Sodrel denounces negative political advertisements

Rep. Mike Sodrel, R-9th, expressed displeasure Tuesday with the influence outside groups are exerting on his closely contested race.\nSpeaking to the Bloomington Rotary Club, Sodrel slammed so-called 527 groups, tax-exempt organizations not affiliated with specific candidates that try to sway voters with their own ads.\n"I don't think they have any place in American politics," he said. "Whether they're for me or against me, I wish they would all go away. I don't like 527s."\nBoth Sodrel and his opponent, Democratic challenger Baron Hill, signed a clean campaign pledge in August, but that does not apply to 527 groups and other political action committees.\nThis week the Indiana Republican State Committee sent out mailings to Bloomington residents claiming "Democrats want to end programs that stop terrorists."\nAnother mailing turns a photo of Hill on its head and claims "Baron Hill will turn our values upside down."\nOther 527 groups have been accused of making automated phone calls in the district against both candidates, which led to lawsuits from Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter. Those lawsuits are still pending.\nThis is the third time Sodrel has faced Hill for the 9th District seat. Hill served as the district's representative from 1998 until 2004, when Sodrel defeated him by fewer than 1,500 votes.\nLibertarian candidate and IU-Southeast economics professor Eric Schansberg is also running for the seat.\nThe nonpartisan political Web site The Cook Political Report currently calls the race a "toss up."\nBecause the race is so close and control of Congress could go to either party, the ads being run by 527 groups are even more negative than usual, Sodrel said.\n"527s go out, and buy the ugliest, nastiest ads," he said. "And if they didn't work, people would stop \nusing them. That's part of the problem -- they work."\nJohn Vanderzee, a chaplain at Bloomington Hospital who attended the Rotary Club meeting and discussed the clean campaign pledge with Sodrel, also criticized the 527 ads.\n"Some of the ads, they've been borderline, but they certainly haven't gone as far as the ads from the Republican Party and the (political action \ncommittees)," he told the congressman.\nHill spoke to the Bloomington Rotary Club last week about ethics reform in Congress, as well as several other issues.