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Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend February 3, 2006 GOP still smarting from negative ads Prospective candidates leery of opposing Bates after fallout from negative campaigning By DAMIAN MANN Mail Tribune Dirty politics and expensive campaigns have left Republican leaders struggling to convince potential candidates to seek office this year. "Over the past 10 years there has been a lot of dirty politicking going on," said Tim "Tiny" Robertson, chairman of the Jackson County Republican Central Committee. He says both parties are guilty of dirty politics, but local Republicans are still smarting from the fallout over a negative campaign conducted by an independent group against state Sen. Alan Bates, D-Ashland, in the 2004 election. "That really hurt," said Robertson. "Anybody can come along and you don’t have any control over it." The Leadership Fund, a political action group that supports Republicans, sent out mailers dredging up a messy divorce and child-custody battle that Bates had with his ex-wife more than 20 years ago. Advertisement Bates’ opponent, Jim Wright, condemned the mailers and said he had nothing to do with them. Robertson said the aftermath of the mailers and other problems are making it more difficult to convince someone to take on Bates in November. Bryan Platt, vice chairman of the county Republican Central Committee, said Bates holds one of the five Senate seats that state Republican leaders are targeting in the November election. Platt said potential candidates are worried about issues beyond dirty politics and the expense of campaigns. The time it takes to run a campaign and the low pay received by senators are major considerations, he said, as is the time spent away from families. Platt said the negative campaign run against Bates in 2004 may have cost Wright the election. "It was unfortunate for the party," he said. Platt said dirty politics, locally and elsewhere, are nothing new. "There are certainly individual races across the country that get downright ugly," he said. He said local Republicans considered pushing for legislation that would block outside groups from interfering. But, he said, they’ve since received assurances from state Republican leaders that it won’t happen in future campaigns. "I think leadership up there learned a lesson," he said. Bates said he wasn’t ready to take the Republican assurances at face value just yet. "We hear that in the run-up of every election cycle," he said. "Invariably, at the end, when it’s too late to do something about it, they throw something dirty out." Robertson said he’s confident that qualified candidates will come forward to take on Bates. "We have a couple of good possibilities, but whether they decide to run is up to them," said Robertson. "I don’t want to throw somebody’s name out there who’s not going to run." He said it’s also difficult to find candidates to run in the county commissioners’ race because it costs about $100,000 to run a proper campaign. "These races have gotten so expensive," he said. Bates agreed that the expense of campaigning and the low salary make it difficult to attract average Oregonians to the office. He said he would support significant campaign reform to end the million-dollar state Senate seat races. Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2006 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback www.bingo.com Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker Custom Build Computers Computer Security Discount Hotel Reservations Casinos Canada dvd-r Generic Viagra Myspace Windermere Van Vleet Deep Muscle Stimulator Sports Equipment Online Casino Reviews Online Bingo Entertainment Guide Online Casino Fundraisers Student Loans Sudoku Online Advertisement s Advertisement