Ad targets Matheson's spy-bill vote

The race in Utah's 2nd Congressional District is apparently officially under way with the first media ad now running.

The radio ad is paid for by a national conservative group targeting Rep. Jim Matheson's votes on Bush administration's wireless surveillance program — which has still failed to pass Congress.

A form of the ad paid for by the Defense of Democracies Action Fund has been running as a TV spot in other states, targeting several freshman Democratic U.S. House members. The ad against Matheson, D-Utah, is a radio spot running on local stations.

Oddly enough, says Matheson spokeswoman Alyson Heyrend, Matheson and his fellow Blue Dog Democrats want House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to schedule a vote on the Senate version of the warrantless wireless spying bill. And the ad asks listeners to call Matheson and tell him to pressure Pelosi to schedule such a vote.

Matheson "is already on record as favoring" a vote on the Senate bill, Heyrend said.

The 60-second spot reviews a history of the warrantless surveillance program. It says that "21 House Democrats" signed a letter supporting the Senate plan. But over a month later, House Democrats have refused to vote on the Senate bill and instead passed "a sham bill" that "fails to restore the capabilities our government agencies need. It is time Jim Matheson and the House did its job." The ad ends by giving a long-distance number and asking Utahns to call that number and complain about Matheson.

The 21 House Democrats are the Blue Dog coalition, of which Matheson is co-chairman, a group of moderate-to-conservative Democrats who often butt heads with House Democratic leaders. Heyrend says Matheson is doing exactly what the ad asks — trying to get a vote on the Senate bill. So it is odd that it is running here, she said.

The fund is a new offshoot, formed just in February, from a bipartisan group called Defense of Democracies. The nonprofit Defense of Democracies is a 501(c)(3) group, and as such it can't participate in partisan politics. But the Defense of Democracies Action Fund is a 501(c)(4) group and can run partisan ads, reports the public interest group www.publiceye.org To read more about the Defense of Democracies Action Fund you can go to that Web site.