Forbes ad attacks Bush, says he broke tax pledge

By Charles A. Radin and Jill Zuckman, Globe Staff, 1/8/2000

epublican Steve Forbes yesterday unveiled the first attack ad sponsored by a candidate in this presidential campaign, in a spot that features an antitax activist accusing Governor George W. Bush of breaking promises to Texas constituents.

The ad raised concerns in the Bush campaign that Forbes, lagging in the polls, may be poised to repeat his strategy of 1996, when his harsh TV ads undermined the candidacy of the eventual nominee, Bob Dole.

The star of the new spot is Mary C. Williams, who described herself in an interview as the ''housewife-in-charge'' of the Houston-based Taxpayers for Accountability. Williams says in the ad that Bush, in 1994, signed a pledge not to support sales or business tax increases and ''in 1997, unfortunately, he broke this pledge.''

Senator John McCain wrote to regulators on behalf of donors, memos show. A10.

''Governor Bush wants people to examine his record to see how he will perform as president,'' Williams says, ''and his record as far as taxes are concerned is a record of broken promises.''

In Portsmouth yesterday morning, Bush told reporters that the Forbes ad, aired less than a day after Bush promised that as president he would cut taxes ''so help me God,'' is a disservice to the political process, launched by a failing candidate.

''His political clock is ticking down, winding down,'' Bush said. ''And he's now reacting in the year 2000 the way he did in 1996. He must be feeling that sense of gloom that affects candidates who cannot sell his message in a positive way.''

''The facts are and the truth is, every plan I proposed was a tax cut,'' said Bush. ''As a result of my leadership I signed the two largest tax cuts in my state's history.''

Bush reluctantly acknowledged that he did sign the Taxpayers for Accountability pledge promising not to support sales or business tax increases. ''Yeah, I guess so,'' he said, when asked if he had signed the oath in 1994. ''It was an auto-pen signature, but it was a signature.''

The Forbes ad arrives amid other indications that the comparatively civil campaign in both parties may turn negative as New Hampshire's Feb. 1 primary nears:

Former New Jersey senator Bill Bradley yesterday launched a 30-second ad in New Hampshire implicitly criticizing Vice President Al Gore for ''doing nothing'' on gun control, child poverty, and health care. In fact, both Gore and Bradley have offered ideas on gun violence, child poverty, and health insurance, but the two Democrats disagree on how best to combat those problems.

The Sierra Club on Wednesday began airing an attack on Bush's environmental record, charging that Texas leads the nation in releasing hazardous chemicals into the air and water and that Bush advocated weakening the Clean Air Act. Federal regulators have pressed Texas to toughen environmental regulations and Houston has displaced Los Angeles as the urban area with the nation's worst air pollution. But Bush aides said major improvements in air and water quality have been made in Texas during Bush's administration.

Andy Martin, a fringe Republican candidate, said yesterday he expects to have ready for showing next week an ad attacking Arizona Senator John McCain for alleged improprieties in dealing with the Federal Communications Commission. Martin already is airing a commercial on New Hampshire television accusing Bush of cocaine and alcohol abuse.

Forbes's press secretary, Juleanna Glover Weiss, denied that the commercial is an attack ad, but other candidates' strategists said it fits the definition because of its apparently selective presentation of the facts. In the storm stirred by its release, Forbes's aides and Williams neither accepted nor disputed Bush's claim to have cut taxes. They said the issue in the ad was not the total tax burden, but that Bush broke his word.

Williams said the Forbes camp initially contacted her before Christmas to do the ad. She said she initially did not want to participate, ''but after thinking it over, I thought this story needed to be told.''

''Now the Bush people want the story to be tax cuts - we call them the phantom cuts,'' Williams said. ''The story is that he broke his pledge, his own pledge, then he began to spin it.''

Mark MacKinnon, Bush's chief media strategist, said he and other campaign officials are discussing whether to respond to Forbes on television. He said the campaign, anticipating just such an attack, already has prepared several possible responses.

Just hours after Gore's aides lashed out at Bradley for his new ad, the vice president's camp announced a new commercial that takes an implicit shot at Bradley.

The announcer says that for 70 million Americans, Medicare and Medicaid are a lifeline.

''Al Gore: the only Democratic candidate who saves Medicare by setting aside 15 percent of the surplus to keep Medicare solvent,'' the announcer says. ''The only Democratic candidate who preserves Medicaid instead of replacing it with a $150 a month voucher. Al Gore: the only Democratic candidate who reforms health care in a way that protects seniors and working families.''

The ad, which Gore aides said would be shown beginning this weekend, suggests that Bradley would do the opposite.