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Ad for Schaffer could add up

Udall camp wants stations to charge rival higher rates

By Lynn Bartels, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published September 12, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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Republican Bob Schaffer's Senate campaign is again embroiled in a controversy over a television ad - but this time for something that doesn't appear on the viewer's screen.

Democrat Mark Udall's campaign says Schaffer violated federal law by not having the candidate's image appear in the final four seconds of the new TV ad on taxes.

Udall's attorneys asked Colorado's TV stations on Thursday to enforce a provision of the law that says that requirement must be met for campaigns to get the discount rates that TV stations charge candidates.

"From now until Election Day your station should charge Schaffer and his campaign committee the same rate for broadcast time that it charges nonpolitical advertisers for comparable use," the attorneys wrote to station managers.

Schaffer's campaign manager, Dick Wadhams, called the request "legal bull---- from the Democrats." The campaign wrote a rebuttal letter to TV stations.

At least one station from Grand Junction stopped the Schaffer ad from running Thursday night.

Schaffer's campaign consultant, Walt Klein, said the only problem with the ad is that Udall doesn't like it.

"He doesn't like having his tax-raising record exposed," Klein said.

But Udall's campaign spokeswoman, Tara Trujillo, said the law is clear. If the stations comply, she said, Schaffer's $2.7 million ad buy would end up costing him an additional $1.7 million.

The ad is Schaffer's second TV commercial. A portion of his first one had to be reshot after it featured Mount McKinley in Alaska in a reference to Pikes Peak in Colorado Springs.

Trujillo called the ads "sloppy."

"At this point, Schaffer's donors have to be second-guessing their investment, especially when they realize that the high point of Bob's two commercials is when he mistook Mount McKinley for Pikes Peak," she said.

"Two candidates. Two very different records on taxes," an announcer says in the new ad. "Boulder liberal Mark Udall likes higher taxes."

The ad mentions various tax increases Udall is said to have approved. Schaffer then appears.

"As your senator, I'll fight to stop higher taxes and get spending under control. I'm Bob Schaffer and I approved this message because higher taxes are not the solution."

The final portion of the spot features an announcer and a written disclaimer that Schaffer approved the ad, but no image.

Comments

  • September 12, 2008

    3:32 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    I.love.my.kids writes:

    Typical Democrat techniques. This brought to you by the candidate (udall) and party (dem) that doesn't support private ballots for union workers (Employee Free Choice Act), promotes energy policies that hold the consumer hostage with high gas prices, and will raise your taxes through the roof. Good ads or bad ads, Udall isn't qualified to represent this state in the Senate.

  • September 12, 2008

    3:55 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    CoAvsFan12 writes:

    Seriously… can the democrats EVER bring qualified candidates to the table? Ritter, then Obama and now Udall??? Come on! They aren’t qualified enough, much less supportive of Coloradans and the workforce. The EFCA is unbelievable and bad for everyone who believes in the sanctity of the private vote!!!