Iowa laws still catching up with modern campaign technology

Are laws written before there were fax machines adequate to regulate campaigns that increasingly rely on the Internet and social media such as Twitter and Facebook?

Maybe, says Charlie Smithson, executive director of Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board. Maybe it's too soon to know.

“To be honest, campaign laws are still trying to catch up with social media,” he says.

He's monitoring attempts to regulate campaign use of social media - such as Google, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, which are primarily Internet- and mobile-based tools for sharing and discussing information.

Despite the growing popularity of social media, there are no specific federal rules. A few states have begun to regulate new media. Smithson is in no hurry to join them.

“I'm more interested in court cases that will invariably come down than writing new rules, Smithson says. “I'd rather watch and react than get out front and get sued.”

That makes sense to Steve Grubbs and Jeff Link, who are in the business of advising candidates.

Grubbs, a former Republican state legislator and president of Victory Enterprises in Davenport, believes social media is so transparent “it becomes self-regulating.”

Grubbs and Link share a practical argument against regulation.

“There's a real danger if people are trying to regulate things they don't understand,” says Link of Link Strategies in Des Moines, who advises Democratic office-seekers.

The key is to maintain transparency, they say, so people know who is paying for campaign communication whether it arrives on TV, in the newspaper, mailbox, inbox or the mobile phone.

“If e-mailing is your new direct mail or your new door-to-door campaign, we may need more regulation,” Smithson says. “Is it fair to make you put ‘paid for by' on every piece of direct mail, but not on these new media communications?”

In Iowa, campaign websites, including Facebook pages, must include the “paid for by” disclaimer just like billboards and campaign ads. That's not practical for Twitter, which limits messages to 140 characters, Smithson says.

There is a fear of fake Twitter and Facebook accounts being used to post damaging or embarrassing message as if they were coming from a candidate.

“Rumors travel at hyper-speed on the Internet,” Link says. However, they can be knocked down in cyberspace more quickly than through traditional media.

“If someone puts up a TV ad attacking a candidate, within moments the candidate can get the truth on Facebook or Twitter and supporters can begin redistributing that to others,” Grubbs says. “In the past, we would put out a press release.”

New media makes it possible to respond to last-minute attack ads or brochures, too, Smithson says.

State regulations do not apply to independent bloggers. Bloggers who work for a campaign and blogs maintained by campaigns are subject to the “paid for by” rules.

Smithson thinks Iowa has the basics in place to deal with social media in campaigns, but expects it to be an issue for some time.

“We're trying to balance free speech versus people's right to know who's influencing the outcome of elections,” Smithson says. “Let's see how new media impact other mediums to see if they maintain their relevance before we look at where we are,” he said.