end, "Hi, I'm Candidate Smith, and I approve this message," or something to that effect.

Does that mean they don't approve any of the ads paid for by Outside interests? Who does approve those ads? Is this just a way to run negative campaigns without getting your hands dirty? If the candidate doesn't approve the message, is the message still valid? It's getting more confusing for voters with each new election cycle.

An article in Friday's Ketchikan Daily News claimed that Ketchikan Gateway Borough Manager Roy Eckert didn't know he was being interviewed for an anti-Tony Knowles commercial by a film crew from Americans for Job Security. Eckert said he thought the group was filming a documentary about job loss in Alaska. Borough Mayor Mike Salazar, who was interviewed but didn't appear in the commercial, also did not realize a campaign ad was being filmed.

Of course, Paul Axelson, a Lisa Murkowski campaign coordinator, did appear in the commercial, and apparently did realize what he was doing. The Murkowski campaign insists it had no part in the advertisement, however, and has said Axelson acted on his own, as an independent citizen. Still, if Murkowski doesn't approve of the message, shouldn't Axelson be released from the campaign to further explore his independent citizen activism?

This commercial is just one example of a brand of campaigning that is tainting races all around the country. Small groups with narrowly-focused interests and deep pockets are allowed to air all manner of loosely-interpreted statistics and out-of-context facts to paint a picture that appeals to uninformed voters. Knowles is the most recent victim of this tactic, but he's not the most victimized candidate to date, nor will he be the last to suffer an oblique attack.

The best a voter can do is attend functions where they can meet candidates face to face and ask questions. Study each candidate's voting record, and read previous opinions written by each candidate. If a group with a very specific name pays for an advertisement, you can assume the message has a narrow scope, and that there's an agenda at work that may lie somewhere out of your view.

If the money comes from Outside, we'd do better to let the opinion remain theirs, too.