Card-check foes transfer lobbying battle to the Web

Online search engine ads are the new battleground for business associations and labor unions in the fight over a heavily lobbied labor bill.

The groups have purchased ads for and against the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) on Google to target members of Congress and the public. Those purchasing the ads include the Service Employees International Union, the Heritage Foundation and the Workforce Fairness Institute.

{mosads}Searches for several terms associated with the bill — including “card-check” and “EFCA” — result in several ads popping up on web browsers. Groups can target their ads to appear for certain search terms as well as in specific areas across the country, such as a state where a senator is wavering in his or her support for the bill.

Lobbying groups have used the ads to fundraise, gain members and lobby lawmakers. Think tanks on the right and the left have used the ads to put their research and policy analysis in front of more eyeballs in- and outside of Washington.

“I think this closely follows the 2008 election, which saw a growth of online innovative advertising,” said Peter Greenberger, manager of elections and issues advocacy for Google. “People see this not only as a way to gain supporters but also to pressure lawmakers.”

Even though chances for passage in this Congress have dimmed as key senators have announced their opposition, advertising on the issue shows no signs of slowing.

The lobbying battle over EFCA, which would make it much easier for workers to form unions, is just one example of how Google ads have become part of the political process. Other ads pushed for support for former Rep. Hilda Solis’s (D-Calif.) nomination as Labor secretary, or trumpeted candidates in New York’s recent special House election.

Some Google ads still protest President Obama’s stimulus package, which was signed into law in February. Search for a vulnerable senator up for reelection — say, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) or Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) — and an ad appears from the American Issues Project, a conservative group that ran ads against Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign and after the election.

Their ad asks, “$165 Million in bonuses? This senator voted yes — Is this change you can believe in?” It refers to a provision in the stimulus bill designed to cap executive pay for bailed-out companies that still allowed bonuses to be paid out to employees of insurer AIG.

Others target lawmakers in the battle over the card-check bill. For example, the Workforce Fairness Institute, which opposes EFCA, is running an ad demanding that Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) stop the “Employee Forced Choice Act.” It directs users to sign a petition against the bill.

{mospagebreak}Some think tanks see search engine ads as an economic way to get their message to the public.

Polling by the Drum Major Institute for Public Policy (DMI) of middle-class households in August 2008 revealed that about a third did not follow news coming out of Washington very closely.

“These folks are surprisingly in the dark on what is happening in D.C.,” said Dan Morris, communications director for the group. “The Google ads are just a very easy and cost-effective way of bridging that gap between lawmakers and middle-class Americans.”

{mosads}DMI, which supports the bill, has run Google ads drawing people to a website showing lawmakers’ support of the bill.

Opponents want to make sure their voices are heard — or seen — by those surfing the Web.

“We wanted to make sure our research was popping up at the top of Google searches with our ad campaign,” said Robert Bluey, director of online strategy for the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank that opposes the bill.

When the bill was introduced in early March, Heritage set up ads on Google to draw online users to a special webpage on its own website that had links to their research, blog posts and op-eds on EFCA. Bluey said the “campaign has been one of our most effective based on its click-through rate.”

According to Google Insights, a trend-analysis website set up by the company, the amount of searches spiked when the bill was introduced in March and then slightly again when Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) announced his opposition to the bill.

States with senators who vacillated in their support of EFCA, such as Arkansas, Pennsylvania and Nebraska, see a high rate of searches. But most of the online action is centered in Washington.

While the bill remains alive, expect groups to continue to run online ads for and against it.

“As long as people are still searching for it, we are going to keep the campaign active for it,” Bluey said.