Lamar Advertising breaches DNC contract

Tim Tagaris posted on dKos about the Jean Schmidt billboard. The company who owns the billboard, Lamar Advertising has breached their contract with the DNC.

The contracts had been signed, the ink was dry, television stations had already run stories on the evening news, and national newspapers covered the billboard set for display right outside Jean Schmidt's district office in Portsmouth, Ohio. The company that owned the billboards, Lamar Advertising, had possession of the proof you all saw yesterday for 48 hours plus.[...]

In response to feedback from the grass/netroots, we made some phone calls about placing billboards in locations with greater traffic (ie. Cincinnati). Then this morning, we got a call from Lamar Advertising's Cincinnati district informing us, "I don't like negative ads." It wasn't any more than twenty minutes later that the phone rang again, this time it was Lamar's district office responsible for the ad in Portsmouth, Ohio. The message? They were going to deny placement of the billboard because the content was negative.[...]

Immediately, we dug into FEC reports to find out what relationship this advertising group's directors had with the Republican Party (a la Clear Channel). I didn't find much, until I saw they actually had a Political Action Committee. What in the world was this little company doing with a PAC? The answer? Giving money to Republicans.

To be sure, they have given money to Democrats as well, but only at around a 34% clip during the 2004 election cycle, and only slightly higher between 1998 and 2006. Recipients of their lagresse include: Mike DeWine, Rick Santorum, Jim Talent, and Bob Ney.

Political persuasion withstanding, Lamar Advertising should not have pulled these ads. They are not filled with lies, they aren't even misleading. We want to get the billboards up, seven-thousand individuals contributed financially to get them up, and tens of thousands of Americans wrote letters in support of Congressman John Murtha after Jean Schmidt continued the pattern of serial Republican attacks on decorated veterans.

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