U-T San Diego political ad deals to owner's friends might have violated campaign laws

[Newsjock]

Source: KPBS

Campaign strategist Tom Shepard grew more suspicious by the day last fall as he flipped through the U-T San Diego and repeatedly saw full-page ads lambasting his client Bob Filner, a Democrat running for mayor.

“It made me wonder whether they were crazy,” Shepard said. “When I started seeing ads from the other side running as often as they did, it made me wonder — if they were paying $8,000 an ad, they were spending an enormous amount on newspaper advertising.”

The $8,000 per full page is what Shepard said the U-T quoted Filner’s campaign for advertising. Campaign finance disclosures, however, show the other side paid far less.

This discrepancy — and others discovered by the inewsource and KPBS Investigations Desk — could violate campaign laws.

Read more: http://www.kpbs.org/news/2013/apr/05/UT-political-ads-campaign-laws/

[MindPilot]

1. Well, I don't think anyone would find this at all suprising.

What is suprising is that it is actually being reported. The UT is not only a mouthpiece for the right owned by one of the right-est people around, but they are also buying up whatever media they can.

[frylock]

2. yes they are, and it's a complete waste of money for manchester..

not that he's hurting, but he can continue to throw good money after bad while the county transitions from purple to blue.