Republicans Who Don't Care. . . About Following the Law
A group going by the name "Republicans Who Care Individual Fund," which is a successor to to the infamous Main Street Individual Fund, is running a new ad in Rhode Island that is highly illegal because it has no spoken disclaimer and two of the required four written disclaimers are missing.
The group's commercial uses those valuable seconds that are supposed to be used to speak the disclaimer - approximately 15 percent of the commercial running time - to say something else, giving it an unfair advantage over other organizations that comply with the law.
What it comes down to is this. "Republicans Who Care" is cheating. By cutting the ad this way, they effectively get to run a longer ad than the person they are talking about since they do not have to waste precious screen time on government-mandated speech.
Speech restrictions that the group publicly supports.
Here are the details to prove their mulitiple violations.
According to FEC regulations, the spoken disclaimer must comply as follows:
A communication transmitted through radio or television or through any broadcast, cable, or satellite transmission, must include the following audio statement, ``XXX is responsible for the content of this advertising,'' spoken clearly, with the blank to be filled in with the name of the political committee or other person paying for the communication.
You can see this for yourself by scrolling down to page 177 of this FEC regulation 110.11c(4)(i) to confirm this from the Government Printing Office (GPO) website.
The written disclaimer must say four things:
1. Who paid. It is in the ad.
2. How to contact the group. Also in the ad.
3. "XXX is responsible for the content of this advertising." Not in the ad.
4. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. Not in the ad.
(iii) A communication transmitted through television or through any broadcast, cable, or satellite transmission, must also include a similar statement that must appear in clearly readable writing at the end of the communication.
Also see regulation 110.11(b)(3) (top of page 176):
(3) If the communication, including any solicitation, is not authorized by a candidate, authorized committee of a candidate, or an agent of either of the foregoing, the disclaimer must clearly state the full name and permanent street address, telephone number, or World Wide Web address of the person who paid for the communication, and that the communication is not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.
So the ad also flunks 2 of the 4 written disclaimers.
