By now, many of you are aware of the situation surrounding the grassroots funded billboards the Democratic National Committee attempted to put up in Ohio's 2nd Congressional District--home of Jean Schmidt. Long story short, after Jean Schmidt called Congressman Murtha a coward on the House floor, many of you said, "enough is enough." It was suggested that the DNC put up billboards in the districts of congressmen and -women who disparage the service of veterans in pursuit of getting elected or promoting the failed Iraq non-strategy/strategy, "stay the course."
The billboard was rejected by Lamar advertising because of it's content, which they deemed negative: "Shame on You Jean Schmidt. Stop Attacking Veterans (In huge letters). Keep Your Eye on the Ball -- We Need a Real Plan for Iraq."
They had the artwork for 48 hours before the rejection, contract were signed for 24 hours plus, and everything seemed to be moving along without trouble. Then, we received phone calls from Lamar's Cincinnati and Huntington, West Virginia offices within 30 minutes letting us know about the they wouldn't be running the ads. They let the DNC know that Lamar Advertising, the upstanding corporation that they are, doesn't run negative ads...
Unless, of course, you are a "Lunatic Athiest" or "Their Lawyers."
More important than Lamar's hypocrisy (or PAC that contributed a signifcant majority to Republicans), we responded to many of your suggestions about how to spend portions of the funds contributed to put the billboard up in Jean Schmidt's district. From an email that just went out:
If they had honored their obligations, there would be two billboards up right now outside Jean Schmidt's district office. They didn't. But if it was the message they were worried about, that message will now be amplified far louder because of their actions.
During the next week we will purchase full-page newspaper ads in local newspapers and just so everyone is sure to get the message -- a mobile billboard will hit the streets in the 2nd district.
And to gear up Democratic organization in Schmidt's district (she won her seat by just a few thousand votes), in the coming weeks we will hold a special grassroots organizer training to help local Democrats get an early start on the ground game that will be decisive in November.
This should be a warning to Republicans that shameless attacks will not be tolerated. We will respond in every state, every city and every precinct. The Democratic Party will fight for our values everywhere, and we will compete and win everywhere.
We thought it was important for you to know how your money was being spent, since Lamar will not be getting a dime of it.
Tim
