Specter calls for end to 'swift' attack ads

by MICHAEL J. MISHAK

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) told the small crowd at his Plymouth Whitemarsh town meeting last week that he thought all politicians should "disown all 527s," the name for tax-exempt organizations like Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which has been airing ads that allege Sen. John Kerry lied to win valor medals in Vietnam.

The statement was a response to an audience member's question about Kerry's "flip-flopping" on his Vietnam medals and the Democratic presidential candidate's character.

"I don't think it's worth a federal investigation," Specter said of Kerry's war record. "I would like to see all these 527s out. Let us candidates run our own campaigns."

Specter's statement was one of many heard from Republican leaders denouncing the independent groups just days before their party's national convention began in New York City this week.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) led the call last week to regulate the independent groups, which can raise and spend money in unlimited amounts. President Bush said late last week that his campaign would go to federal court to force the Federal Election Commission to curtail the groups. Bush also said he would support McCain's legislative efforts to regulate 527s.

Having survived one of the toughest primary battles of his career last May, Specter spoke from experience. The four-term senior senator found himself the target of the Club for Growth, a conservative political action committee, who supported his primary opponent, Rep. Pat Toomey. The group's negative ads were partially responsible for slimming Specter's win margin to about two percentage points.

Though Specter is on the November ballot, he stuck to the issues raised by a dozen attendees during the hour-long town meeting last Thursday morning, keeping campaigning to a minimum.
Still, he emphasized his position as a high-ranking member of both the Senate Appropriations and Judiciary committees. "That seniority mounts up," Specter said of his 24-year legislative career.
In a brief report, Specter said terrorism was the "biggest problem facing the United States today." While hailing the 9/11 commission's recommendation to appoint a national intelligence director, he rebuked the lateness of its acceptance. "It should have been done a long time ago," Specter said. "Had it been done we could have avoided 9/11."

Specter said partisan "turf battles" had prevented the creation of such a position, which would give broad powers to shape budgets and make personnel decisions across government agencies, at first in the mid-1990s when he advocated for it and later in the months after 9/11 when he joined Sen. Joseph Lieberman in introducing Homeland Security legislation.

While lamenting the "very painful" casualties and fatalities of the Iraq war, Specter made the case for its importance. "If we can establish a democracy, it will put pressure on the surrounding countries," he said. "The president was correct in going to war, but it would have been wise to have worked a little harder at attracting more support from other nations."

Specter received criticism for his support of the war from some in the crowd.
"It's caused a lot of deaths. It's gotten us off the track of bin Laden and terrorism," said one audience member. "We've spent $200 billion on this war. It makes me sick. It should have been spent on the economy."
"We have not eased up on Al-Qaeda because of Iraq," Specter countered. "We now know that Al-Qaeda and Iraq were not connected, but we've put that aside."

Specter said he had voted for Iraqi oil and loans to finance the war but lost.
He restated the belief that an Iraqi democracy would stand as an example to the rest of the Middle East, and offered mild criticism of Sen. John Kerry. "He voted for the war, but against funding," Specter said. "You can't do that."

On fiscal health, Specter said the U.S. economy "appears to be improving," but that the nation is being "victimized by foreign imports."

In answering questions about healthcare, Specter said he favored caps on medical malpractice awards except for instances of death, disfigurement and disability. Specter also said he supports the "re-importation" of prescription drugs. As for the stabilization of the Social Security system, Specter said, "I don't think it's going to be done." He said Congress would have to pass a constitutional amendment for a balanced budget, a measure that failed in 1996.

When faced with an audience member's harsh criticism of his voting record, Specter fired back on issues of environmental protection, gun violence and global security. "I'm not saying you can't find votes you don't agree with — I don't like some of them either," Specter said. "But there is no way anyone can question my integrity, my work ethic or my dedication to Pennsylvania."

His critic, Specter said, had his facts wrong. Specter said he was "an architect of the 1990 clean air act," had a "balanced" record on gun issues and had voted for nuclear weapon research, not manufacturing.

Often criticized by conservatives for his moderate positions, Specter insisted several times that legislative success comes from bi-partisan cooperation. "You have to be willing to cross party lines," Specter said.