Republicans ask TV stations to pull ads by liberal group [View All]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2004/03/05/politics1758EST0704.DTL

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Republican National Committee on Friday asked about 250 television stations to pull a liberal group's ads critical of President Bush.

The RNC sent the stations a letter Friday suggesting the outlets may be complicit in breaking campaign finance laws if they air the MoveOn.org Voter Fund ads. It asked them to decline to broadcast the ads.

The RNC argues that the group, financed by so-called "soft money," is spending it on ads to influence a federal election. The campaign finance law broadly bars the use of such corporate, union and unlimited donations to influence federal elections.

... In the letter, RNC chief counsel Jill Holtzman Vogel wrote, "As a broadcaster licensed by the Federal Communications Commission, you have a responsibility to the viewing public and to your licensing agency to refrain from complicity in any illegal activity, specifically in this case, violations of our nation's federal election laws."

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This intimidation is disgusting and un-American.