Ed. note: I have edited this post to correct an important inaccuracy, namely, that the Cape Cod Times placed the ad. It did not – as far as I can tell, the Cape Cod Times has nothing to do with Cape Cod Today, the entity that placed the ad. –David
in violation of the State Campaign laws. Clearly the photograph of Clinton and Patrick to the right is a political advertisement for Deval Patrick .It has been posted on the Blue mass site for a number of weeks. When I first objected to the ad , I was told by David that if I did not like the ad I could also could buy an ad to support my own candidate. Seemed perfectly fair and logical to me. So I then researched the idea of placing my own ad . I was told under the state campaign finance law, it would be illegal for me to personally pay for an an ad to support a candidate, unless no more than the aggregate of my prior donations to the candidate plus the cost of the ad did not exceed $500. Since, I have already maxxed out my $500 with a number of candidates ,I could not use my own funds.
But, more to the point. When I asked if it was the same rule for a business contributer,they said it was absolutely ILLEGAL for a business to make political donations either directly or indirectly to a candidate. For that reason, anyone who has ever given money to a political candidate understands that the check must always be a personal check.
If the Cape Cod Times Cape Cod Today is paying Blue Mass for this ad it is making an illegal campaign contribution because of the continued image of Patrick and Clinton. “If it looks like a duck but doesn’t quack like a duck its still a duck”, so please don’t suggest that the image simply suggests that Clinton and Patrick met one day and shook hands. Its portraying some type of Clinton endorsement of Patrick . ITS A POLITICAL ADVERTISEMENT.
I therefore strongly urge you to reconsider removing this obvious political advertisement. Otherwise the Cape Cod Times Cape Cod Today should also depict Mihos, Reilly and Healy for the same amount of time that Patrick is depicted in similiar photos..
Let me ask you this, have you researched to see if Cape Cod today has placed ads on other sites that have Reilly, Mihos or Healey?
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Also, maybe they plan on doing a Reilly ad for equal time in the future.
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If not, then you can take the complaint to the office of campaign finance or whoever monitors election finance in MA. Right now, the complaining seems a little premature.
you may want to check your facts further before you post again. I believe businesses that are DBA’s are allowed to make contributions, corporations are not.
Poor “rightmiddleleft” should do two things a.s.a.p.
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1- go back to third grade and learn how to read: the ad (opposite on the right) is for my online newspaper http://capecodtoday.com and not the Cape Cod Times or any polical ad or site.
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2. If “rightmiddleleft” had bothered to clicked on it BEFORE he or she babbled the above jibberish, even as bad a reader as “rightmiddleleft” would have discovered that the link goes to a Political Column on my newspaper which regularly excoriates Pols of every stripe.
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3. Apologize to both this world class blog and myself.
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Until then it would be better for “rightmiddleleft” to stick with comic books and such which he or she might understand.
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This particular “blog ad” has been running less than a week. The previous one in the same spot had a photo of Christy Mihos, and the one before that Jack & Jackie Kennedy.
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“None are so blind as those who will not see”
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Walter Brooks, Editor & Publisher
CapeCodToday,com
Please consider this a warning. If you have something substantive to say, you are welcome here. In general, we welcome debate. If all you want to do is hurl personal invective, however, there are other places on the web — freerepublic and dailykos come to mind. Portions of the above post violate our policies. However, since other portions are substantive, I haven’t deleted it and decided a warning was more appropriate. Please try to confine comments to matters of general interest and stay away from personal attacks.
What in the hell are you talking about? We Kossacks are respectful until someone like you comes around hurling unfounded rumor and accusation like a Neanderthal twit pretending to be all high and mighty like George Bush.
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You Rove loving scycophant! Ooouted!
Tragic.
in the Boston Globe suporting Bush. Once again it is Thursday and the photo of a candidate is on this site.
But, when any political blog or website starts to pay for advertisements in any other political blog with pictures of politicians it is reprehensible. Don’t we lose objectivity when the commercial interests start migrating into our blogs?.
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Are we going to allow these wannabee newspapers publish commercial ads in Blue Mass without following the law?.
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The Ad is as follows:
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The cape is 5% of the state and 95% of the fun, and Deval Patrick is the reason CapeCodToday.com
Your reactions and comments are eagerly sought, and dissent is not only tolerated, but encouraged.
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Click Bubba to visit….. Bubba then sells ads on his own web.
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Can’t believe I am the only one who picked this up. What a bunch of crap.
If you think it is illegal, report it to the election authorities. In the meantime, it just looks like speech to me, and should be subjected to as few regulations as possible.
what blogs are and how they’re understood (in our society, in our legal system and in our echo chambers.)
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Is this blog objective? Does it claim to be?
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Should Blue Mass Group be regulated the same way a candidate is, with caps on what it can accept in the form of political ads?
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I don’t know our election laws inside and out, but I’m guessing there’s an OCPF official floating around these blogs somewhere. Care to weigh in with some knowledge?
Before the Patrick ad, Walter ran an ad for MY blog on this site – with my..ah…photo. I am a conservative commentator – in fact the ad claimed I ‘hadn’t had a new idea in 200 years’. I generally disparage Democrat candidates. I am also responsible for dubbing Kealey and Hillmand ‘Barbid and G.I. Joe’ which was another ad Walter ran.
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Was THAT a political ad? Qui bono? If I slam Tom Reilly, is it a ‘donation’ to Deval – or Kerry?
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The ads advertise the WEB SITE. In a three-way race for Governor, how owuld you apportion that benefit?
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This is why blogs need the ‘editorial exception’ which newspapers enjoy, and which is threatened by McCain-Finegold.
Tell him to support HR1606.
I don’t understand how anyone could mistake CapeCodToday.com ‘s ad for a paid political ad, as rightmiddleleft tries to assert.
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CapeCodToday.com is a news and blog community Website that also has a directory like Yahoo’s.
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CapeCodToday.com published a story about a candidate.
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CapeCodToday.com purchased an ad to promote it’s Website. The ads show various photos and brief description of recent news stories.
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rightmiddleleft, are you saying that no one can run ads to promote their news website unless the content of the ad doesn’t show a candidate? Are you saying that having a picture of a politician in an ad makes it a paid political ad/contribution? I don’t get it.
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You state that it is a …”violation of the State Campaign laws”… That is a pretty strong accusation. The ad’s content is obviously NOT a campaign ad. Your accusations are pretty serious and I think the website and publisher are due (at least) an apology for your spurious and unsupported accusations.