Unions Among Financial Backers of TV Ads Trashing Dean

A secretive political group financed in part by labor unions has raised $500,000 to air anti-Howard Dean ads in three early primary states, angering the Dean campaign and drawing sharp criticism from campaign finance reform advocates.

Two of the unions renounced the effort Tuesday, saying the ads -- including one featuring an image of Osama bin Laden -- are not what they thought they were paying for.

The group, called Americans for Jobs, Health Care & Progressive Values, was formed a month ago by veteran Democratic campaign staffers who refuse to identify their financial backers until Jan. 31. That’s the deadline for the group to file federal tax forms. The group’s treasurer is a longtime fundraiser for Rep. Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri, one of Dean’s rivals in the Democratic presidential race, and its spokesman recently quit as press secretary for Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kerry’s presidential campaign. Both Gephardt and Kerry have denied any involvement with the group.

Gephardt on Tuesday urged the group -- and any similar organizations -- to “reveal their donors on a timely basis.”

“I have no knowledge of who is doing this or why they’re doing it,” he said. “I’m sorry they’re doing this. There’s nothing I can do about it.”

That the group is apparently operating within legal guidelines has done little to dampen critics’ outrage. The latest anti-Dean ad began airing last week. The 30-second spot begins with an image of Osama bin Laden on the cover of Time magazine as a narrator questions Dean’s foreign policy and military experience.

“I tell you, these ads are despicable,” said Rick Sloan, communications director for the International Assn. of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, which donated $50,000 to the effort. “If I have my way, we’ll ask for a refund.”

Americans for Jobs, Health Care & Progressive Values ran its first attack ads about two weeks ago, linking Dean with the National Rifle Assn.

Robert Gleason, treasurer for the International Longshoremen’s Assn., said his union also donated about $50,000 for what it thought would be general issue ads on jobs and health care, as in the group’s name. When the first anti-Dean ads were aired, the union decided not to send more money.

“Our members are more interested in job security and health care,” Gleason said.

Dean and his campaign manager, Joe Trippi, urged their Democratic rivals Tuesday to disavow the effort.

“I’m writing to call on each one of you to condemn this despicable ad and demand it be pulled from the airwaves,” Trippi said in a letter Tuesday to Democratic campaign managers.

David Jones, executive director and treasurer for the group, defended the ads as a legitimate means of raising issues key to Democrats.

“This is totally about the issues,” said Jones. “Gov. Dean has no foreign policy or military experience. He was endorsed eight times by the NRA, he supported Republican Medicare cuts in the ‘90s, and lastly he supported the NAFTA free trade agreement, which cost Iowa thousands of jobs. Those are the issues we’re focusing on.”

Jones declined to discuss how the group operates. He also declined to comment on union accusations that the group had misrepresented its campaign. But Jones said the effort was not a front for any candidate, and that the group might air ads targeting other Democratic candidates it believes are out of sync with its positions.

Jones, a longtime Democratic fundraiser for Gephardt, Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.), former Vice President Al Gore and former President Clinton, founded the group Nov. 14 with Timothy L. Raftis, a Florida media consultant and campaign manager for Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) during his 1992 presidential run.

Raftis has since been replaced as the group’s president by former Ohio Rep. Edward Feighan, now a Cleveland-area businessman. Neither returned calls seeking comment.

The group’s spokesman is Robert Gibbs, who quit Kerry’s campaign last month and who formerly was spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

Although Jones refused to discuss funding sources, officials for the International Longshoremen’s Assn. and the Ironworkers union said they donated a combined $75,000. With the Machinists’ $50,000, they accounted for 25% of the $500,000 Jones said the group has raised.

All three unions have endorsed Gephardt’s presidential campaign, sparking speculation that the ad campaign was aimed at helping Gephardt.

But Sloan disagreed, saying, “This has done more to harm Dick Gephardt than any of his opponents could have hoped to do, or dreamed of doing.”

The group is of a type that is allowed to collect unlimited political donations known as “soft money.” Political parties and federal candidates, in contrast, may only collect money in regulated sums. For instance, an individual may give a candidate no more than $2,000 per election.

Pat Jensen, president of the Iowa League of Women Voters, speculated that the group’s secretiveness could backfire. Many politically savvy Iowa voters, she said, would likely ignore the ads if the political motivations of the sponsors are unclear.

“I would rather see the candidates directly campaigning on the issues, and against one another, without this kind of thing.”

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Times staff writers Nick Anderson and Mark Z. Barabak contributed to this report.