Ralph Hise « The Progressive Pulse

Candidates – who’s standing by your ads?

November 20, 2012 at 12:24 pmCategory:Uncategorized

If you were fortunate enough in this past election to have someone other than your campaign committee pay for the production of your radio or television ads — or for their air time — you might want to check your disclosures.

In an opinion handed down today, the state Court of Appeals ruled that sponsors of political ads aired on radio or television include both the producers of the message and the buyers of the media time, and that any such ads must disclose both in order to comply with the state’s “stand by your ad” law.

The case arose out of the 2010 battle for the 47th Senate District seat between Democrat Joe Sam Queen and Republican Ralph Hise. Hise won that election, and as we reported earlier, Queen later sued the Hise Committee for failing to disclose in television ads that the Republican party had purchased the air time for those ads.

Both candidates received contributions from their respective parties which they used for ad buys. In Queen’s case, the Democratic party wired money to his campaign committee, which in turn used those funds to buy media time. But for Hise, the Republicans sent funds directly to the media buyer, which then bought air time once Hise approved an ad.

Queen argued that because the Hise committee never had control over those funds, it could not disclose itself as the sponsor of ads; rather, the Republican party should have been identified as the sponsor.

But the Court of Appeals didn’t reach that argument, finding instead that both campaigns failed to comply with the law by not disclosing who paid for both the production and the air time for their respective messages.

“We hold that payment of production costs for the ‘message,’ here the videos, constitutes part of the sponsorship of an
‘advertisement’ under [the law],” wrote Judge Donna Stroud for a unanimous panel. . . . “Thus, where different entities or individuals jointly purchase the message, the air time, portions of either, or both, they must disclose joint sponsorship under this section.”

Because the law requires aggrieved candidates to have otherwise fully complied with its provisions — which Queen did not — he could not recover any damages from Hise.

Judging themselves

October 11, 2012 at 2:37 pmCategory:Uncategorized

by Sharon McCloskey

Here’s an interesting twist to the growing perception that partisanship and private money are creeping into judicial elections: What happens when elected judges are asked to interpret campaign finance rules that have governed their own campaigns?

That’s what’s playing out in a case argued yesterday before a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals involving provisions of the state’s “stand by your ad” law. That law requires candidates or committees to disclose who’s paid for television ads they run.

After the 2010 election, the Friends of Joe Sam Queen — the committee for the Democratic candidate running for the 47th Senate District seat that year — sued his challenger Ralph Hise’s committee and the Republican Executive Committee for violations of that law.

Hise went on to win that seat, and is now seeking re-election. Joe Sam Queen is running for a House seat this year.

In the case before the court, Queen claimed that the Republicans paid for Hise ads but didn’t disclose that, allowing the ads to air instead with the statement “paid for by Ralph Hise for Senate.”

His committee wants to collect the nearly $250,000 Hise paid for those ads as damages, as permitted under the “stand by your ad” law.

But the Hise committee said he paid for the ads by virtue of an account the Republicans had set up with the campaign’s media company, American Media, for the benefit of candidates. The party deposited funds into that account, but only after Hise approved an ad could American Media draw down on that account to pay for air time and expenses. Read More…

Virtual charter schools need to be scrutinized before opening, N.C. commission says

April 5, 2012 at 4:38 pmCategory:Uncategorized

by Sarah Ovaska

A state advisory committee wants to see more information on the virtual charter school industry before the state starts funding any of the online schools.

The N.C. E-Learning Commission, which acts in an advisory role to both N.C. Gov. Bev Perdue and the N.C. State Board of Education, met Thursday morning and passed a recommendation that the state board take a closer look at virtual education before approving any cyber schools.

The committee’s recommendation for a detailed cost analysis, curriculum review and accountability assessment of virtual education programs is expected to be in front of the N.C. State Board of Education by June.

“As we go forward with virtual schools, with charters, I think it’s very important that we do it right,” said Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton, the committee chair (and one of several Democratic candidates for governor).

Funding will be a major issue — nothing now prevents a virtual school from getting the same amount of funding as a brick-and-mortar charter school.