Ohio TV stations across the state will not run Donald Trump campaign political ads that criticize Gov. John Kasich as a result of a technical election law violation in the ad, Kasich’s super PAC New Day for America claims.
According to a statement from the super PAC, New Day sent complaints to stations about the ad saying it was “falsely attacking Ohio Gov. John Kasich,” and did not comply with federal regulations for political advertising.
The Trump ad accuses Kasich of helping “Wall Street predator Lehman Brothers destroy the world economy,” as well as calls him an “absentee governor,” a criticism Mr. Trump has been saying at rallies recently.
“No disclaimer appears at the end of the advertisement paid for by Donald Trump,” Matt Carle, executive director of New Day for America, wrote in the complaint. “Consequently, this advertisement is in violation of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, and it must be removed from the air, ” New Day said, noting the move to block the ad was announced by New Day for America, and confirmed with media buyers.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 11, 2016
Ohio local TV affiliates WHIO, WDTN, and others, will not broadcast the ad, which was released late Friday in its current form and began airing in Ohio on Saturday morning, New Day notes.
The Federal Election Commission says that political ads must have a “clearly readable” written statement that appears at the end “for a period of at least four seconds” with a “reasonable degree of color contrast” between the background and the disclaimer statement.
The Kasich super PAC claims that Trump placed the disclaimer in different areas of his ads, “sometimes putting it at the beginning and other times at the end. The campaign has not had a problem with any of its ads until now.”
“Campaigns always reflect the candidate, and it’s clearly amateur hour over at Trump HQ,” Matt David, New Day For America’s chief strategist, said in a statement. “How can a campaign who can’t figure out how to run a television ad possibly beat the Clinton political machine? It’s a joke.”