In a stunningly egregious political error this week, Democrat Senator Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota published a full-page ad in every major newspaper across the state Monday that took the form of an open letter telling her opponent Kevin Cramer that he is “wrong” about the #MeToo movement that was signed by scores of women the letter describes as “survivors of domestic abuse, sexual assault, or rape.” But some of the names listed as signees say they never agreed to have their names publicly outed and others say they are not even “survivors.”
Amid reports that some of the women now fear retaliation from their abusers and some are taking legal action against Heitkamp for publicly outing them without their permission or knowledge, the embattled senator ran a brief apology in the Minot Daily News that may come back to haunt her.
In a piece for the Say Anything Blog, Rob Port explains why that ad might prove to be an additional problem for the senator: it fails to provide the FEC-required disclaimer listing the ad as paid for by the Heitkamp campaign.
The FEC requires all campaign-related public communications to include a disclaimer telling the audience that it was paid for by the campaign (see full requirements below).- READ MORE