Radio Ads on Frist’s “Nuclear Option” to Air

Washington – On Tuesday, April 26, radio ads spotlighting Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist’s threatened “nuclear option” to arbitrarily cut off debate in the U.S. Senate will begin airing in nearly a dozen U.S. cities.

“We are calling on the Senate to reject this politically divisive nuclear option and put acrimonious partisanship aside. The Senate must get to work on solving some of our nation’s most pressing problems – creating more jobs, educating our children, providing and improving healthcare and, reducing the deficit,” said Wade Henderson, Executive Director of LCCR, the nation’s oldest and largest civil and human rights organization.

The ad, produced by Save Our Courts.Org, a project of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund (LCCREF), with an initial buy of $200,000, will be broadcast on radio stations in Nebraska, New Hampshire, Maine, Pennsylvania and Virginia. The ad informs the public of a dangerous political tactic that threatens to break 200 year old rules in order to ram through a handful of judicial nominees for short-tem political gain. According to the text of the ad, “The nuclear option isn’t just a partisan power grab; it’s a direct attack on our system of checks and balances and the independence of our courts.”

“The ad, like the ride of Paul Revere, is designed to call urgent attention to the grave dangers that the elimination of the filibuster poses to our democracy and constitutional government,” commented Nancy Zirkin, LCCR Deputy Executive Director. “And when it comes to the issue of selecting judges, the White House should do a better job of working with the Senate to build a consensus, rather than make ideological appointments it knows are highly controversial.”

Henderson and Zirkin said the ad would run for about a week and that the project is raising additional funds to expand the ad buy.

The text of the ad is below and the audio for the ad can be heard at SaveOurCourts.org: http://nmmstream.net/lccr/judgesad.mp3

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Power
Radio: 60 seconds

Power.

It can be used for good – but in the wrong hands it can lead to disaster.

That’s why our founding fathers designed a system to control power.

And this system of checks and balances has worked for over 200 years – it’s a guiding principle of our democracy.

But now, some Senators in Washington want to end debate in the Senate and permanently change the rules.

So they can ram through a handful of judicial nominees for short term political gain – Nominees who can’t get approved because of their poor record on individual rights

It’s a tactic so extreme they call it – the nuclear option

The nuclear option isn’t just a partisan power grab, it’s a direct attack on our system of checks and balances and the independence of our courts

And it leaves our system of government vulnerable to more abuses of power – now or by a President or congress years in the future.

That’s why Senators from both parties oppose the nuclear option.

The Senate must protect our system of checks and balances and vote against the nuclear option.

Paid for by Save our Courts.org.