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IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Some television stations are refusing to run a new publicly-funded ad for a popular college program that features state Treasurer Michael Fitzgerald, which critics say was timed to boost his image before the November election.
Fitzgerald, a Democrat seeking his ninth four-year term, was criticized for appearing in similar ads funded by College Savings Iowa that preceded his 2010 re-election. Although this year's ad featuring Fitzgerald wouldn't violate state ethics rules, at least three stations — KCCI-TV and WOI-TV in Des Moines, and KYOU-TV in Ottumwa — said they wouldn't run it to avoid problems with federal guidelines governing political ads.
Station executives say the commercial, part of a $150,000 statewide ad campaign, would trigger a Federal Communications Commission requirement that they give Fitzgerald's election opponent, Republican Sam Clovis, the chance to buy equal air time at the same lower rate for nonpolitical ads.
Clovis called the College Savings Iowa ad a poor use of public funds and pledged not to run ads featuring himself, if elected. His campaign put stations on notice that it would demand equal airtime if they ran the commercial, which is slated to begin Aug. 18 and run through September.
"We need to find a better way to use the resources of the people of Iowa," he said.
The 30-second ad features smiling children talk of someday becoming doctors, teachers and scientists. Fitzgerald introduces himself and urges parents to enroll in College Savings Iowa for a chance to win a $1,000 account. "They grow up fast. Plan now for their tomorrow," he says.
Deputy Treasurer Karen Austin told The Associated Press that the office is working to revise the ad to remove Fitzgerald's image for any broadcasters who object. But she said the original ad featuring Fitzgerald will appear on stations that didn't.
Austin said the ad is part of a years-long campaign to encourage enrollment in College Savings Iowa, an investment program with $4 billion in assets. The program has routinely advertised in September, which the governor proclaims "college savings month," and broadcasters didn't object to a similar commercial before Fitzgerald won re-election in 2010, she said.
Fitzgerald's appearance in the ads was routine and gives the program "a state seal of approval" for viewers, Austin said.
But Republicans say the buy appears strategically placed to boost Fitzgerald's image by using ads paid by the program's 225,000 accountholders instead of his re-election campaign. The advertising, including an additional $150,000 for a similar ad in May, dwarfs what Fitzgerald is spending on his low-budget campaign and is more than the program spent on ads in prior years.
"Fitzgerald is misusing Iowa publicly-managed investments for partisan, campaign purposes," Republican Party of Iowa spokesman Jeff Patch said.
The fund's television advertising has increased the last two times Fitzgerald's been on the ballot. The program spent $244,000 on television ads in 2010, then $150,000 in the next two years combined and $250,000 in 2013.
College Savings Iowa is a longtime advertiser, but featuring a candidate "during political season is a no-no," KYOU-TV manager Mike Elrod said, adding that the Iowa Broadcasters Association sent an advisory to members about the ad.
The association's executive director, Sue Toma, declined to provide the advisory to the AP, but said the state-funded ad was unusual and put stations in "a problem area."
Austin said the ads are paid for with fees assessed to College Savings Iowa investors that have been cut repeatedly as assets have grown.
Fitzgerald's 2010 opponent, David Jamison, called on Fitzgerald to stop the ad then, complaining that "he is using his office as campaign headquarters." But the ads kept running. Fitzgerald, who has held the office since 1982, won with 53 percent of the vote.
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