UPDATE #2: MDE EXCLUSIVE: COLEEN ROWLEY FOR SENATE?
According to my good friend Trillin at MN Lefty Liberal, he e-mailed Coleen Rowley and asked her about my post. She responded with:
"This is ridiculous. Of course I'm running for Congress, specifically CD-2. It's possible that someone made a mistake on background info and had to cross off "Senate" and put "Congress," but if so, it was just a typo. I don't understand why anyone would over-react to something so small. Coleen"
I don't think it is "ridiculous" to assume if a piece of campaign literature reads "Coleen Rowley for Senate" that she is in fact running for the U.S. Senate.
I am also concerned that she doesn't know who prepared her campaign literature. There is no disclaimer on the literature piece I was sent, which is a violation of Federal Election Law.
Who paid for Rowley's literature?
"This is ridiculous. Of course I'm running for Congress, specifically CD-2. It's possible that someone made a mistake on background info and had to cross off "Senate" and put "Congress," but if so, it was just a typo. I don't understand why anyone would over-react to something so small. Coleen"
I don't think it is "ridiculous" to assume if a piece of campaign literature reads "Coleen Rowley for Senate" that she is in fact running for the U.S. Senate.
I am also concerned that she doesn't know who prepared her campaign literature. There is no disclaimer on the literature piece I was sent, which is a violation of Federal Election Law.
Who paid for Rowley's literature?
24 Comments:
Well…you know what they say…ignorance is bliss!
Is it at all possible that it was a DFL lit piece, created by someone who was just writing a bio on Kelly Doran or Amy Klobuchar, and used the same template to do Rowley's piece, and simply made a small mistake and didn't change the word in the header?
No, for the readers of MDE it must be the most complicated explanation possible. Either she is secretly running for U.S. Senate, or the DFL is so stupid that they actually thought she was running for Senate. Right?
Give me a break and find something that isn't a complete waste of time.
Either she is secretly running for U.S. Senate, or the DFL is so stupid that they actually thought she was running for Senate. Right? Correct!
See, since you picked up that lit within the DFL booth, it would be hard to argue before the FEC that you didn't know who paid for it. Frankly if it was mailed out or even handed out by the party or her campaign, then whomever produced it should say that they paid for it.
Neat bit of trivia: Literature and newspaper ads, as long as they were produced and paid for by that individual, do not have to have any sort of attribution of who created them. I doubt this is the case with Rowley (see reason above) though.
If you want some examples of MN GOP campaign lit that has no attribution to expose on your site, let me know.
MDE, see that quote that you used was clearly me being sarcastic, as indiccated in the sentense preceeding it.
Micah: Here is a neat bit of trivia: You are wrong.
Newspaper ads and literature need disclaimers. I did provide a link to the FEC's website.
"Literature and newspaper ads, as long as they were produced and paid for by that individual, do not have to have any sort of attribution of who created them."
I am right, I was talking about individuals producing literature. I meant to make it more clear, and for not doing so I'm sorry.
This means that I could pay for a newspaper ad telling people to vote for Mark Kennedy and not have to disclose in the ad that I paid for it. If Mark Kennedy or the MNGOP did so though, they would have to disclose that. Same thing with lit, anonymous individual political speech is protected by the USSC.
Did an individual or did the DFL create the literature?
Micah are you saying the DFL made illegal lit for an unendorsed candidate?
Wow, the plot thinkens.
Republican Minnesota, I think you scared Micah away.
I think you miss the point from my first post. You picked up this information from the DFL booth! There is a HUGE difference, seeing as how it was not lit that was mailed out or handed out (distributed on the street) at the fair. You knew where it was coming from since they had it at the DFL booth. Assuming the DFL printed this, as long as they were not A) posting it on phone polls B) handing it out on the street to fair-goers or C) Mailed it out, THEN THEY LEGALLY DON'T HAVE TO DISCLOSE WHO PAID FOR IT! I'm not sure how much you know about federal campaign laws and FEC regulations, but based on what your posts said, nothing illegal took place here.
Go to your FEC link, show me where this would be illegal. Actually, better yet, please call some GOP lawyers, ask them to put in a few hours looking into this!
BTW: My trivia had nothing to do with this at all.
