2 television stations to pull ad critical of Sestak
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Responding to charges of inaccuracy from Rep. Joe Sestak's Senate campaign, two Pittsburgh-area television stations have agreed to stop airing a commercial, sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which sharply attacks the Democrat's voting record
Mr. Sestak is running against former U.S. Rep. Pat Toomey for the seat held by Sen. Arlen Specter. The Chamber ad is independent of the Republican's campaign and is an early example of what is certain to be a flood of third-party ads targeting the nationally prominent Senate race. The commercial, which began airing Monday across the state, contends that the Senate nominee "voted with Nancy Pelosi 100 percent of the time" and that he voted for "a government takeover of health care."
In letters of complaint to television stations, the Democrat's campaign charges that both statements are false. Jonathan Dworkin, a spokesman for the Sestak campaign, noted that Mr. Sestak voted against House Speaker Pelosi's position last month on a controversial amendment that would exempt certain lobbying groups from the provisions of the DISCLOSE Act, a proposal to regulate campaign financing. Mr. Sestak's counsel also maintained that the ad falsely characterizes the Obama administration's health care legislation as "a government takeover of health care."
Mr. Dworkin said that Rich Cook, the executive sales manager for WPGH and WPMY, sister stations owned by Sinclair Broadcasting, informed the campaign that they would pull the ads. In correspondence supplied by the campaign, the station executive told Mr. Sestak's attorney that, "At this time, our two stations, WPGH and WPMY, will discontinue airing the Chamber of Commerce commercial. It appears that the ad is false because it is not true that Sestak voted with Pelosi 100 percent of the time."
In a telephone interview late Tuesday, Mr. Cook declined to comment on the issue.
First Published July 15, 2010 12:00 am
