More About Tim Bee’s “Not a Campaign Ad” Campaign Ad

by David Safier

I want to add to Mike’s post, Bee the Recidivist? (Damn you, Mike, for using words in your headline I have to look up! [“Recidivist” means repeat offender, for the vocab-challenged among us. It’s one of them high fallutin’ legal terms.])

The ad praising Tim for his work on a bill that would make the Career Ladders Program available to all Arizona school districts has been running regularly on cable TV news. As Tedski pointed out on Rum, Romanism and Rebellion a few days ago, the ad did not have a statement at the end saying who was behind it. I assumed it came from Bee’s campaign.

Nope. According to an article in the Star, it was paid for using money provided by school districts through a lobbying group, The Education Finance Reform Group. The Phoenix lobbying firm, Public Policy Partners, put together the ad. The lobbyists, as well as people from the school districts paying for the ad, say it’s nothing more than a Thank You to Bee for supporting education.

Let me repeat. The money behind this ad came from state tax dollars given to school districts and paid to a lobbying firm. Tim Bee’s hands are clean, he says. Didn’t know a thing about it.

Let’s look at the ad and see if it’s accurate and nothing more than a simple Thank You from grateful schools.

The ad says, because of a bill sponsored by Bee, “all teachers in Southern Arizona will receive greater pay for performance.” Two things here: First, all teachers will not receive greater pay. The bill would allow every district to participate in the Career Ladders Program, which means that teachers who wish to take coursework and participate in education-based activities will get extra pay. The ad makes it sound like it’s a salary boost for teachers, which is very popular with voters these days. Second, the ad says, “all teachers in southern Arizona.” In fact, it’s all teachers in the entire state, not just Southern Arizona. If this group wants to thank Bee for improving education in the state, and not boost his chances to beat Gabby Giffords in the CD-8 Congressional race, the ad would not specify “Southern Arizona.”

At the end of the ad, the “southern Arizona” point is hammered home. In a graphic with Tim Bee’s face in the foreground and an Arizona flag in the background, the words, “Fighting for fairness in southern Arizona” are written across the bottom, as the narrator reads them aloud. Again, the legislation includes the entire state, but the ad implies Bee is giving Southern Arizona something special.

This is no simple thank you. It’s a big, wet, sloppy kiss planted on Tim Bee’s forehead with the clear intent of furthering his campaign.