I'll do the work for you:
Public communications include electioneering communications and any communication made using the following media:
· Broadcast, cable or satellite;
· Newspaper or magazine;
· Outdoor advertising facility;
· Mass mailing (more than 500 substantially similar mailings within 30 days);
· Phone bank (more than 500 substantially similar calls within 30 days).
Where I picked it up has nothing to do with who paid for it or change the need for a disclaimer to be on the document. If the DFL created the document, then the DFL needed to put a disclaimer on it.
Micah, you are just wrong.
When Disclaimer Not Required
A disclaimer is not required when:
• It cannot be conveniently printed (e.g., pens, bumper stickers, campaign pins, campaign buttons and similar small items);
• Its display is not practicable (e.g., wearing apparel, water towers and skywriting); or
• The item is of minimal value, does not contain a political message and is used for administrative purposes (e.g., checks and receipts). 110.11(f).
On printed materials, the disclaimer notice must appear within a printed box set apart from the other contents in the communication. The print must be of a sufficient type-size to be clearly readable by the recipient of the communication, and the print must have a reasonable degree of color contrast between the background and the printed statement. 11 CFR 110.11(c)(2)(i), (ii) and (iii).
Example:
Paid for by the Save the Seahorses Committee and authorized by the
McKay for Senate Committee.
As long as the disclaimer appears somewhere within the communication it does not have to appear on the front page or cover of multiple-paged documents. However, in the case of single-sided documents and billboards, the disclaimer must appear on the front. 11 CFR 110.11(c)(2)(iv).
Right, those are all for "public communications". This was something that you picked up at the DFL booth, they were not just handing them out to the public.
But again, please try to get MNGOP to hire some lawyers to look into this... Like put $500,000 into a legal fund for them to bring this before the FEC. It may take two years, but if really think you are right, it could result in the DFL paying a couple hundred or thousand dollars in fines and told not to do it again. It's simply not going to happen and I'm getting a little tired of explaining the finer points of election laws to republicans.
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Micah, you are just wrong. It needs a disclaimer. There is no reason it does not need a disclaimer.
Again this is from the FEC:
When is a Disclaimer Not Required?
Although the FEC recommends that disclaimer notices be included on all campaign materials, the notices are not required in the following situations.
Disclaimer Placement is Inconvenient
In situations where a disclaimer notice cannot be conveniently printed, the notice is not required. This provision affects items such as pens, bumper stickers, campaign pins, campaign buttons and similar small items. Further, a disclaimer notice is not required for communications using skywriting, clothing, water towers or other forms of advertisement where it would be impracticable to display the disclaimer notice. 11 CFR 110.11(f) (See also AO 2002-9.)
Internal Corporate/Labor Communications
A disclaimer notice is not required for solicitations or communications made by a separate segregated fund or connected organization to its "restricted class." 6
Materials Used for Administrative Purposes Only
A disclaimer notice is not required on checks, receipts or similar items of minimal value that do not include a political message and are used only for administrative purposes. 11 CFR 110.11(f)(1)(iii).
Micah, I know it must be tough to defend Rowley's stupidity. I think you may have exposed more than you wanted to about your knowledge of this document.
Micah, last I checked the State Fair was pretty public. Some 1.3 million patrons a year.
MDE: I was just searching your DFL competitors' sites and you put them to shame ... most of them don't even update regularly.
Micah: Did the DFL create Rowley's literature?
Lucy N: Thanks for your comments. DFLers provide me with so much free material.
Micah: I think you should answer Lucy's question.
Lucy, I have no idea who created the lit. I live in Virginia now and I haven't been to the DFL booth or HQ in more than 2 years. You would have to ask them. Or, get a whole team of GOP lawyers to look into it.
I hope you are getting a cut from the gucci bag spam above...
Regardless of what is supposed to be on the literature, does anyone else see the irony of MDE clamoring for Rowley's campaign to identify itself on a hand out, when he refuses to identify himself?
Michael M said...
Regardless of what is supposed to be on the literature, does anyone else see the irony of MDE clamoring for Rowley's campaign to identify itself on a hand out, when he refuses to identify himself?
No...not really since he isn't running for political office that I am aware of.
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