(photo via Stan Donaldson, The Plain Dealer)
Mitt Romney was once the head honcho at Bain Capital. Bain Capital owns Clear Channel. Clear Channel includes both the radio network, and an outdoor billboard division.
On the radio side, Clear Channel syndicates Romney supporters Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Glenn Beck through its Premiere Networks subsidiary.
On the billboard side, Clear Channel is being accused of acquiescence to voter suppression because of billboards in minority neighborhoods allegedly containing messages intended to intimidate minority voters.
(photo from article about similar 2010 billboard, Journal Sentinel)
The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law has sent a letter to Clear Channel demanding removal of the billboards, and is asking the public to do the same via petition on their web page. Cleveland.com has just published more information indicating that voting age populations in the neighborhoods around some of the signs are 96 percent black, 88 percent black, and 76 percent black.
This news story has also been covered by Politics Nation on MSNBC, Bob Ceska, and other media. No one seems to know who the "out of town" billboard buyer might be, except that they were paid for "by a private family foundation". An Associated Press story says "Clear Channel Outdoor operates the billboards and says it's not responsible for the language". The relevant question becomes, just what does Clear Channel know, and what is Clear Channel responsible for?
And note the very different message that beams out from Clear Channel billboards in Harris County, Texas, where 57 percent of the populace is white:
Harris County Clerk Stan Stanart and Harris County Commissioner Steve Radack in partnership with Clear Channel VP Lee Vela, unveiled a countywide billboard campaign Oct. 1 promoting early voting among the 1.95 million registered voters in the nation’s third largest voting jurisdiction.
(photo from yourhoustonnews.com)
As the Reverend Al Sharpton says on his news segment about the voter suppression billboards, with all that is at stake in this election, "you should be afraid NOT to vote".
