TIPA - Truth In Political Advertising

Ad #2: Summitville
by Americans for Job Security (A Virginia-based 527 Organization)

Rocky Mountain News
Speakout: Anti-Salazar ad besmirches more than just a candidate
By Stuart A. Sanderson
August 28, 2004

If you've seen a sleazy TV ad attacking Ken Salazar for his alleged role in the debacle at the Summitville gold mine near Wolf Creek Pass, you've been lied to. You've been lied to about what happened at Summitville, and you've been lied to about who was responsible. And, just as offensive to the 5,500 miners who work today in Colorado's mining industry, you've been lied to about their commitment to safe operations.

What makes it worse is that no one - other than the Salazar campaign - wants to take responsibility for setting the record straight. Not the shadowy Virginia-based group responsible for the ad, Americans for Job Security, and not the Colorado TV stations that stand to reap nearly $700,000 from this tawdry campaign - all of whom refuse to take it off the air. (And none of whom bothered to verify with any industry source, to my knowledge, the allegations contained therein).

So here's some straight talk about Summitville.

Galactic Resources Ltd. began mining there in the mid-1980s and continued into late 1992 when the company abandoned the site. Problems began at Summitville almost as soon as the mine opened when a safety liner at the leach pad cracked during construction.

Other problems arose and things went downhill from there. The Environmental Protection Agency arrived on the scene soon after abandonment. At the time, the Colorado Department of Natural Resources did not possess sufficient staff - due to reductions by the state legislature - or authority to address the particular problems at the Summitville mine site. Ken Salazar took over the DNR in 1990, six years after the mine received a permit and long after it commenced operations.

As bad as Summitville was, cyanide discharge from the mine did not result in "17 miles of dead river," as claimed by the ad that's now airing on Colorado TV. Studies by both the U.S. and Colorado Geological Survey and other agencies have consistently found otherwise. More important, there has never been any impact on public health or safety linked to Summitville.

The mining industry, for its part, studied the circumstances and events that led to Summitville and worked with representatives of the state - including Salazar - the Colorado legislature, the environmental community and others to develop a comprehensive law to prevent such future incidents. The Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Act now contains adequate legal authority for mining regulators to ensure mining operations will be designed, constructed and operated in accordance with sound environmental standards. Adequate enforcement mechanisms are also in place to ensure mining operations meet those standards.

All current Colorado gold mining operations operate under these very strict standards as will all future operations.

Some will say outrageous allegations are simply part of the rough-and-tumble Colorado political process - something to be expected. If that's the case, then we've lost something precious here. Our ability to make informed decisions about our elected leaders, our respect for the truth and our admiration for hard-working men and women in government and industry who, in this case, have labored to make a bright and safe future for Colorado's mining industry.

No one person and no industry deserve to be defamed in this way. If Americans for Job Security and Colorado TV stations won't stand up for the truth by removing these ads, then Coloradans need to take action. Turn off the ad and reject the assault on our democratic values.

Stuart A. Sanderson is the president of the Colorado Mining Association.

Denver Post
Soft-cash Ad Targets Democrat Salazar
By Karen E. Crummy
Denver Post Staff Writer

U.S. Senate candidate Ken Salazar challenged his opponent, Pete Coors, to have the "guts" to stand up to a secretly funded political group that launched a television attack ad targeting the state attorney general Tuesday.

Coors publicly denounced the ad, which criticizes the way Salazar, then head of the state's natural resources department, handled the cleanup of the cyanide-ridden Summitville mine more than a decade ago.

But Coors said he would not call the independent group and ask it to refrain from running ads, as requested by Salazar.

"We can't call every group that decides to run an ad against (Salazar)," said Coors spokeswoman Cinamon Watson.

The Virginia-based Americans for Job Security, led by David Carney, a former Bush political adviser, bought an estimated $500,000 in airtime for ads running in Colorado over the next two weeks.

The ad criticizes Salazar on environmental issues, a critical part of his campaign platform.

