Just when you thought Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp couldn’t dig her grave any deeper, she goes and grabs a bigger shovel.
Yesterday, she took out a tiny bit of ad space in a North Dakota newspaper for this apology for running a campaign ad outing victims of sexual abuse (some of whom weren’t even victims) and putting lives in danger:
.@HeidiHeitkamp running this newspaper ad apologizing for ad outing sexual assault survivors (pic from the @MinotDailyNews). Meanwhile, some of those outed women say the Senator hadn't spoken to them yet. #NDSEN #ndpol pic.twitter.com/vUlK5DeNh1
— Rob Port (@robport) October 18, 2018
And today, SayAnythingBlog’s Rob Port reports that that apology ad may have actually violated FEC rules:
.@HeidiHeitkamp ad, apologizing for that previous ad outing sexual assault victims, may have violated FEC rules. Campaign isn't responding to inquiries right now. https://t.co/p5u70yFmBO #NDPol #NDSen
— Rob Port (@robport) October 19, 2018
As Port reports, the apology ad doesn’t include a disclaimer noting who paid for the ad. If Heitkamp’s campaign paid for the ad, failing to include a disclaimer could violate FEC rules.
More from Port:
I got in touch with the folks at the Minot Daily, and they said the ad was paid for by the campaign.
“It was paid for by the campaign committee and it came to us through NDNA,” publisher Dan McDonald told me this morning, referring to the North Dakota Newspaper Association.
It would seem this apology ad, which has already been criticized for being tiny compared to the full-page size of the original ad being apologized for, also runs afoul of FEC rules.
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Port also mentions that the Heitkamp campaign has yet to respond to his inquiries. Funny, that.
Wow, don't they have ppl on staff who handle these kind of things? Just amazing.
— Dmac (@DavidUndfsioux) October 19, 2018
One would think. But her staff seems to be just about as competent as she is.
This much is certain: Heitkamp needs to quit while she’s behind.
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Related:
‘This is on me’: Dem Sen. Heidi Heitkamp apologizes for ‘colossal error’; UPDATED
Uh-oh: Women misidentified in Sen. Heidi Heitkamp ad have begun search for a lawyer
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