* Subscribers know more about the reasoning why the pro-Stratton super PAC is going with a purely positive intro ad…

* Script…

What will it take to lower costs in Illinois?

You need the grit of growing up working class

That “working mom of four” ability to get things done.

The kind of person who worked with Governor Pritzker

To save healthcare for millions

and protect abortion rights.

Someone who will take to the streets

and take the fight to Washington

to pass Medicare for All

and tax the rich to cut taxes for the rest of us.

That someone is Juliana Stratton

And she’s running for US Senate.

Paid for by Illinois Future PAC

…Adding… The Raja for Illinois campaign has sent a letter to TV stations notifying them that the campaign plans to file an FEC complaint and that the stations have “an obligation to cease airing this advertisement immediately”…

In this ad, Illinois Future PAC must display the federally required disclaimer noting that it is not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee, which it has failed to do, in addition to a failure to display a street address, phone number, or website for Illinois Future PAC. (See 1 CFR 110.11(b)(3)) Failing to meet this disclosure requirement, the Illinois Future PAC ad additionally misleads the public in superimposing a logo (beginning at the 26-second mark) bearing a high degree of similarity to the logo (see below) used by Juliana for Illinois, a federal candidate’s committee. In conjunction, these two facts produce an advertisement designed to intentionally mislead the public into a believed official relationship between Juliana for Illinois and the Illinois Future PAC ad.

Unlike candidate committees, independent political organizations such as Illinois Future PAC do not have a “right to command the use of broadcast facilities” (CBS v. DNC, 1973). As you are not required to air this ad, your station bears responsibility for its content (Felix v. Westinghouse Radio Stations, 1950).

You additionally have a responsibility to “protect the public from false, misleading or deceptive advertising” (Licensee Responsibility With Respect to the Broadcast of False, Misleading, or Deceptive Advertising, 1961). A failure in this area to prevent the airing of “false and misleading advertising” may be “probative of an underlying abdication of licensee responsibility” that could put your station’s license in jeopardy (Cosmopolitan Broadcasting Corporation v FCC, 1978).

As this ad is unquestionably and intentionally misleading, with the intention of deceiving your viewers, we ask that you immediately cease airing it on your station. An FEC complaint is being filed imminently on this issue.

…Adding… As you can see above, the ad is no longer available. But you can still watch it here.

…Adding… The disclaimer has been updated. From a Spokesperson for IL Future PAC…

It is no surprise that Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi would prefer voters not hear about Juliana’s proven record of delivering results for the people of Illinois. Nothing in the advertisement misrepresents that record.

What is misleading is the Congressman’s public criticism of ICE while accepting nearly $100,000 from ICE contractors and MAGA aligned Trump donors, once again putting his own interests ahead of Illinoisans. Rather than attempting to distract, his campaign should probably explain why he has taken this money and used it to be on television for five months with no movement in the polls. The disclaimer in the ad has been updated, and the advertisement will continue to run without interruption.

The new ad is here. Some really fast talking at the end to fit that disclaimer in.

…Adding… Raja for Illinois…

Juliana Stratton’s dark money super PAC — which hasn’t disclosed a single donor — was forced to take its ad off TV because it broke the law, misled Illinois voters, and they got caught. Team Stratton’s abject failure today comes just 60 days before Illinois voters go to the polls. WGN News said it best last week: ‘To see the Lieutenant Governor… struggling with minority groups, struggling with females, almost any demographic group that you would think would be a core Democratic constituency raised a lot of eyebrows about what her campaign has been doing for the last 6 months.’