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Kaine accused of violating ad agreement

Jerry Kilgore claims that Tim Kaine violated an agreement not to use debate footage in ads.

By CHELYEN DAVIS

Date published: 10/27/2005

By CHELYEN DAVIS

RICHMOND--Republican gubernatorial candidate Jerry Kilgore yesterday accused Democratic opponent Tim Kaine of violating a legal agreement between the two campaigns with an ad that allegedly uses footage from one of their three debates.

However, even Kilgore has not seen the ad-- two Republicans say they were part of a focus group on which the ad was tested.

The Kaine campaign will not confirm or deny even the existence of such an ad, and it hasn't aired on television.

The two Republican operatives--Edie Light, a Lynchburg activist and aide to Del. Preston Bryant, R-Lynchburg, and Denise McManaway of Harrisonburg, who works for the Republican Party of Virginia--said they were part of an online focus group testing a Kaine ad that used footage from the debate before the Fairfax Chamber of Commerce in September.

In a telephone interview, Light said she first thought she was just watching a clip of the debate. It wasn't until the "paid for by" tag at the end that she realized it was an ad.

She said the survey specifically asked whether she thought a candidate could violate the non-use agreement if there was important information voters needed to know. It asked that question again after she viewed the ad, as well as questions about what she thought of Kilgore and the message of the ad.

After it was over, Light said, she realized she'd just participated in a poll to see whether Kaine could break his pledge. She called Kilgore campaign officials and tried to send them the link to the survey, but could not get back to it.

The footage in the ad reportedly comes from a testy exchange between Kilgore and moderator Tim Russert, as Russert pressed Kilgore to answer whether he would sign legislation outlawing abortion should the Supreme Court return that issue to the states.

Kilgore said it was a hypothetical question; Russert asked if he would sign or veto a tax increase. Kilgore said he'd veto one; Russert declared that had been a hypothetical question. The exchange was aired in many television news reports .

Kaine and Kilgore both signed agreements for all three debates in which they promised to not use footage from the debate in any campaign advertisements. Such agreements sometimes generate controversy between campaigns, but have been used in most debates.

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Date published: 10/27/2005