Mystery Ad Knocks Sweeney/WW id PAA24678; Sat, 4 Oct 1997 15:02:03 -0400 Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit ------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the October 9, 1997 issue of Workers World newspaper ------------------------- MYSTERY ADS KNOCK SWEENEY Pittsburgh prides itself on being a union town. Every few steps, it seems, you come across a scene of labor history. The Battle of Homestead was here. The AFL-CIO's founding convention was here. Pittsburgh workers were proud that now, the AFL-CIO had returned to proclaim labor's new direction. So what was with that TV commercial? The one attacking AFL-CIO President John Sweeney. There it was, on all three network stations. Every night of the convention. In prime time. A demonically scowling picture of Sweeney filled the screen. "John Sweeney is stealing your money," announced an off-camera voice. A dollar figure--you were evidently supposed to infer that this was Sweeney's salary--flashed across his face. Then an 800 number. The anonymous announcer urged viewers to "call John Sweeney and tell him you want your money back." That was it. There was no signature, no clue about who bought the commercial. A call to the advertising department at NBC affiliate WPXI turned up the name "Citizens for Reform" as the commercial's sponsors. Who are they? WPXI representatives claimed ignorance. A call to Pittsburgh's information operators revealed no telephone listing for Citizens for Reform. Wonder who they could be. Who has enough money to buy prime TV time--and use it to vilify the leader of the U.S. labor movement? Will the Senate committee investigating the AFL-CIO's finances be interested in finding out whose big bucks are being used against labor? --S.E. - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Permission to reprint granted if source is cited. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: ww@workers.org. For subscription info send message to: info@workers.org. Web: http://workers.org) ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytlab-10.04.97-15:01:57-8572