Scott Walker political appointee Rebecca Bradley in conjunction with the Republican Party of Wisconsin and their wealthy, mostly out of state donors, have launched an attack ad airing all across Wisconsin. This ad is illegal in its intentional and malicious efforts to affect an election through fraudulent means.
We called on TV Stations to take down the deceitful ad now running: "The advertisement in question refers to a case (14AP1270-CR State of Wisconsin v. Daniel Fierro) in which a defendant pleaded guilty to sexual assault, then appealed his conviction based on his contention he did not understand his plea deal. The Court of Appeals, in a unanimous three judge decision, sent the case back to the circuit court for a hearing on that question. The Circuit Court ruled the State had met its burden to prove Fierro did understand his plea agreement.
The advertisement, which presents the Fierro case, puts in bold letters on the screen at its start “Conviction Overturned.” That is absolutely false. Fierro’s conviction was never overturned. He was, has been, and remains in prison.
The facts in this case are indisputable. The Court of Appeals followed the law, the lower court followed the law and a man convicted of a crime has never left prison.
As you know, you have a duty "to protect the public from false, misleading or deceptive advertising." *Licensee Responsibility With Respect to the Broadcast of False, Misleading or Deceptive Advertising*, 74 F.C.C.2d 623 (1961). Failure to prevent the airing of "false and misleading advertising" may be "probative of an underlying abdication of licensee responsibility" that can be cause for the loss of a station's license. *Cosmopolitan Broad. Corp. v. FCC*, 581 F.2d 917, 927 (D.C. Cir. 1978).
In short, this advertisement is false, misleading, and deceptive. Your station should not be a party to its distribution, and should immediately cease airing it until such time as it is corrected.
Here is the link to a list of all the television stations in Wisconsin. Please call them and ask them to remove the intentionally illegal, false and misleading advertising from Justice Bradley.
