Special interests run shadow campaigns

PI columnist Joel Connelly doesn’t like the BIAW (that’s Building Industries Association of Washington). Neither do we, but before we go into full campaign season, let’s clear up a few things.

First, everything is a “special interest” from the building industries to Puget Sound, every special interest has an advocate and we call it an “important program” when it’s a special interest that we like and a “special interest” when it’s a special interest that we don’t like.

Semantics are part of the game. ChangePAC sounds better than Building Industries for Rossi. Swift Boat Veterans for Truth sounds better than Bitter Lying Right-Wingnuts for Bush. Thanks to the tax code and the creative minds that run political campaigns just like advertising campaigns, organizations everywhere are poll-testing and focus-grouping new names for old grievances.

In Washington, the BIAW does it best, and their lies are starting earlier this year. ChangePAC, ahem, the BIAW, has already dropped over $155,000 on radio ads for Dino Rossi. That’s money that Rossi doesn’t have to raise or report, and it’s a shadow campaign that Rossi can claim to distance himself from, smiling all the while as he watches ChangeBIAW kneecap the truth and mislead the voters.

We hope voters have seen enough advertising to know when a well-worded campaign is trying to mislead them. Caveat emptor.