A U.S. Court of Appeals has reversed a lower court ruling that banned
Republican congressional candidate Bill Federer of St. Louis from airing
political ads showing his opponent promising a gay and lesbian group
that he would — as majority leader in a Democrat-controlled House —
work to pass legislation important to them.
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St. Louis businessman and Republican congressional candidate
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The ads, produced by Federer’s campaign and first aired Oct. 24, were
ordered off the air by U.S. District Judge Charles A. Shaw Oct. 27 after
the campaign of
Rep. Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., complained to local television stations that an ad featured video footage owned by
C-SPAN that was not authorized for use.
In a letter to Tom Tipton, the general manager of KDNL-TV, Kevin Gunn of the Gephardt campaign wrote that the Federer ads constituted “the use of unauthorized footage” and contained “audio and video from C-SPAN as well as use of their logo … ”
“We understand that C-SPAN does not authorize their footage to be used in political television ads and the Federer campaign may be violating a copyright and other intellectual property rights,” Gunn said.
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| House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt, D-Mo. |
“If the footage is unauthorized,” Gunn wrote, “we ask that you immediately stop airing the ad and refuse to accept any ads that use C-SPAN footage in the future.”
Gunn also sent a similar letter to Suellen Riggin, national sales manager at KSDK-TV, also in St. Louis.
Officials at C-SPAN, said Tom Federer — a campaign spokesman — faxed a warning to the Federer campaign within a day after the ad first aired, threatening legal action if campaign officials did not have it pulled.
But on Thursday, the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the district court’s ruling, supporting the Federer campaign’s claims that barring use of C-SPAN video footage was a violation of the First Amendment right to free speech.
“Such use of this footage is authorized under the fair-use doctrine and is completely permissible as political speech fully protected by the First Amendment,” a statement released yesterday by the Federer campaign said.
“C-SPAN wanted special treatment exempting its videos from any political use whatsoever,” said Bryan J. Brown, litigation counsel for the American Family Association’s Center for Law and Policy, which handled the Federer campaign’s case.
To disallow the use “would have effectively made C-SPAN not a mere reporter of the news, but the owner of the news,” he said.
In the ad, Gephardt is seen addressing a
National Gay and Lesbian
Task Force annual dinner Oct. 5, 1999.
During his speech to the group, the House minority leader said, “If I have anything to say about it, I can assure you that these measures — that make good sense and represent the right values for America — will be on the agenda and will be passed.”
The ad shows Gephardt making these comments on a split screen — on one side is Gephardt and, on the other, the ad lists some of the homosexual agenda items Gephardt would support.
If Republicans lose control of the House on Nov. 7, Gephardt is in line to replace Rep. Dennis J. Hastert, R-Ill., as House speaker and thus could control legislative priorities.
“We are delighted — but not surprised — that the U.S. Court of Appeals upheld our obvious rights under the First Amendment,” said Federer campaign spokesman John Diehl. The ruling allows Federer to put the ad back on the air which, officials said, he plans to do immediately.
According to the National Stonewall Democratic Foundation, Gephardt had a 100 percent pro-homosexual voting record, as of Nov. 17, 1998. The Federer campaign said the Missouri Democrat has spoken to the homosexual activist group “numerous times during the past year.”
Besides same-sex marriages and homosexual Boy Scout leaders, the group also supports homosexuals openly serving in the military, so-called “transgender rights,” a repeal of sodomy laws and training seminars to organize homosexual teens and youths.
Federer is challenging incumbent Gephardt for Missouri’s 3rd district seat.
Related stories:
Gephardt blamed for pulling opponents’ ads
Gephardt targeted in House race
