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Johnny, Johnny, Johnny

by: Kathy Sullivan 2

Thu Mar 11, 2010 at 15:31:38 PM EST
( - promoted by Dean Barker)

One of the most annoying things in political life is the failure of candidates or committees to follow the most simple legal requirements, especially New Hampshire's legal requirments, because our requirements are so pathetically few.  Violating our state's campaign laws should result in stiffer penalties than we have, because you either have to be stupid or just plain don't give a hoot about following them in order to violate the laws. It is especially annoying when candidates who are LAWYERS don't follow the law.

Here is one law, RSA 664:14. "All political advertising shall be signed at the beginning or the end with the names and addresses of the candidate, his fiscal agent, or the name and address of the chairman or the teasurer of a political committee, or the name and address of a natural person, according to whether a candidate, political committee, or natural person is responsible for it."

It does not get much simpler than that: candidate's name, address, fiscal agent.  How hard is it to get that right?

Pretty hard if you are Johnny Stephen, I guess.  
Kathy Sullivan 2 :: Johnny, Johnny, Johnny
Here is the disclaimer on Johnny's web site:

Paid for by Friends of John Stephen

No address, no fiscal agent.  Just the name of the committee. He only was able to get one out the three right. Dude, this isn't rocket science. It isn't even advanced algebra.

Now, lest you think that there can be some doubt as to the applicability of the statute to his web site, RSA 664;2 defines political advertising as any "communication"; it defines "communication" as including, inter alia, "any Internet site".

Now, there may be those who think this is a trivail matter. By the time most of you get to his site, they probably will have fixed it, the way Ovide fixed the little problem of Mount Washington being in my backyard when his web site first went up.  But it goes to seriousness of purpose. If you are a serious candidate for governor, who happens to be a LAWYER, then follow the rules. If you can't get something as simple as getting the disclosures right, then hit the bricks.

To be fair to Johnny, I looked at each page on his web site, as even I would cut him some slack if the fiscal agent and name were listed somewhere, anywhere, at his site. They aren't.  
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Johnny, Johnny, Johnny | 9 comments
And another thing.... (0.00 / 0)
If you look at his "Invite Johnn Stephen" page, he is pictured with Doug Kruse, who does not even live in New Hampshire, and has not lived here for months. Couldn't Johnny find someone who actually lives in New hampshire to be on his web page with him?




"When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."  Franklin D. Roosevelt    
But He Has It on Every Page! (0.00 / 0)
Hey, you're right! It says "Paid for by Friends of John Stephen" on every page of his site. Should we give him some credit? Does three mentions equal one name, address and fiscal agent?

We had a little problem with the legal attribution during Senator Iris Estabrook's 2004 re-election campaign. We ordered some big snazzy signs, and, when I designed them, I shrunk the paid for by/fiscal agent line down to the tiniest type I could find. It was all there; you just had to look for it.

When we picked the signs up, they looked great - but the sign guy had blown the fiscal agent line up to 48-point type.

He was new to the campaign sign business, and, being a sign guy, thought we wanted people to be able to read who the fiscal agent was as they drove by.

This RSA 664 stuff is trickier than it looks.


But He Has It on Every Page! (0.00 / 0)
Hey, you're right! It says "Paid for by Friends of John Stephen" on every page of his site. Should we give him some credit? Does three mentions equal one name, address and fiscal agent?

We had a little problem with the legal attribution during Senator Iris Estabrook's 2004 re-election campaign. We ordered some big snazzy signs, and, when I designed them, I shrunk the paid for by/fiscal agent line down to the tiniest type I could find. It was all there; you just had to look for it.

When we picked the signs up, they looked great - but the sign guy had blown the fiscal agent line up to 48-point type.

He was new to the campaign sign business, and, being a sign guy, thought we wanted people to be able to read who the fiscal agent was as they drove by.

This RSA 664 stuff is trickier than it looks.


Ah, but.... (0.00 / 0)
In your case, the sign guy was new to the biz. Johnny has been around politics since he was a tyke. His father was a state senator, and also a congressional candidate.  Johnny himself ran for congress twice. And, as I said, he is a LAWYER - who used to work in the Attorney General's office.
And he is running to be GOVERNOR.





"When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."  Franklin D. Roosevelt    

[ Parent ]
Picky, picky, picky.... (0.00 / 0)
Republicans run for public office because they're good at giving orders; bad at follow through.  Isn't that what "all hat, no cattle" means?
If You're Gonna Run For Office... (4.00 / 3)
It's a good idea to know the rules and play by them. And make sure your hired staff knows this! Take it from an expert.

And I kinda think it would be important for a governor to pay attention to details.  

No'm Sayn?

Geez, if you're gonna keep running and losing (0.00 / 0)
you could spend some of that otherwise futile time learning how the process actually works...
LOL (0.00 / 0)
Johny's web site fixed the disclaimer yesterday; I am happy to know that they are reading Blue Hampshire.

However, Doug Kruse's picture is still up.  It strikes me that if you are running for governor of NEW HAMPSHIRE you would want New Hampshire residents on your site, but what do I know?  



"When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."  Franklin D. Roosevelt    

I Can See the Next Press Release... (4.00 / 1)
Kathy Sullivan says John Stephen is a real problem solver who fixes what's wrong!
[ Parent ]
Johnny, Johnny, Johnny | 9 comments

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