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http://www.spokane.net:80/news-story-body.asp?Date=061999&ID=s596439&cat= June 19, 1999 Advertisements challenge Kaiser CEO Hurwitz the target of Steelworkers' newspaper insert campaign Karen Dorn Steele -- The Spokesman-Review Spokane -- "This is a story about greed." That opening salvo introduces a glossy, eight-page advertising insert that the United Steelworkers of America is circulating in Spokane as part of its corporate campaign against Kaiser Aluminum. Its target: Charles Hurwitz, CEO of Maxxam Inc., the Houston corporation than controls Kaiser, now in the ninth month of a bitter strike and lockout. The ad accuses Hurwitz of clearcutting ancient redwoods in California and threatening thousands of union jobs at Kaiser plants in Spokane, Tacoma, Ohio and Louisiana. It also asks readers to contribute to the Steelworkers' "Stop Hurwitz Campaign." The inserts appeared Wednesday in both The Inlander, Spokane's weekly alternative newspaper, and the Valley News Herald. Kaiser officials are unimpressed with the Steelworkers' ad campaign, said Susan Ashe, Kaiser spokeswoman. "It's full of half-truths and misstatements. Blaming Charles Hurwitz for the labor dispute is like blaming Bill Clinton for El Nino," Ashe said. "This is paid political speech," said Herald advertising representative Fabian Medina. "We took this insert primarily for the money. We're a small paper and we need revenue." The Valley Herald called Kaiser officials before the insert ran. "We told them it didn't mean we were leaning either way, editorially. But they were pretty angry with us," he said. "We weren't angry," Ashe said. "They were trying to sell us ad space to answer the Steelworkers. We said `no thanks.' " The Steelworkers paid about $1,000 to have the insert placed in 20,000 copies of the Herald. Attacking Hurwitz isn't going to end the strike and lockout, Ashe said. "The only way the labor dispute is going to get settled is at the bargaining table," she said. The Spokesman-Review's advertising department rejected the insert a month ago, said Dan Sampson, a Steelworkers organizer at Kaiser's Trentwood plant. "The Spokesman told us the circular was demoralizing and libelous. I feel we got censored," Sampson said. "Censorship is something the government does," countered Shaun Higgins, director of marketing and sales for The Spokesman-Review. "We are a business. We have a legal responsibility, and we work hard to provide fairness and balance. We felt the specific attack on Charles Hurwitz went beyond what we thought was fair game." The newspaper told the Steelworkers they could reword the ad and resubmit it, Higgins said. "If they'd made a few changes, we would have accepted it," he said. "Why would we do that?" asked Jim Woodward, a Steelworkers organizer in Auburn, Wash., working on the union's corporate campaign against Kaiser. "We think there was nothing libelous in there. Charles Hurwitz is a public figure, and he's subject to criticism from a group his actions affect," Woodward said. The Spokesman-Review has accepted paid political advertising from both Kaiser and the Steelworkers during the current strike and lockout, Higgins said. But John Duray, Steelworkers spokesman in Pittsburgh, said the Spokane daily is the only newspaper in the cities where Kaiser has plants to demand rewrites of Steelworker ads. The Steelworkers are now taking their Hurwitz insert to the state's largest newspaper. It will run soon in the Seattle Times with minor modifications, Woodward said. "It's costing us $24,000. It will probably run in July," he said. The only change the Times requested was to identify more prominently on the insert that it's a paid advertisement, Woodward said. The Times always requires prominent mention of who's paying for the ad, said Bill Bridges, the Seattle Times account executive handling the Steelworkers insert. *Karen Dorn Steele can be reached at 459-5462 or by e-mail at karend@spokesman.com.
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