"All Citizens for Mississippi" is the stated sponsor of a :90 radio ad delivered by Pastor Arthur L. Siggers of Mt. Olive Baptist Church, who says there's an effort "to roll back the hands of time," with Chris McDaniel so urges people to vote for Thad Cochran who's been good for "black folk." "All Citizens for Mississippi" has yet to file required FEC documents.
7/9/14, "NRSC Funds Another Preacher in Cochran Race Baiting Scheme," Charles C. Johnson, GotNews.com
"Gotnews.com
has exclusively obtained another "All Citizens for Mississippi" radio
ad from conservative media consultant Rick Shaftan, who stands by his
allegation that these ads were paid for by media buyer Jon Ferrell at
National Media of Alexandria, Virginia using funds provided by the
National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC).
The ad accuses McDaniel of intending to "roll back the hands of time," highlights Cochran's record of "supporting black farmers" and a list of several historically black universities, and concludes with "I urge you to vote Thad Cochran June 24th. He's been good for Mississippi. He's been good for black folk." Siggers, like Crudup, mispronounces McDaniel's name by adding an "s" at the end.
The Siggers ad ran 18 times on WRTM-FM in Jackson at a cost of $558 dollars, part of an $1,170 buy that also included 34 runs of the 60 second ad featuring Crudup.
6/14 Miss. radio buy by NRSC media buyer in Va. |
Unlike the Crudup ad, this spot does include the required legal disclaimer.
"This one has the disclaimer," Shaftan noted. "But it sounds slapped together and the audio is noticeably slowed to stretch the spot to 90 seconds. It's shocking a major national media buying firm would produce a creative of such low quality. But it was in fact paid for by the NRSC's media buyer, Jon Ferrell"
NRSC media buyer Ferrell signs 6/20/14 Miss. radio buy |
"We keep finding these racially-charged ads that were ordered by the NRSC's media buyer on the exact day the NRSC's $13,000 for 'media production,' $69,000 for 'media', and $93,000 for 'telephone calls' went in," Shaftan said. "And the excuses from NRSC that they used the money to make a giant 'digital only' buy behind an amateurish web video is an insult to anyone with a brain."
"The fact that they actually deleted one of their 'online ads' yesterday is even more proof the funds were diverted to 'All Citizens for Mississippi,'" Shaftan added.
The ad was removed from Facebook for approximately six hours yesterday, but appears to have been restored and can be seen here. The ad is clearly a negative message opposing McDaniel, which is inconsistent with the NRSC's FEC disclosure reporting a positive expenditure supporting Cochran.
NRSC $13,000 Media for Cochran runoff, 6/20/14 |
RedState's Erick Erickson and TheHayride's Scott McKay have talked to several media buying experts who agree with Shaftan's assessment that it would have been impossible for the NRSC to spend such large amounts of money on "digital only" advertising in the four days between their June 20 buy and the June 24 election.
Multiple requests to the NRSC and to Jon Ferrell of National Media for interviews and for documentation supporting their claims that the NRSC funds were used for "web ads" have not been returned. Messages left for the officers of All Citizens for Mississippi at the New Horizon Church International, where the Super PAC is headquartered, have also not been returned. The group has still not filed any of its legally required disclosures with the Federal Elections Commission.
"I'm more convinced than ever that donations raised from conservatives in the name of winning Republican control of the Senate were fraudulently diverted to pay for racial attacks on conservative Chris McDaniel through this illegal Super PAC," Shaftan said. "If I'm right, all of these people will end up in orange suits.""
Following is pro-Cochran radio ad by a "PAC" that hasn't filed required documents with the Federal Election Commission.
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More on "All Citizens for Mississippi" from NY Times, 6/16/14: Address listed for Cochran campaign PAC "All Citizens for Mississippi" is New Horizon Church. Church risks losing favorable tax status:
NY Times twitter |
6/16/14, "A Church-PAC Link Raises Questions in Mississippi," NY Times, Derek Willis, The Upshot
"The full-page advertisement in Mississippi Link,
[bottom of pg.] a weekly newspaper aimed at black residents of Jackson, the state’s
capital, urged readers to vote for Senator Thad Cochran in the June 3
Republican primary.
That
might be unremarkable except for one thing: The political action
committee that paid for the ad
shares an address and leadership with a
local church.
“All Citizens for Mississippi” did not appear to exist at the time of the ad’s publication. Its registration as a super PAC
with the Federal Election Commission was posted online last week and
contains one important clue about its origins. All Citizens for
Mississippi shares an address with New Horizon Church International in Jackson and also names Jacqueline Vann, the church’s chief financial officer, as its treasurer.
If
church resources were used by the PAC, that could be “potentially
problematic" for the church, said Michael Toner, a partner at the Wiley
Rein law firm and a former F.E.C. chairman. “The people who are
associated with churches, you can be involved in politics, but need to
do so in your personal capacity. That’s the dividing line: Is it in
their personal capacity?”
The danger for the church is that it, like other I.R.S.-approved charities, could lose its tax status if it participates in a political campaign,
whether for or against a candidate. The advertisement appears to have
appeared around the same time the group’s F.E.C. registration form was
filled out, but the PAC has not filed an independent expenditure report
describing the expenditure or any reports listing its donors. An email
and a phone call to Ms. Vann at the church’s offices were not
immediately returned.
.
.
The
ad, with a big picture of a smiling Mr. Cochran, asked Democrats to
vote for him. It cited the senator as having received praise from
Democrats and Republicans alike for providing more than $18 million to
Mississippi’s historically black colleges and universities.
“The
decision on who is going to be our next senator is going to be made in
the republican primary,” the text at the bottom of the ad reads, keeping
the names of the political parties in lowercase. “We’re asking
democrats to cross over and vote in the republican primary to ensure our
community’s interest is heard.”
Mr. Cochran was unable to win a majority of votes in the Republican primary June 3. He faces Chris McDaniel, a state senator, in a June 24 runoff election."
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Derek Willis NY Times Twitter
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Derek Willis NY Times Twitter
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Filed for organization at Church address, 6/6/14:
An African-American church shilling for the
likes of Thad Cochran: Is there a better indication that electoral
politics is irreparably broken?"
Isn't it time to close the loophole for
'churches?' So many people are abusing the tax code; churches who want
to weigh in on politics and many more who just fraudulently claim to be a
"church." Even if they were cheating, why should religious
organizations be tax-exempt anyway? Do not they also get the advantages
of doing their business in America? If so, they should contribute."
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