CAMPAIGN ’88 : ACLU, Finding Itself Voter Issue, Plans Ads

Finding itself becoming an unwitting issue in the presidential race, the American Civil Liberties Union said Monday it is launching the first television advertising campaign in its 68-year history to bolster its somewhat battered reputation.

The campaign, conceived by the Southern California chapter, will involve at least two commercials and possibly more, featuring actor Burt Lancaster and “L.A. Law” stars Michael Tucker and Jill Eikenberry.

“We’ve heard a lot of talk about the Pledge of Allegiance lately. Well, there is one group that has been working for 68 years to promote the ideal of democracy contained in that pledge,” Lancaster begins in one ad, written by Southern Californian Pacey Markman and taped Monday.

“They’ve helped people on the right, on the left, Republicans, Democrats, blacks, whites, when their rights are in jeopardy,” Lancaster says in a second ad. He then concludes with a quote from the Pledge of Allegiance sometimes used by the union as a slogan: “Liberty and justice for all.”

The campaign, which will also involve radio and newspaper advertising, is the ACLU’s response to a debate that began when Republican presidential nominee George Bush tried to define opponent Michael S. Dukakis as “a member of the left-liberal wing of the Democratic Party” by denouncing the Massachusetts governor as “a card-carrying member of the ACLU.”

“The purpose (of the ads) is to define ourselves at a time when there is an unprecedented amount of attention in the presidential race about the ACLU,” said Danny Goldberg, chairman of the ACLU’s legal arm in Southern California.