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Show CAPITOL WATCHDOG ; By Bill Hen.lrix Is there no limit to political spending? The final spending reports by Utah political candidates have been filed with the Secretary of State. The price tag for elections has, of course, gone up substantially. Perhaps you remember the spending ten years ago in, for example, the race between Richard Richards and K. Gunn McKay for Utah's First Congressional District seat. Campaign dollars, then, were measured in tens of thousands. But this year Congressman McKay and his winning opponent Jim Hansen, together spent over $1,500,000 in that race. Governor Scott Matheson and his opponent Bob Wright were in the $2,000,000 range. Sen. Jake Gam spent over a million dollars by himself to gain re-election. In spite of these figures they are much lower than the rest of the nation for similar positions. Governor Jay Rockefeller, according to a Washington Post newspaper article, spent nearly $12 million for re-election in West Virginia this year. You may think West Virginia has a greater population than Utah and, therefore, is a bad comparison. com-parison. Think again. The population of West Virginia is about half that of Utah. In other words, Rockefeller spent about $30.34 for every vote he got in the election. It is possible, however, that that much or more could be spent in Utah on just one race by 1982. Labor forces, so incensed by the challenges of Utah's Orrin Hatch, are planning a political attack the likes of which the state has never seen. Last spring a spokesman for the AFL-CIO announced that organized labor would throw $3,000,000 into the 1982 race against Hatch. By fall they had increased in-creased the figure from $6 to $10 million. And that's just labor. Private and party contributions could equal another $2,000,000. Jim Eaton, partner in the Barenz-Eaton Barenz-Eaton Advertising Agency in Salt Lake City, says the dollar figures in that race are hard to comprehend. (Eaton designed the Hansen campaign and contributed in the Steve Symms campaign that defeated Frank Church in Idaho) The advertiser says, "If the Hatch campaign equals the amount pledged by his opposition a total of $20 million could be spent in Utah on this one race. Our local media would have a hard time absorbing it all. When you consider the education level of Utah voters this glut of advertising ad-vertising could turn against either candidate. It will be an interesting test of our capacity and endurance." There is, of course, a greater question in this whole thesis. Are we voters being bought? Aren't our votes being purchased through media brokers as literally as if we'd been given $25 or $30 from the candidate himself? Far be it for me to answer that question. For those who feel or see that danger there is some standard advice which can protect you from the vote buyers. Vote based on your own study . of the candidates and the issues that affect your life. If you don't know, call the campaign office or the incumbents office and find out. Write a letter. Tell the candidates your feelings and vote for the person that best represents you. Because of the increased cost of running campaigns your voting franchise becomes more valuable with each passing year. Don't waste your vote. Begin today to understand the political process. |