Analysis of political ad run for Aaron Russo

Details of a new political advertisement by Republican candidate for governor Aaron Russo:

Title: "Success."

Length: 30 seconds.

Created by: Aaron Russo.

Airing: Statewide.

Narrator:

"Kenny Guinn is consistent. Consistently failing.

"During his term as boss of Southwest Gas, dividends fell in half.

"To pay for his failure, he raised your gas rates 20 percent.

"The request for rate increases included the purchase of two corporate jets and a Jaguar.

"Pri-Merit Bank assets shrank $700 million in two years under his leadership.

"As superintendent of schools, he denied teachers maternity leave, as the school ranking plunged.

"Kenny, please tell us when you've been successful...Russo for governor - proven business leadership."

Dominant Images: As narrator talks about Southwest dividends falling, a man in a business suit points down. The hand points up when narrator talks about utility rate hike. Shifting to utility purchases, there are background images of a jet and a Jaguar. When talking about the maternity leave issue for teachers, there's a photo of a baby overlain by an arrow pointing down. At the end, a business graph shows a downhill slide.

Analysis: Russo, a film producer, created the ad aimed at depicting Guinn as a failure in education and in business, in contrast to the effort by the Guinn camp to show their candidate as a big success in those areas. Russo has been threatened with a complaint to the Nevada Ethics Commission because of the ad, but says he won't pull it because the statements made in the ad are fully documented.

archive