The Times-Tribune, Oct. 12

Paper’s lawyers ask FEC to drop GOP complaint

BY BORYS KRAWCZENIUK
STAFF WRITER

The Federal Election Commission should reject a state Republican Party complaint that a Times-Tribune marketing campaign was an illegal contribution to Robert P. Casey’s U.S. senate bid and promoted his election, lawyers for the newspaper and Casey campaign argue in a response.

The “Better Together” marketing campaign, which featured a prototype front page with the headline “Casey to run for Senate,” falls within an exemption to the federal campaign finance law for legitimate press activities and doesn’t advocate Mr. Casey’s election anyway, a newspaper lawyer contends in a letter to the FEC general counsel.

Even without an exemption, merely saying Mr. Casey is running well before the election without advocating for him “cannot constitute a prohibited contribution,” the newspaper’s lawyer wrote. And it is “frivolous” for the state GOP to say that use of the “Better Together” slogan visually promotes the idea that Mr. Casey and the Senate are better together, he wrote.

In a separate letter to the FEC, the Casey campaign’s lawyer argues it did not accept an illegal contribution because the campaign and the newspaper did not coordinate the marketing campaign, which did not happen within 30 days of a primary election or within 60 days of a general election, did not involve Casey election materials and did not “expressly advocate” Mr. Casey’s election.

Mr. Casey, now state treasurer, is the favorite to win the Democrat Senate primary next year and face Sen. Rick Santorum, the likely Republican nominee.

At a reporter’s request, lawyers for the newspaper and the Casey campaign provided the responses, which are normally unavailable until at least after an FEC review is complete.

“The state (Republican) party continues to maintain that (the newspaper) went too far by creating a fictitious ad that potentially gives the impression of an endorsement,” party spokesman Josh Wilson said after a reporter summarized the responses for him.

The FEC general counsel review is preliminary. He will recommend whether the commission should formally investigate.

The marketing campaign with the controversial prototype promoted the newspaper’s June 27 consolidation of its former morning and afternoon papers. It ran for about 2½ months until the end of August.

In mid-August, the state GOP asked the FEC to investigate whether the newspaper’s campaign violated a prohibition against corporate expenditures to federal political candidates and whether the Casey campaign coordinated the campaign with the newspaper and should have disclosed the contribution.

The campaign and Lawrence K. Beaupre, the newspaper’s managing editor, said they never coordinated on the marketing campaign. Mr. Beaupre said he wrote the headline himself to give a “strong local connection” to the prototype, originally intended only for an internal reader focus group.

In its response, the newspaper argues it is not owned or controlled by any political candidate and the marketing campaign was only for promoting the consolidation.

An affidavit by Mr. Beaupre says he wanted “a bland headline that would avoid interfering with the intended focus group process.” The 44-page prototype was the only example available when the newspaper’s advertising agency, Condron & Co., asked for one, he wrote. The “Better Together” slogan was chosen from several suggestions by the advertising agency because it could be supported with the popular 1960s song, “Happy Together” by The Turtles, he wrote.