By BRIAN McGILLIVARY
TRAVERSE CITY -- Rachelle Babcock is ticked off.
The Acme Township resident, a political independent, said she's been flooded with negative, specious political advertising from the Michigan Republican Party that targets Democrat Roman Grucz.
Yet Grucz's opponent in the 104th District state House race, Republican Wayne Schmidt, insists he's running a positive campaign.
Schmidt told Babcock in an e-mail he has no control over the ads because they are independent expenditures not authorized by his campaign.
"I think it's sad," Babcock said. "Whether or not Schmidt's involved with (the ad), he knowingly doesn't disapprove of it."
Across the bay in Leelanau County, in part of the 101st state House District, the situation is the same but the parties are reversed.
Democrat Dan Scripps contends he's running a positive campaign that focuses on issues, while the Michigan Democratic Party and the Coalition for Progress buries Republican Ray Franz under a load of mud.
Scripps even agrees ads stretch the truth that claim Franz violated state campaign laws and wants to outlaw birth control.
"They are not the kind of ads I would run or the issues I talk about," Scripps said. "But bottom line, they are independent expenditures."
Neither Scripps nor Schmidt condemned the ads nor asked their parties to stop running them.
Scripps contributed $35,000 from his political accounts to the state Democratic Party, but said the money was not used for the anti-Franz television ads.
Just days before the election, it's unknown how much the two parties and their affiliated groups spent on negative television, mail and telephone campaign communication under the guise of issue ads.
State law does not require disclosure on spending for independent issue ads, which are defined as ads that don't specifically ask for a vote for or against a candidate.
Both major political parties are experts at keeping the information legally hidden, said Rich Robinson, executive director of the non-partisan Michigan Campaign Finance Network.
"You hold this piece of mail in your hand, but it doesn't exist, according to campaign finance reports," Robinson said.
While neither party disclosed any spending in the 101st or 104th races, the Coalition for Progress -- a nonprofit funded by the heir to a Kalamazoo medical supply company fortune -- voluntarily reported spending more than $75,000 on television, mail and phone calls that support Scripps.
Franz said he'll trust voters to sort out truth from political party fiction.
"Realistically, does anyone believe the public's not smart enough to see through this stuff," Franz said.
Robinson said political ad writers typically start with a grain of truth, then twist and stretch the fact until it's unrecognizable.
"A lot of this campaign communication is so outlandish it seems to be written by Beavis and Butthead, but until there is some blow-back they'll just keep doing it," Robinson said.
But such ads don't always work the way they're intended. Babcock, the Acme Township voter, sent an e-mail to Schmidt that expressed her thoughts.
"It has helped me make my choice Nov. 4," she said. "Spreading lies is not nice."
