By Giles Morris
Daily News Staff

Email a friend  feed   Printer friendly  Comments

Tom Tiffany continues to hammer on Jim Holperin for his use of media tactics in their 12th District State Senate race.

On Wednesday, Tiffany’s campaign contacted the Daily News alleging that Holperin violated disclosure statutes in a radio ad campaign earlier this month and claiming that Holperin would likely be fined by the state’s Government Accountability Board (GAB) for the violation.

The GAB is prohibited by state statute from commenting on its cases, but a spokesperson for the agency acknowledged that a complaint had been received.

In spite of the partisan nature of the complaint, Tiffany believes the case has merit.

“You always have to say who’s paying for ads,” said Tiffany. “It’s a disclosure thing. It’s an important part of keeping the process open.”

Holperin denies any wrongdoing. He explained that the basis for the complaint stems from a procedural error on the part of his campaign staff. A series of radio ads ran with the candidate’s federal disclaimer instead of his state disclaimer, which is required to include the words “paid for.”

Holperin corrected the ads as soon as he was notified of the error and sent a letter of explanation to the GAB.

But Tiffany sought to link Holperin’s mistake to a larger pattern of impropriety. He claimed that a third party interest group that has helped Holperin’s campaign, Keeping Our North Strong, is also under investigation by the GAB for violating disclosure laws.

“This stuff continues from the Holperin group,” Tiffany said. “And now a Madison group is breaking the law.”

Holperin said Tiffany’s persistence around the issue is a method of avoiding the real policy issues at stake in their campaign.

Tell us what you think...

Comments »

Richard wrote on Oct 23, 2008 11:21 AM: " Wow Tiffany must be really desperate. Holperin clearly said in the ad he was behind it but didn't use the word "paid for" and Tiffany is acting like it's the scandal of the century? Sounds like he and McCain are both resorting to desperate late character attacks. That's not how we operate up here. " The comments above are from readers. In no way do they represent the views of the Rhinelander Daily News.

Post a comment (150 word limit) »

We will not post reader comments containing racial, religious or personal attacks, slander, profanity, e-mail addresses, mailing addresses, phone numbers or Web site addresses that are for personal or promotional gain.

Name: Email: (optional) Comments: Image Verification: (Case sensitive)

Thank you for your comments! Once your comments are approved, they will appear on the site.