The first major infusion of outside ad money into the Senate general election reflects the high stakes of the race: The Senate seat, once considered safely in Republican hands, now is up for grabs. The outcome could determine which party controls the U.S. Senate.

The new ad also launches what is expected to be a barrage of ads from independent, national groups on behalf of both candidates.

"I would expect to see a lot of money coming into Colorado from outside organizations through the election," said Steve Weiss, spokesman for the Center for Responsive Politics in Washington, D.C.

The skirmish in Colorado mirrors what is happening in the presidential campaign.

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry has spent weeks defending himself from attacks levied by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a group spending $1.1 million on ads questioning Kerry's military service. President Bush also has been hit by ads from Democratic advocacy groups such as Moveon.org

A loophole in campaign-finance laws has spawned so- called 527 groups - named after the applicable section of the tax code - such as the Swift Boat Veterans and Moveon.org, which can raise and spend soft money.

From January 2003 through last June, 527 groups spent $291 million, according to Political Money Line.

Those organizations, often referred to as "shadow parties," must disclose their donors.

Groups like Americans for Job Security, however, are harder to track. Set up under Section 501(c) of the tax code, the organizations can raise and spend money for political purposes but don't have to disclose their donors. The groups also don't have to reveal how much money they spend until after Election Day.

"This lack of disclosure hurts the public," Weiss said. "Deep- pocketed interests can come in and try and win elections, and the public doesn't even know who they are."

Americans for Job Security is organized as a 501(c)(6) - a nonprofit trade organization. It claims 500 members, but its membership is secret.

It is pro-Republican, pro-business and heavily backed by the American Insurance Association and the American Forest and Paper Association, and is also linked with the health-care industry, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics. This year, it has run ads against Democratic Senate and congressional candidates in North and South Carolina.

Environment a hot topic of ugly Senate race
Summitville mine ad denouncing Salazar set tone
By Judith Kohler, Associated Press
September 9, 2004

DENVER — The campaign for Colorado's open Senate seat has quickly turned ugly since last month's primary, with TV attack ads focusing on an unusual issue for both Republican Peter Coors and Democrat Ken Salazar: the environment. A Virginia pro-business group fired one of the first shots in the tight race that will help decide control of the Senate. Its ad said Salazar, the state's former natural resources chief and current attorney general, settled for too little — less than $30 million — from the owner of a mine that unleashed one of Colorado's worst environmental disasters. Salazar denounced the claims as "straight-out lies," Colorado newspapers editorialized against it and the League of Conservation Voters aired its own spot defending him. Americans for Job Security President Mike Dubke said his group's ad was meant to show that Salazar "fleeced the taxpayers." "A lot of folks thought it was an environmental ad. From my point of view, it's all about taxes," Dubke said. "It's a litmus test for what people project onto it."

Coors, on leave as chief executive of the Coors Brewing Co. his family founded, has no connection to the ad. He and Salazar have both criticized outside groups' involvement in the race to succeed retiring GOP Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell. Floyd Ciruli, an independent political consultant in Denver, said he expects more campaigning from outside interests because of the race's national importance. Republicans currently hold a 51-48 margin in the Senate, with one Democrat-leaning independent. While the war in Iraq, health care and experience emerged as issues even before the Aug. 10 primaries, the ads have given Colorado's environment an unusually prominent role in the campaign. Coors could face questions about the brewery's environmental record, Ciruli said. "Companies have pollution issues," he said. Indeed, the League of Conservation Voters will spend the fall discussing Coors Brewing's environmental issues, said Andy Schultheiss, the group's regional director and a Boulder city councilman. "It will be mostly door to door, but you may see some TV ads later," Schultheiss said Wednesday. The Golden-based brewer agreed in 2001 to build a wetland to settle a lawsuit by the state Division of Wildlife for an accidental discharge of beer that killed more than 50,000 fish in a creek. It also paid a $117,280 fine. A similar accident killed about 13,000 fish a decade earlier.

Coors campaign spokeswoman Cinamon Watson said Coors, a past national president of Ducks Unlimited, has an excellent record on conservation and is looking forward to discussing it.