FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
News from Progress Michigan
October 27, 2022
Contact: Lonnie Scott, lonnie@progressmichigan.org
Progress Michigan Demands Removal of False Tudor Dixon Ads
Letter sent to television stations airing ads with false disclaimers, running afoul of campaign finance laws and reporting requirements to deceive public
MICHIGAN – After filing a campaign finance complaint this week implicating the Republican Governors Association (RGA) and Tudor Dixon’s gubernatorial campaign for massive campaign finance violations and illegal coordination, Progress Michigan is demanding that the deceptive and illegal advertisements in question be removed from the airwaves.
Progress Michigan sent letters today to the television stations airing these advertisements to request their removal. The content in question violates the Michigan Campaign Finance Act for falsely identifying who sponsored them, and goes against Federal Communications Commission requirements that the true sponsor of an ad be identified. The advertisements currently contain a disclaimer from the Get Michigan Working Again (GMWA) Super Political Action Committee (PAC) when in fact the RGA is paying for these ads and is the true sponsor of them.
“I said it yesterday and I’ll say it again here today: Given the dysfunction of Trump’s Republican Party, I completely understand the RGA’s desire to hide their identity through a much nicer-sounding name like Get Michigan Working Again,” said Lonnie Scott, executive director of Progress Michigan. “But doing so at the expense of full public disclosure required by campaign finance and FCC regulations must have consequences.”
The legal action filed on Wednesday alleges that GMWA is lying to the state and the public about the ads and that the committees and campaigns involved are engaged in illegal coordination.
“It’s a felony under Michigan law to use corporate money to advocate for candidates,” said Mark Brewer, the attorney filing on behalf of Progress Michigan. “If RGA is working with the Dixon campaign and running a super PAC they may be illegally coordinating, felonies may be being committed because the RGA is funded with corporate money. Essentially what they’re spending is an in-kind contribution to Dixon. It’s not really an independent expenditure––it’s a felonious in-kind contribution. But that’s what we need the Bureau of Elections to get to the bottom of.”
A copy of the letters sent to television stations airing these false ads can be found here, and a link to the recording of today’s press conference can be found here.
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