Charles Shiflett Column October 24, 2004

Truth In Advertising?

I have a confession to make. Before you Democrats get too much of a chuckle from this, please read
on. Odds are you'll be mad at me instead after finishing the column. So here goes… I voted in the
2004 Democrat presidential primary back in March.

I've never voted for a single Democrat in my entire life for any office, but President Bush was
unopposed and I thought it would be fun to pad Al Sharpton's Georgia vote total. However, fun was not
the primary motivation for what I did. By pulling a donkey ballot, I would be included in the voter
database used by Democrat candidates for their fall campaign mailers.

It's always a good idea to keep up with what the opposition is doing, and receiving all of these
propaganda pieces has been a real eye opener. I never realized before just how mean and disgusting
my GOP friends are according to the Democrat spin masters. Thankfully, most local voters aren't
buying what the Democrats are selling.

While federal and state agencies monitor and take action against businesses engaged in deceptive
advertising, you can say just about anything in a political ad and get away with it. Numerous public
interest groups over the years have tried to provide information exposing fraudulent campaign claims,
but the burden still falls upon voters to investigate and sift through charges that are made and it can be
difficult to uncover the truth.

One candidate squarely in the sights of Georgia Democrats is state senator Preston Smith. Now
finishing his first term, Smith is a rising star in state politics. He has already moved into a significant
leadership role as a floor leader for Governor Perdue, which puts him in position to get a lot done for
his district. A large portion of Bartow County is now represented by Smith.

According to a disgusting mail piece I just received from the Georgia Democrat Party, Preston Smith
hates children. The mailer shows a sad little girl sitting in a swing; her broken arm in a cast. It goes on
to tell me that Smith voted to leave 40,000 Georgia children without health insurance.

The mailer fails to explain that the federally funded PeachCare health plan for the poor in Georgia is
much more generous than plans in most states; too generous to be financially sustainable. This year
the legislature moved to tighten rules to prevent wealthier persons from exploiting the system. With the
state in a budget crisis, many incumbent Democrats also voted for the PeachCare changes, but of
course that isn't mentioned.

State Democrat operatives are also heavily involved in Bartow County's other state senate race
between Democrat Lester Tate and Republican state representative Bill Heath. Democrats are
accusing Heath of voting to outsource Georgia jobs. Once again, a closer examination shows Heath
did the right thing.

The bill preventing Georgia agencies from outsourcing jobs was poorly written. Heath was one of just a
handful of legislators who actually read the bill and discovered it would have prevented the state from
doing business with companies like Delta Airlines, which may have some operations overseas. By
voting against the bill, Heath actually saved jobs for Georgians. Of course, Democrats don't mention
that.

Finally incumbent Democrat legislators, who feel good about their reelection chances, usually don't
mention their opponents in their own advertising. No reason to give the challenger any name
recognition. However, newly drawn house maps place Floyd County Democrat Buddy Childers in a
district in which the majority of residents live in Bartow County. The demographics of the 15th district
are also predominantly Republican and this has Buddy worried.

Childers' childish new ads, which say “Win With Childers, Lose With Loudermilk”, are a sure sign of
Buddy's desperation. He goes on to claim Barry doesn't support public education. That's interesting
because Loudermilk's campaign manager and many members of his campaign team are teachers in
our local public schools. Barry himself previously taught at a community college.

Childers also claims he was a leader in getting funds for the new Adairsville High School. That's
probably news to Bartow taxpayers, who funded construction of AHS though the local one-cent
ELOST (Education Local Option Sales Tax) that we Bartow Countians passed and pay.

Even more repulsive are the ads where Childers is not confronting Loudermilk on the issues, but is
personally attacking his religious faith. Barry is a devout Christian and well respected by all who know
him. Buddy tries to insinuate that because Barry has not run ads mentioning his church affiliation he is
trying to hide something. This is smear politics of the lowest kind.

So as you sort through the bills and junk mail in your box for the next few days, just remember it's up
to you to investigate the truthfulness of claims made by Democrat operatives and their candidates.
They're hoping you don't.