Pubdate: Fri, 02 Nov 2012
Source: Sun Chronicle (Attleboro, MA)
Copyright: 2012 Sun Chronicle
Contact:  http://www.thesunchronicle.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3184
Authors: Chelsea Sheasley and Monique Scott

BALLOT QUESTIONS RAISE BARELY A PEEP AHEAD OF ELECTION

Inundated for months by political ads for the presidential and 
congressional races, Massachusetts' voters heard little from the 
campaigns opposing and supporting controversial ballot questions to 
legalize medical marijuana and physician-assisted suicide.

That has changed in the last two weeks.

But even as the groups ramp up advertising and public statements, the 
efforts - and spending - of the campaigns remain much smaller than 
similar ballot efforts in other states and past ballot issues in Massachusetts.

As of Oct. 15, the last reporting deadline before Election Day, 
Dignity 2012, the group supporting the assisted-suicide bill, raised 
$405,479, spending $336,099. Its opponents have raised a combined 
$2.3 million and spent $1.6 million.

By comparison, the successful 2008 campaign to pass assisted suicide 
in Washington state raised $4.9 million while opponents spent $1.6 million.

The Committee for Compassionate Medicine, which supports the medical 
marijuana ballot question, raised $545,845 and spent $871,961 as it 
continues to raise money. The opposing committee, Vote No on Question 
3, raised $3,350 and spent $39.80.

The 2010 campaign to legalize medical marijuana in Arizona saw 
supporters spend $794,004 while opponents spent $21,767.

The numbers pale in comparison with some earlier Massachusetts ballot 
campaigns. In 2006, both sides spent $11 million on a ballot question 
to permit the sale of beer and wine in supermarkets. That proposition 
was defeated following a heavy media campaign financed by liquor 
store owners and supermarket chains.

This year's ballot issues have seen an acceleration in campaigning 
and advertising in the past two weeks.

Opponents of the assisted suicide question launched their media 
campaign of eye-catching ads more than a week ago, largely funded by 
Catholic groups in and out of Massachusetts. Proponents began airing 
ads this week on a more limited basis.

The two sides on the medical marijuana referendum have relied on less 
expensive mediums, staging news conferences and placing Web-based advertising.

But the ad campaigns haven't registered on voters interviewed last 
week around Boston.

"I haven't seen any advertising on TV or in print. So when you first 
asked me, I couldn't answer because I wasn't aware of it," James Lee 
of Walpole said of the medical marijuana initiative.

Tobe Berkovitz, a political media consultant and professor of 
advertising at Boston University, says it's common for both sides of 
ballot initiatives to wait until the final weeks to begin advertising.

"You figure a week of decent television is over $350,000, so you do 
two or three weeks of television and you're right up around a million 
dollars," he said. "You can burn it up really quickly at the end."

But a look at campaigns for these issues in other states shows 
campaigning and advertising started sooner, spent more money and 
maintained higher profiles.

Supporters of the Washington state assisted suicide referendum spent 
far more, and advertised earlier. By mid-October of the 2008 
campaign, the Washington committee had already spent $1.3 million on ads.

Seventeen states have legalized medical marijuana use, 10 through 
ballot referendum. Spending on those campaigns have ranged from $1.9 
million in the 2006 Michigan vote to the $216,000 spent so far for an 
upcoming vote in Arkansas.

Part of the strategy for the proponents of both Massachusetts ballot 
questions may lie in the fact that polls last month showed they were 
comfortably ahead.

A Sept. 17 poll by Suffolk University found 64 percent supported 
physician-assisted suicide and 59 percent supported medical 
marijuana. The numbers shifted in a poll released this week by 
Suffolk with 47 percent of 600 surveyed supporting physician-assisted 
suicide and 55 percent supporting medical marijuana.

Of the two issues, assisted suicide had attracted more money and attention.

Dignity 2012 raised just over $400,000 in the past 10 months, mostly 
from outside the state. Key contributors have been the Death with 
Dignity National Center in Portland, Ore., and the advocacy group 
Compassion and Choices of Washington state. Washington and Oregon are 
the only states to have passed assisted suicide laws by referendum.

