Source: courant.com
WASHINGTON — It has become a holiday ritual: Joe Lieberman and family-research officials hold a well-attended press conference to decry the impact on children of excessive video game sex and violence.
And, again in 2006, Lieberman indulged in another yearly ritual: taking campaign money from the entertainment industry.
An analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan watchdog group, found that the Connecticut Democrat, who won re-election last month as an independent, received about $73,000 from a variety of industry sources over the past two years.
Among the donors were Linda McMahon, chief executive officer of Stamford-based WWE Entertainment. McMahon said in an e-mail that she gave money to Lieberman because “I make contributions to a variety of candidates whom I respect.”
WWE is well known for its video games and television shows. Its games are usually rated “T,” meaning the content is considered appropriate for ages 13 and up. TV programs carry different ratings, depending on content.
WWE warns parents on its website that, during its more violent shows, “Characters may `hit’ opponents with objects, such as metal chairs, sledgehammers, shiny new trashcans, baking sheets, metal stop signs or kendo sticks,” or may slam opponents “through folding tables, announcer booths, ring barricades and turnbuckles.”
In addition, WWE says, “Male characters may body-slam female opponents in the ring, and vice-versa.”
Critics say taking WWE money – McMahon gave $2,000 in the two weeks before the Nov. 7 election – raises questions.
“If you’re going to portray yourself as a champion against sex and violence on TV and in video games, it certainly doesn’t look like you’re completely serious if one of your big contributors makes its money from sex and violence,” said Massie Ritsch, spokesman for the Center for Responsive Politics.
Lieberman has long defended taking entertainment industry funds. In the fall of 2000, when he was running for vice president, he jumped from ripping the industry at a congressional hearing to praising the industry at a big-money fundraiser shortly afterward.
He has repeatedly said he is a fan of television and movies, but is concerned about the effect of excessive sex and violence on children.
In his re-election fight, his campaign continued to accept donations from industry officials. Among contributors to his re-election were officials from CBS, BET, Microsoft Corp., NBC, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Time Warner, Warner Brothers Television and others.
Asked why he accepted their money, Lieberman first joked, “I really don’t get anything [contributions] from that industry.”
And, he added, taking the donations “obviously doesn’t affect my behavior, and the system allows for anyone who wants to see what I get to view all the donations.”
Lieberman remains a persistent watchdog and often a critic of industry efforts to market violent and sexually explicit games to children. “These games have become an assault on the value system and the structure of our society,” he said last year. “This is having a major effect on our children.”
He and the National Institute on Family and the Media, which studies children’s access to games, team up annually to report on the state of the video game industry. This year, they found game makers more cooperative and major retailers cracking down on underage purchases, but Lieberman said there’s still a long way to go and urged parents to pay more attention to what their children play.
The institute did not cite WWE, which also strongly urges parents to control what their children play and watch, as being behind any of the more violent games, but the group occasionally stirs controversy because of its association with ring violence.
Earlier this month, it had to fight allegations by the father of a 15-year-old in Indonesia that three teens beat his son to death after reportedly practicing WWE’s “Smackdown” game. Authorities rejected the notion that the game was responsible.
“Unfortunately,” said WWE in a statement, “this is not the first time that false allegations of this type have been used to deflect attention away from those directly responsible for the death of a child, and WWE urges caution in making such unsubstantiated, and now repudiated, statements, especially in light of the ongoing police investigation into the actual and true circumstances of this child’s death while in the custody of others.”
Lieberman loyalists point out that much of his entertainment money came from people and venues who agree with his ideology or other policies, or companies known for family-friendly shows, such as Discovery Communications or Haim Sabin, a producer and composer whose credits include the “Power Rangers” series.
The senator also took money recently from gaming-related interests. John Farahi, chief executive officer of Reno’s Atlantis Casino Resort Hotel, was among them, and there was a surge of last-minute contributions from 14 Foxwoods Casino employees and 11 officials of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe, which owns and runs the casino. Farahi could not be reached for comment.
Daniel Little, the tribe’s Washington representative, noted that “any contributions employees made was at their own free will. There was never any pressure to contribute.” He said people were inclined to give to Lieberman not only because he respects tribal sovereignty, but because he has supported the tribe’s homeland security efforts.
Lieberman has the been top Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security Committee and is expected to become the chairman next month.
The Lieberman campaign will reject campaign money it sees as inconsistent with its message. For example, it returned a donation this fall from Richard Scaife, an heir to the Mellon fortune, who was regarded suspiciously by Democrats in the 1990s when he was said to have helped fund the Arkansas Project, which among other things tried to learn details of President Clinton’s extramarital affairs.
“We returned Mr. Scaife’s money because we thought it would be inconsistent for our campaign, which was running against the destructive partisanship that has been plaguing Washington for so many years, to accept a contribution from someone so closely associated with that brand of politics,” said Lieberman campaign manager Sherry Brown.
