Ethics bill would end ad watch

Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas, says the law giving the Ethics Commission power to fine candidates as much as $30,000 for untruthful campaign advertising violates free speech rights.

"I don't like negative campaigning, but we as legislators cannot mandate that it ends," the chairwoman of the Assembly Elections, Procedures and Ethics Committee said Thursday. "So much in political campaigning is rather murky."

The provision giving the Ethics Commission the authority to oversee the truthfulness of campaign advertising was tacked onto a major campaign reform bill by Republicans in 1997.

Senate Government Affairs Chairwoman Ann O'Connell, R-Las Vegas, said Giunchigliani's AB130 would have a hard time passing in her house. She said she liked the provision that allowed the commission to review campaign advertising complaints.

Last summer, the commission levied a $5,000 fine against now Assemblyman Bob Beers, R-Las Vegas, for statements he made in campaign advertising against a primary opponent.

"I hate negative campaigning," O'Connell said. "People do not discuss the issues because campaigns become mired in garbage."

But Giunchigliani said the law may have increased negative campaigning because some candidates filed complaints against opponents and then publicized that their opponents were in hot water with the Ethics Commission. She said the commission heard 17 cases dealing with negative advertisements.

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