Nelson and KLIN: It’s not our Facebook ad
Whoever took out a Facebook ad calling me a liberal Obama-lover (I’m paraphrasing) had better hope local journalists aren’t too good at tracking them down.
Because they are looking.
As I reported here Monday, a Facebook friend of mine reported seeing the ads multiple times over the weekend. I haven’t seen one, but then I don’t spend a lot of time trolling Facebook. The man copied and pasted the text of the ad, which said, “Liberal Deena Winter; klin.com; At a recent event, City Council Candidate Deena Winter said, ‘OBAMA has done an OK job so far.’ Do you agree? Yes or no?”
He said the ad also featured my old mug shot from the Lincoln Journal Star — which I’m sure the paper didn’t give permission to use. Some people have said the “yes/no” link didn’t take them anywhere; others said it took them to a KLIN podcast about the LIBA debate.
I emailed both KLIN and Travis Nelson’s campaign manager to see if either of them were behind the ads (since Nelson has made a point of trying to portray himself as Mr. Conservative). A KLIN employee replied yesterday, saying they have no idea where the ad came from. Nelson’s campaign manager finally responded this afternoon (four days after I asked), saying, “Nelson’s campaign is not the source of the Facebook ad.”
KLIN’s Jack Mitchell is spitting mad because of the connection to KLIN — making it appear as though the radio station has a dog in the fight or prefers a certain candidate. Obviously, that would be improper of KLIN. Mitchell has vowed to track down the person behind the ad.
I am trying, too — although Facebook doesn’t make it easy to try to reach an actual human (no surprise there). I’ve filled out their online forms in an attempt to get information about the ad. I doubt they’ll be very responsive though. They have the world to rule, after all.
A local reporter has asked me to send a screen shot of the ad if someone manages to capture one (although I wouldn’t be surprised if the ad has quickly been pulled), because such ads are legally required to disclose who paid for them. In other words, the ad shunned Nebraska campaign law.
You may remember the brouhaha a few years ago when it was discovered that former Councilman Glenn Friendt was behind some angry, anonymous ads against former councilmen Terry Werner and Dan Marvin.
That’s what happens when you get an aggressive attorney involved in tracking down these kinds of law-shunning ads. Any takers?
Winterized 
KLIN. Coby Mack. LIBA. Travis Nelson….Do the math.
I think Mitchell is probably upset that it appears that his station may be involved with the ad; can’t say I blame him. To say that the station prefers a candidate is pretty preposterous. I fail to see the logic behind the idea that he is upset, therefore he prefers a candidate.
As for the ad itself, how is it offensive? It appears to ask a yes or no question based upon what you said, how is that damaging? Seems pointless.
Not only is the ad false (I’m far from a liberal, I did not endorse Obama, klin.com has nothing to do with it… ), it appears to be illegal.
It seems like the kind of thing people do to political candidates.
I’m not sure why it’s such a big deal to you.
Former Sec. of State NE. Allen Beerman, is exc. sec. neb press assoc. across the street from the journal -star printing co.
He has a dozen lawyers @ his beck and call.
I suggest you share your concern with.
ps the klin arena yuppie @ 6am is lawyer…
Sorry, I was focusing on the body of the ad and apparently ignored the header. What a difference one word makes…
I followed the link a few times. I figure I’d make them pay-per-click. Each time, it took me to the KLIN page with the list of podcasts. Anyone can simply copy your photo of the LJS or your site here and use that photo for an ad. It doesn’t make any sense why someone would spend the money to do this.
On a related note, Buffington’s Facebook ad – which goes to her campaign “Like” page, so I presume it could be legit, is horrible. The text is roughly this: “spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend”…. and so on.
I haven’t seen the ad with Deena for a few days. If it shows again, I already promised to send a screen capture to Jack Mitchell.
Who cares.
really sad politics has gotten to this in Lincoln.