Tuesday, March 4, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
Sen. Harry Reid accused the Republican National Committee of "blatant misinformation" by running newspaper advertisements against him on the eve of a Senate showdown over a proposed balanced budget amendment.
The Senate is set to vote today to amend the Constitution, but as of Monday had only 66 votes -- one shy of the number required for passage. Supporters include all 55 Republicans and 11 Democrats, including Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev.
But Reid, a fellow Nevadan, is one of 34 Democrats opposed because the proposal includes the Social Security Trust Fund. Nevada's senior senator unsuccessfully has sponsored legislation that calls for a balanced budget amendment excluding Social Security.
Yet he and fellow Democratic Sens. Tim Johnson of South Dakota and Robert Torricelli of New Jersey were targeted by the RNC through full-page ads that implied they oppose the balanced budget amendment.
The ads, which ran Monday in the SUN and Las Vegas Review-Journal, implied that Reid has pledged his support of the balanced budget amendment but voted against it three times between 1994 and 1996.
"I offered my amendment every time," Reid said Monday. "Who is to say their balanced budget amendment is better than mine? Who said I didn't vote for a balanced budget amendment? I have. It's just that my amendment is the alternative to (House Speaker Newt) Gingrich's amendment, which includes Social Security."
RNC spokesman Scott Hogenson said Reid, Johnson and Torricelli were targeted because they had either previously voted for or campaigned in favor of a balanced budget amendment.
"The issue is as much about duplicity as position," Hogenson said. "We can disagree on issues. But Reid, Johnson and Torricelli told their constituents one thing and came to Washington and did another thing."
Reid, however, has said repeatedly that he favors a balanced budget amendment as long as Social Security is excluded. That's the rub between Reid and the RNC. The ads encourage readers to call Reid and tell him to vote for an amendment "with no gimmicks, changes or excuses."
But Reid said he has legitimate reasons for wanting to exclude Social Security. He said to do otherwise would be to balance the budget on the backs of retirees.
"This is a cheap way to balance the budget," he said of his opponents. "When I started this, I was a lone voice crying in the wilderness. But 75 percent of the American people support my position."
Reid added that numerous House Republicans support his position, including sophomores who once sided with Gingrich.
"Enough support me that they're not bringing that bill up over there," Reid said of the House.
Joining the RNC are several conservative organizations that have launched separate advertising attacks against Reid and other Democrats. Up until last week, one of those organizations was the National Taxpayers Union of Alexandria, Va., whose congressional report cards traditionally favor Republicans over Democrats.
Taxpayers Union spokesman Pete Sepp said Reid was one of seven Senate Democrats the group targeted through radio spots. The group opposes excluding Social Security, arguing that congressmen would expand the trust fund to include other programs for seniors that otherwise would be eliminated from the federal budget.
"Our view is that excluding Social Security from the amendment would not only lead to a worthless amendment but also endanger Social Security," Sepp said. "It would be used as a loophole to avoid balancing the budget. Rather than cut low-priority programs, they would resort to an accounting gimmick."
Sepp said Social Security would be threatened because its surplus would be spent on those other programs. But Reid said that argument was illogical because Social Security has had a fixed role since it was established in 1935.
"It's a very unique program," Reid said. "People say you can put anything into Social Security. Let's be serious about it. That's ridiculous."
The ads against Reid represent yet another example of outside organizations buying media spots in Nevada to attack the state's congressmen. Rep. John Ensign, R-Nev., railed against this practice last year when the AFL-CIO spent more than $1 million in negative advertising targeting him.
Hogenson said the RNC ads were different because they were paid for by supporters who favor its partisan causes. He said as many as 40 percent of the 13 million members of the labor organization are Republicans, yet had no say in the ad campaign against House Republicans last year.
Labor leaders have disputed that argument, however. And Reid, who faces re-election next year, also took issue with the RNC and other groups that have targeted him.
"This is another example of why we need campaign finance reform," he said. "It's a year and a half before the 1998 election, and they're already running ads against me."
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