Quinn, Dems mum on attack ad
Despite repeated calls the Democratic Governors Association over the last week, we haven't received word on how the organization obtained footage of what's supposed to be the Illinois Senate used in a recent attack against GOP nominee for governor Bill Brady. The DGA used the footage, highlighting a Daily Herald story that revealed that Brady had missed hundreds of votes while campaigning for governor.
The problem with the ad is that it's not the Senate in the ad. It's the House — the wrong chamber in the Illinois Capitol. The video also zooms into an empty chair, which the viewer is led to believe is Brady's. The empty seat, however, would be that of Lake County Republican Sandy Cole. (she was out sick)
Oops.
The footage is from Gov. Pat Quinn's budget address with state Sen. Rickey Hendon's voice overdubbed. The Daily Herald has yet to determine whether the audio or video in question was state footage, but a spokesman for House Speaker Michael Madigan has told us there is a long-standing policy forbidding use of official state footage and audio from the General Assembly's proceedings for political purposes.
Quinn campaign's spokeswoman also hasn't responded to e-mails or phone calls on the topic.
In a race in which ethical leadership is supposed to be a top priority, that's a lot of silence from Quinn and the Democratic Governors Association on what should be an easy question: Where'd you get the material?
Here’s the ad in case you haven’t seen it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjtCCBPhKNQ&feature=player_embedded
-- Timothy Magaw, Daily Herald Springfield bureau
Are you expecting the Quinn campaign should have let the facts get in the way of their political agenda? As if these political commercials are anything but slime filled smears that entirely lack basis in fact?
I don't blame Quinn for using tactics that are so effective on the labotomized electorate in urban and suburban Illinois. Uneducated, half-educated and agenda driven union voters are why all the taxPAYERS are in stunned amazement that they are outnumbered now by taxTAKERS.
We don't need spending reform, we need voting reform, with more proportionality in voting given to the people who PAY as opposed to the masses that TAKE.
Rich Whitney is also running for Governor on the Green Party Ticket. Go look him up. He is SO MUCH better than these other two!
Why not get it right?
Yes they are OUR employees. Paid by taxpayers. That's why it's not supposed to be in campaign ads. Which is why we want to know where they got it. The fact that they can't immediately answer that seems curious.
Do you really think this is a big deal? I would say that was a sloppy, but an immaterial mistake. The mistake would do nothing to unethically mislead anyone about the ad's message. Plus, I believe the text at the beginning of the ad said "general assembly."
As far as where the video came from, I have no idea. But considering that every 12 year old kid seems to have a phone with video capability, I wouldn't be quick to assume any monkey business in this high tech age. Frankly I don't know why video feed from the floor shouldn't be easily available anyway. Those folks are OUR employees.