A Look at the Ads

Democratic Senate candidate Barbara Boxer began airing her first television ads after Republican opponent Bruce Herschensohn’s had gone unchallenged on the airwaves for two weeks.

* THE AD: One of Boxer’s ads shows videotaped footage of Herschensohn in various speaking engagements. His picture is slightly out of focus. As he speaks, a written screen of text ticks off positions: Herschensohn is “anti-choice,” wants to drill for oil off the coast and promote nuclear energy, opposes Defense Department cuts and wants to abolish the Department of Education.

* ANALYSIS: Boxer hopes to portray Herschensohn as an out-of-touch conservative. It features some of his more controversial positions. Herschensohn’s staff does not dispute any of the facts of the ad, although the aides offer some context. Herschensohn argues that offshore drilling and nuclear energy, for example, should be allowed in order to make the U. S. self-sufficient for energy, and defense spending must be maintained so that the “perception of disarmament” is not created in a dangerous world.

* THE AD: Two other Boxer ads are similar to each other. Against footage of Boxer, they feature an announcer who highlights several of the five-term congresswoman’s achievements: “When Pentagon contractors were billing $7,000 for coffee pots, she exposed the waste, changed the law and saved taxpayers $1.5 billion.

“When train wrecks leaked toxic chemicals and poisoned 45 miles of river, she took on the railroads and fought for tough safety laws. And when corporations like McDonnell Douglas are trying to ship our jobs overseas, she’s fighting to keep them here, writing legislation to save California jobs.” * THE ANALYSIS: The ads are generally accurate portrayals of Boxer’s work in Congress, although Herschensohn disputes the assertion that Boxer would fight to save jobs. His staff says her proposed defense cuts would cost jobs, although she maintains defense industry workers would be retrained for other types of employment.

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Democrat Dianne Feinstein’s first television commercial of the fall campaign for the two-year U.S. Senate seat attacks Republican John Seymour on the issues of jobs and the economy. Seymour has been running an ad that says Feinstein’s economic program would cost California 300,000 jobs. The 30-second Feinstein ad, produced by Morris & Carrick, is running on all major stations in Southern California.

* THE AD: As workers leave a factory, the announcer says, “California has lost 400,000 jobs since John Seymour was appointed senator by Pete Wilson.” The scene shifts to a newspaper story of Republican Gov. Wilson’s announcement in January, 1991, that he was appointing then-state Sen. Seymour of Anaheim to the U.S. Senate vacancy. In red ink, the animated numerals and words 400,000 JOBS whoosh down onto the page.

Against a backdrop of another newspaper clipping, the announcer says, “And when Seymour was mayor, Anaheim’s unemployment rate skyrocketed 47% and the number of people without jobs increased 61%.” With successive scenes showing Feinstein chatting with workers, the ad concludes: “But by Dianne Feinstein’s last year as mayor, San Francisco had its lowest unemployment rate ever. And now Dianne has a plan to create new jobs by reinvesting in America. . . . “

* ANALYSIS: State and federal statistics indicate that California unemployment increased by 406,000 between January, 1991, and this September, when the total was 1.44 million compared with a high of 1.37 million during the recession of 1982-83. It is doubtful, however, whether blame can be lumped on Seymour, much as it is highly speculative to put a figure on potential job losses that might be caused by the defense program cuts supported by Feinstein.

Any attempt to compare employment or unemployment records of Anaheim and San Francisco during the periods each candidate was mayor also is risky. In fact, Seymour and Feinstein were considered mayors who were sympathetic to business.