 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Political billboard pulled in Pinellas
By ALISA ULFERTS, Times Staff Writer For Republican attorney general candidate Tom Warner, a billboard controversy has given new meaning to the ups and downs of campaigning. Warner placed ads on billboards in Pinellas and other counties that challenge the intelligence and experience of fellow Republican candidate Charlie Crist. "Sorry, Charlie, these grades aren't good enough for attorney general," read the ads, which feature a report card that gives Crist an "F" for twice failing the Florida Bar exam and a "D-minus" for what Warner has called Crist's limited legal experience. Some regional managers for Lamar Advertising, the company that owns the billboards, decided the ads sent a "negative message," in the words of Warner's political consultant. Some of the ads were removed, despite the company's contract with Warner to keep them up through the Sept. 10 primary. By late Tuesday afternoon, Lamar had switched positions and let the billboards stay in Escambia. But the company's Pinellas managers thus far have refused to resurrect the ad they took down last week, said Rockie Pennington, the political consultant who designed the billboard for Warner. The ads have stayed up in Seminole County. Crist failed the Bar exam twice before passing. He said Tuesday that he has more courtroom experience than his opponents claim. Because Lamar is a private company, he said, he doesn't think removing the ads violated Warner's free speech rights. "I think they're exercising good judgment," Crist said of the managers who decided to remove the ads. Jim Maskas, who oversees the Pinellas area as vice president and general manager for Lamar in Lakeland, said the company was concerned about liability. "I decided when I saw the copy that it was inflammatory and might be libel," Maskas said. He said Warner's contract was for 13 billboards in the area, and that one or two went up for about 15 hours before he decided they should come down. "We don't know that (the ad's claims) are true," and as a private company Lamar has the right to reject any ads it wants, Maskas said. Warner won't be charged for the time the ads were up, he added. The billboards have drawn the ire of Republican Party chief Al Cardenas. Warner is running against Crist and Locke Burt in the primary. Both Warner and Pennington said they have heard that a number of Crist loyalists contacted the company. "Since when is the truth inappropriate?" Warner asked, repeating the words he said company officials used to describe the ad.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
|
From the Times state desk
From the state wire
|
