By Matthew Hirsch, Newsdesk.org/The Public Press
First in a series fact-checking 2008 election advertisements in San Francisco | Sidebar: Swaying Voters at $2 a Word: Inside the Ballot Booklet | Interview on KALW-FM’s “Crosscurrents,” 9/9/08:
For the November 4 election, San Francisco’s voter-information booklet will be packed with dozens of paid arguments around hot-button topics such as housing and public power. Many of these ballot ads are signed by community and small-business leaders and appear to reflect widespread participation in the public debate. Yet the people who sign the paid arguments don’t always pay for or submit the ads themselves. San Francisco legislators changed the election rules in 1997 so voters could find out who was footing the bills. But most voters don’t know that paid arguments are often bundled by professional campaign consultants whose aim is to manufacture a showing of broad support for certain ballot issues, and who sometimes have their own, undisclosed interests.
