THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, March 25, 1995 TAG: 9503250362
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LYNCHBURG LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines
A nonprofit religious organization violated election laws with ads attacking Bill Clinton during the presidential campaign, a Federal Election Commission attorney argued Friday.
But Christian Action Network's attorney said the advertisements dealt strictly with an issue - Clinton's views on homosexual rights - and did not expressly advocate his defeat in the race against President Bush.
``This case is about the FEC attempting to expand its jurisdiction to regulate ideological speech,'' said David Carroll, an attorney representing the Lynchburg organization founded by a former Moral Majority employee.
FEC attorney Robert Bonham said it's strictly a tax issue: federal election laws prohibit groups that receive tax-exempt status as nonprofit organizations from advocating the defeat of a political candidate.
Christian Action Network asked U.S. District Judge James Turk to dismiss the lawsuit before it comes to trial. Turk said he would rule on the motion later.
The commercial lasted just three days on a Houston television station before public pressure got it pulled. No network or national cable station would use it. But CAN found small independent stations around the country willing to run it in the fall of 1992.
The commercial showed scenes of homosexual men walking in a parade. One shows a man in a leather vest with his arm around the shirtless torso of a smiling friend. He is holding the end of a leash that's wrapped around his friend's neck. Another shows a man with a black T-shirt with ``Gay Fathers'' inscribed in white.
The text of the advertisement said, ``Bill Clinton's vision for a better America includes: Allowing homosexuals in the military. Supporting special civil rights for homosexuals. Supporting job quotas for homosexuals. . . ''
An announcer asks viewers if they share that purported vision and asks them to contact the Christian Action Network if they want more information.
Christian Action Network raised $1.6 million last year, has a full-time Capitol Hill lobbyist and concentrates on supporting ``traditional family values.''
Carroll said the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that to violate federal law, organizations such as CAN must use words to expressly advocate the election or defeat of a candidate.
``There was no call for voter action,'' Carroll said.
Bonham said the advertisement ``expressly advocated the defeat of Bill Clinton when taken as a whole. . . Images and symbols can communicate messages just as clearly, just as expressly, as written words.''
Carroll countered that `` `taken as a whole' is so vague and amorphous that no one can be sure if it violates the act.''
Turk asked Bonham why the First Amendment didn't protect the group's right to free speech.
If Christian Action Network wanted to make a partisan position, Bonham said, it should have formed a political action committee. by CNB