A PAC targeted this Lexington council member with negative ads. Why did it backfire? | Opinion

Kentucky's elections featured two races in which well-funded special interests invested in negative and misleading advertising.

And neither one worked at all.

Amendment 2 — which would have rewritten the Constitution to allow public school funding to go to private schools — f ailed by even larger margins than expected , losing by 30 percentage points, including in every county in the state.

This was despite at least $8 million from school choice groups from within and outside of Kentucky, and a raft of mailers that promised the amendment would raise teacher pay and improve school funding.

The other example is in Lexington, where the Protect Lex political action committee targeted Liz Sheehan , a council member representing District 5 in the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council.

They ran ads criticizing her vote as one of 12 council members who voted to expand the Urban Service Boundary last year, intimating that city taxpayers would have to pick up a $500 million development tag, even though developers usually bear most of that burden.

It was an unusual and noteworthy development because the non-partisan council does not usually see this kind of political warfare.

Sheehan beat her challenger, Meredith Price, by 20 percentage points.

Negative ads do work in many cases. But in these two wildly different races, it's interesting the way voters saw through the opposition.

On Amendment 2, they clearly understood that school choice meant nothing in numerous rural districts where there are no private schools. They were clearly concerned about changing the constitutional rules on school funding.

In District 5, they saw a hard-working incumbent who made a complicated decision on a complicated issue.

"It was one vote," said Jennifer Mossotti, a former council member who served for 16 years. "She works hard, she has a lot of respect. Incumbency helps, name recognition helps. I didn't support that vote either, but I support her as a candidate."

Amanda Mays Bledsoe, a former council member who is now a Republican state senator, said Sheehan is known for helping her constituents.

"It's takes a lot for that to be overcome by an issue," Bledsoe said. "They might disagree with her vote, but they are generally pleased with how she's doing her job, and have a relationship with her that's positive."

Working relationships

What's not so positive is Sheehan's relationship with farmland preservation groups post-election. In an interview on Wednesday, Sheehan said she's worked with these groups frequently, and supported many of the things they do, such as zoning changes that upgrade density inside the Urban Service Area.

"In the grand scheme of things, I've been very supportive," Sheehan said. "It felt personal to me because I know how much I've done to support their advocacy. It felt hurtful to me."

Sheehan referred specifically to the Fayette Alliance. Their former board chair and current member Greg Goodman has been the primary donor to Protect Lex, with him and family members giving at least $50,000 so far.

Protect Lex made negative ads about Sheehan, and Brenda Monarrez, who also voted for expansion, but lost on Tuesday after a long saga involving a personal dispute with another council member.

Protect Lex did not target two other council members who voted for expansion in their re-election campaigns, Tayna Fogle and Shayla Lynch.

But Protect Lex has no regrets, apparently.

On Thursday, Chairman Charlie Rowland said his group was encouraged by council results.

"Based on the results, we feel our message, across multiple district council races, of elevating the importance of land use issues in Lexington elections was effectively communicated," he said. "Land use will continue to be a critical issue in Lexington. Both citizens and their elected representatives deserve to be informed of the facts and work collectively to address difficult decisions through data-driven decision making.

Certainly growth issues won't get easier, just more combative.

"I'm going to continue to be someone who does my homework, but there are other folks who work in ag spaces that I can talk to, so I will think about that very carefully as I'm going forward," Sheehan said. "I won't block anyone, but I also think this really did hurt our working relationship."

On the Lexington front, advocacy groups can take any number of lessons from this election.

They can keep targeting council members for votes they don't like, and see if it works any better the next time around.

Or, they can stick to endorsements and positive support for candidates they like, and maintain relationships with council members who understand the complexity of the many issues before them.

As for Amendment 2, it's always good to remember that while people may complain about public education, they mostly love their own schools. Voters understood the threat the amendment posed to school funding, and understood the numerous mailers were gaslighting them by telling them the opposite.

All the money in the world couldn't change that.

"Negative ads can work but people also see through them," said former Mayor Jim Gray, who is now the Secretary of Transportation.

"Voters still want to hear thoughtful discussion and debate and conversation. Both of those races proved that the voter is going to consider the issue and the candidate very carefully."