CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Political sparring continued Wednesday between the U.S. Senate campaigns of Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito and Secretary of State Natalie Tennant over ad Tennant’s campaign began running this week.
A Washington, D.C. law firm representing the Capito campaign sent a letter to television stations in West Virginia calling on them to “inform your viewers about the false statements contained in the Tennant Campaign’s deceptive advertisement.”
West Virginia Broadcasters Association attorney Dave Barnette said the wording of the letter indicates the law firm knows the stations can’t censor the ad because it’s a first-party ad, an ad paid for by the candidate.
“There’s really nothing the stations can do,” Barnette said.
The letter said the stations have an “obligation to operate in the public interest.”
Barnette said the stations could choose to do a news story about the controversy but that’s about it.
“When a candidate places an ad with a station and pays for that ad we are not allowed to censor the ad unless the ad contains outrageous, obscene or inappropriate material,” Barnette said.
The ad claims Capito gave her husband insider tips during the 2008 financial crisis and the couple made more than $100,000 while “West Virginians were losing their jobs and savings to Wall Street.”
Tennant campaign spokesperson Jennifer Donohue said Capito’s actions showed a pattern of behavior and she cannot be trusted. Capito spokesman Kent Gates said the allegations made in the ad “were proven false long ago.”
WVBA attorney Barnette cited attorney-client privilege when asked on MetroNews Talkline Wednesday what his advice was to television stations. He did say these types of issues have been dealt with before.
“In a general context if there was a letter of this type received for a first-party ad, stations would be well-advised to run the ad,” he said.
The campaigns were also busy on other fronts Wednesday with Tennant’s campaign producing a video it said showed Capito in support of Wall Street bonuses. Capito’s camp put out a release criticizing Tennant for her part in a Kanawha County ballot controversy argued Tuesday before the state Supreme Court.