As local TV by and large champs at the bit for political money, three Wisconsin stations have pulled a conservative PAC’s ad alleging former U.S. Sen. (and current candidate) Russ Feingold ignored the rampant over-prescription of opiates at a VA medical center while in office.
Daniel Bice, the MilwaukeeJournal Sentinel’s watchdog columnist, reports two Sinclair stations – WMSN Madison and WLUK Green Bay – and Scripps’ WGBA, also in Green Bay, pulled the ad after receiving a letter from Feingold’s lawyers calling it "false, misleading and deceptive."
"For the sake of both FCC licensing requirements and the public interest, your station must immediately cease airing this advertisement," the letter said.
The ad from Freedom Partners Action Fund, a group backing the reelection of U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, claims Feingold ignored a 2009 memo detailing the problem at the Tomah VA Medical Center. Feingold, whom Johnson unseated in 2010, says he did not receive it at the time, Bice reports.
The $2 million ad spend is being funded by conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch, according to Bice. The commercial is not running in Milwaukee, the state’s largest market.
