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  • From: "Common Sense Foundation" <david@common-sense.org>
  • To: <common-sense@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Consider This: A Public Service Announcement
  • Date: Thu, 15 Apr 2004 10:27:54 -0400

Consider This...

A PUBLIC-SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

Maybe you saw the public-service ads in 2003 reminding North Carolinians
of the millions of dollars in unclaimed property they are owed or
informing them of the state's no-call list for telemarketers or warning
of identity theft. Each of those ads prominently featured state leaders,
identified by name and face, who were instrumental in producing them.

Apparently you won't be seeing those ads in 2004. That's because State
law prohibits the use of State funds for ads featuring the likeness of
declared candidates for public office.

It's not that informing the public of state services is prohibited; it's
that doing it for political gain is.

So Attorney General Roy Cooper (no-call list and identity theft) and
State Treasurer Richard Moore (unclaimed property) cannot legally run
public-service ads for their respective programs in an election year in
which they are candidates.

Will we see new public-service ads featuring the information on these
programs without the likeness of Cooper or Moore? There is precedent
for this type of ad. Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue's likeness won't be found
in her office's ads regarding teen smoking.

In the event we don't see these ads, we must ask ourselves: What is
their real purpose? Educating North Carolinians or promoting the
personal agendas, and careers, of politicians?

Surely Cooper and Moore wouldn't argue that their ad campaigns informing
citizens of the no-call list and unclaimed property fund, respectively,
were so successful that they no longer need to educate the public about
these programs.

Ideally the ads are designed with the sole purpose of educating
citizens. If some political gain accrues to the Attorney General or
State Treasurer, so be it. But when the ads must be shelved for an
entire year due to the prominent position played by the officeholder,
North Carolinians lose. We deserve better than that.

Further, ads confined to information about the program could be used for
years to come, regardless of the current officeholder.

Elected state government officials with important information to share
with constituents should confine their public service ads to the facts,
saving taxpayers money by creating ads that are informative, don't have
to be shelved in election years, and have a lifespan greater than a
political minute.

----------

'CONSIDER THIS' TAKES A HOLIDAY

"Consider This" will not be published the week of April 19-23, 2004. It
will return the week of April 26th.

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Consider This is brought to you three days a week by the Common Sense
Foundation.

All editions of Consider This are available from a link on the first
page of our website, www.common-sense.org .

To register for a free subscription to Consider This, or to unsubscribe,
please visit our website.




  • Consider This: A Public Service Announcement, Common Sense Foundation, 04/15/2004

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