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ADS ACCENTUATE THE NEGATIVE

If George Ryan is opposed to mudslinging, he has a strange way of showing it.

The latest television ad from the Republican candidate for governor chastises Democratic nominee Glenn Poshard for launching “the negative campaigning we all despise, attacking George Ryan’s personal integrity.”

The same Ryan ad–complete with a Poshard photo that turns from color to a photographic negative–proceeds to attack Poshard instead of using the time to lay out what Ryan would do as governor.

Ryan even misleadingly uses a newspaper headline to make his point that Poshard has attacked his “personal integrity.” The headline flashed in the ad accompanied a story that described Ryan attacking Poshard strategist Joe Novak as “one of the dirtiest campaign managers in the business.”

“It is ridiculous for a man who has spent (advertising money) almost exclusively on negative advertising in this campaign . . . to complain about negative advertising,” said Poshard’s campaign manager, Josh Silverman.

Poshard’s latest 30-second spot, by comparison, is an attack ad but a relative model of forthrightness. It criticizes Ryan for helping to pass legislation earlier this year “that gives back hundreds of millions of our tax dollars to just six corporations whose profits are soaring while they’re laying off workers.”

That charge is pretty much on target: Gov. Jim Edgar’s own Department of Revenue contended that a handful of corporations would get the bulk of the benefits from the change in tax law.

The ad, however, accentuates the negative. The state estimates those corporations will save about $60 million a year, not hundreds of millions as suggested by the ad.

The spot, which ran in the Chicago market at a cost of about $170,000, features Poshard standing on a sidewalk in what appears to be a classic Chicago Bungalow Belt neighborhood. That is a not-so-subtle reminder of the working-man image Poshard cultivates.

Poshard started another ad over the weekend that features Mayor Richard Daley. It touts the congressman’s background as a teacher and has Daley talking about how Poshard “will understand that education is the key to changing a kid’s life around.”

In Ryan’s latest ad, he spends much of the time defending himself against an Illinois Democratic Party ad that ripped him for the alleged sale of commercial driver’s licenses by workers in his office.

“Ryan has aggressively investigated any driver’s license fraud,” his ad contends. “He has fired and prosecuted dishonest employees and ordered 3,000 truck drivers to be retested. George Ryan doesn’t tolerate corruption.”

The Poshard campaign has contended that Ryan’s actions are belated. “Only now is he pretending to do something about it, because he is trying to delay till after the election having the voters figure out what’s been going on in his office,” Silverman said.

Ryan’s ad insists that Poshard is mentioning the allegations because “he wants you to forget he’s voted to put assault weapons back on the street and sponsored the bill to eliminate criminal background checks for buying a gun.”

Poshard spokespersons say the ballots he previously cast against gun control were “old” votes.

Poshard voted just two years ago to repeal the assault weapons ban. His conversion to gun control came once he started campaigning for statewide office about 1 1/2 years ago. The Downstate congressman has said that tours of Chicago and other urban areas have convinced him that gun control is needed.

Ryan has a more consistent history in favor of gun control, although he has previously sought to court opponents of gun control.