Spence To Stations: Cease And Desist Airing Nixon Ad

Republican Missouri gubernatorial candidate Dave Spence issued a cease and desist letter to stations broadcasting one of Governor Jay Nixon's campaign ads. The Spence campaign called the ad false and defamatory, saying further broadcasting could lead to lawsuits.

The ad in dispute claims Spence was a banker for a bank that accepted TARP funds. Jared Craighead, Spence's campaign manager, says Spence was only on the board of the St. Louis bank, and he joined after it had voted to accept TARP funds. Craighead also said Spence owned less than one-half of one percent of the bank.

"By analogy, it would be like us running an ad claiming for the iPhone 5, since Dave (Spence) owns stock in Apple," Craighead said.

But the Nixon campaign is standing by the ad.

"He (Spence) is beginning to panic and resort to desperate measures," Oren Shur, Nixon's campaign manager said. “Instead of threatening television stations with lawsuits, Spence would be better advised to simply explain why, after his bank took a $40 million bailout, he felt there was money for his million-dollar insider loan but not money to repay the taxpayers."

The Spence campaign disputes that assertion. Although Spence did vote to delay paying back taxpayers, Spence claims he did so under the suggestion of federal advisors. Craighead also points out that loans are how banks make money.

http://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/spence-stations-cease-and-desist-airing-nixon-ad