Proponents of assisted suicide in Massachusetts have not had a strong 
presence in the political media wars so far, relying mostly on 
Internet-based campaigning.

According to reports filed with the state's Office of Campaign and 
Political Finance, Dignity 2012 spent $5,900 on media production from 
Fletcher Rowley Inc. in Nashville, Tenn., on Oct. 15.

Fletcher Rowley also produced TV ads for the group that supported 
physician-assisted suicide in Washington state in 2008. A statement 
for prospective clients on Fletcher Rowley's website says a 
last-minute ad they produced for Washington supporters had a big 
impact on the race:

"One week before Election Day, our polling showed us in the 
mid-to-high 40s. We produced a new ad that the campaign manager 
called a 'political sledgehammer.' On Election Day, (the Washington 
ballot question) was approved by a 19 point margin."

Dignity 2012 bought six Facebook ads and Google Ad Words in October. 
It had $76,000 left to spend in the last two weeks before the election.

Two committees that oppose Question 2 will outspend Dignity on media 
ads and may surpass the level of spending seen in other states in the 
final weeks.

The Committee Against Physician Assisted Suicide, which opposes 
Question 2, spent $601,060 on media reservations in mid-October.

The group has raised $2 million since January, mostly from Catholic 
groups across the country. Top donors include St. John's Seminary in 
Boston's Brighton neighborhood, the Catholic Association Inc. in 
Washington, D.C. and the Knights of Columbus of Hartford, Conn.

"This is a campaign of education. We're getting the word out," 
spokesman Andy Hoagland said.

Massachusetts Against Doctor Prescribed Suicide paid $135,549 in 
September for media placement.

In the 2008 Washington state campaign, the group against 
physician-assisted suicide raised $1.9 million dollars. They spent 
just over $320,000 on ads by Oct. 10. By Election Day, they had spent 
$879,000 on advertising.

Less money is being spent on advertisements for Question 3, which 
would legalize medical marijuana.

The Committee for Compassionate Medicine, which backs the question, 
has raised just over $545,000. Ninety-one percent of the money came 
from one person: Peter Lewis, the billionaire CEO of Progressive 
Insurance who has been bankrolling marijuana legalization efforts 
across the country.

The group has relied mostly on the Internet and social media, 
spending $14,000 on Facebook ads, Google Ad Words, and YouTube ads.

The committee also paid $46,918.68 to Washington, D.C.- based public 
relations firm Dewey Square Group, which specializes in ballot 
initiative campaigns.

Jennifer Manley of Dewey Square Group said she would not comment on 
campaign strategy.

"The OCPF reports speak for themselves," she said.

There is support for the initiative outside the committee. Mike 
Crawford, also known as "Mike Cann," former president of 
MassCann/NORML, a non-profit organization looking to reform marijuana 
laws, said he has posted pro-videos on his YouTube account.

He said he expects to see more visible advertising in the final days 
of the campaign, similar to the surge seen in the 2008 vote to 
decriminalize small amounts of marijuana.

"That's really what we saw last time, the last two or three weeks, 
they really hit the airwaves," he said.

The group spending the least amount of money is Vote No on Question 
3, which opposes medical marijuana. The committee has raised $3,350 
since July. Its biggest donors are the Massachusetts Major Cities 
Police Association and the Middlesex Chiefs of Police.

The only expenditure the committee recorded with the Office of 
Campaign and Political Finance is $39.80 to PayPal in September.

"We just don't have a million dollars to do this through glitzy 
advertising," said Josephine Hensey, a Westborough homemaker who runs 
the committee. "We've had a lot of media interest so we've been able 
to talk to print media and TV media, so we're getting the word out 
that way," she said.

The group sponsored a press conference on the Statehouse steps last 
week with doctors, legislators and recovering drug addicts who oppose 
Question 3. Supporters responded with a mini press conference of 
their own with doctors and patients who support legalization.

But despite the final efforts, the message may not be getting through.

"I haven't seen them at all," said Brendan Maier, a Cambridge 
personal trainer, said of the political events and advertising. "...I 
had no idea."

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This report was provided by the Boston University Statehouse Program. 
Contributing reporters included Edward Donga, Katie Doyle, James 
Morrison, and Lexi Salazar.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom