The following is from a news release from the Office of Sen. Jim Moylan:
To prevent the potential abuse by elected officials who have the authority to expend local or federal funds, Senator James Moylan is filing legislation this morning which would prevent any elected official or officials from using monies from the General Fund, Special Funds, or Federal Funds which are provided to the island for specific purposes, from purchasing political advertisements.
For the purposes of the legislation, political advertisements are being defined as any advertising published in a newspaper, magazine, or other periodical, or is broadcast by radio or television, or is promoted digitally, where the advertising depicts a message to promote an elected official or officials, their campaign, their platform, or campaign message, inclusive, but not limited to a picture of the elected official or officials in the advertisement.
“We have been seeing full page ads on almost a daily basis in the newspapers, which are intended to promote federally funded programs, yet these ads are depicted as campaign ads, with a sizable picture of the Governor and Lt. Governor, inclusive of quotes which resonate with political advertising. Because no disclaimer is noted in these ads, they are not funded by the Governor’s re-election committee, thus they must be funded by either the General or Federal funds”, stated Senator Moylan. “I have no issues with promoting programs, which I think the government needs to do more of. But when these ads seem to be promoting a re-election bid, versus the actual program, it echoes misuse. Plus, if federal relief funds are being utilized to pay for these $1,000 full page, political ads, you question who in the community is being shortchanged”, added Senator Moylan.
The measure does not prevent the use of General, Special, or Federal Funds, to be used for purchasing advertisements, granted, they are within the parameters of the objectives of the legislation.
“If you want to promote programs and add your face to them, or even promote your campaign, then please feel free to use your own funds or monies from your campaign. But let’s not use government funds for political purposes. It’s called abuse of power”, stated Senator Moylan. “We have seen several rental program ads which promote a politically motivated message from the administration on why the program was considered. However, if you listen to the community, so many residents are experiencing denied applications. Maybe instead of placing the faces of the Governor and Lt. Governor in the ad, that space could have been used to detail qualifications for the program”, added Senator Moylan.
The legislation should be securing a bill number by the end of the day.
