Quinn campaign says it will take down ad
SPRINGFIELD - A recent Internet ad that slams GOP nominee for governor Bill Brady for missing hundreds of votes as a state senator might have crossed ethical lines by lifting footage from the General Assembly's website without permission.
Gov. Pat Quinn's campaign said the ad, which was paid for by the Democratic Governors Association, featured footage captured from the General Assembly's website. The website, however, says, "any use of this broadcast without the prior written consent of the Illinois General Assembly is prohibited."
Quinn campaign spokeswoman Mica Matsoff acknowledged Tuesday the group didn't seek permission, calling it "an oversight." She said the ad would be taken down and changed.
Meanwhile, General Assembly officials are looking into the matter.
Steve Brown, a spokesman for Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, a Democrat, said he would contact the House's lawyers to see what the next course of action would be.
"We have a policy that prohibits this video for any purpose like that," he said. "They would not have gotten permission."
A spokeswoman for the Democratic Governors Association has not responded to repeated calls and messages from the Daily Herald over the past week.
In addition to the General Assembly's policy, state law clearly prohibits the use of public resources for political purposes. The use of this footage in a political ad could fall into a gray area, said Ronald Michaelson, a political consultant and former executive director of the Illinois State Board of Elections.
"This is a little obtuse, but I suppose one could argue this was public material," he said. "This was footage produced by a public agency."
The ad purports to show the Illinois Senate in action, featuring footage from the General Assembly and zooming toward an empty chair, which the viewer is led to believe is Brady's.
However, the chamber featured is the Illinois House, not the Senate, which is on the opposite side of the Illinois Capitol.
The empty seat spotlighted is that of Lake County Republican state Rep. Sandy Cole, not Brady.
The audio overdubbed, however, is from the Senate.
Matsoff said the ad wasn't meant to be a historical account of what happened on a certain day in the General Assembly.
"It was not intended to be video evidence, it was intended to be symbolism," she said.
Brady's campaign spokeswoman called it more of the same from Democrats.
"The Quinn campaign apparatus - and the DGA on its behalf - has again shown its willingness to distort the truth. The people of Illinois are tired of this same old politics as usual," said spokeswoman Patty Schuh.
The anti-Brady ad came in the wake of a Daily Herald story that revealed the Bloomington state senator had missed hundreds of votes in the General Assembly while out campaigning for governor.
The ad also featured a list of Brady's missed votes, which was copied verbatim - without credit - from the Daily Herald's political blog.
Brady has since said he won't accept any travel reimbursements for days where he missed any votes.