(ST. LOUIS, Mo.) Attorneys for Robin Carnahan’s Senate campaign filed motions to expedite, disclosure, and suggestions in support documents Monday morning, in reaction to the lawsuit filed by Fox News Network and Chris Wallace.
The Fox News/Wallace complaint focused on a campaign ad where the campaign used 24 seconds of Fox News footage of an interview with Congressman Roy Blunt.
“Because of the chilling effect the present lawsuit has on the dissemination of accurate and truthful political information to Missouri’s voters, Robin Carnahan for Senate, Inc. (“Carnahan”) respectfully requests the Court expedite this case on its docket,” say the attorneys in their suit.
A legal expert out of Kansas City tells PoliticMo the reason for the motion to expediate is “the mere pendency of the suit is prejudicial to Carnahan.”
In other words – the fact that there’s a lawsuit undecided against her is harmful to her campaign.
The Carnahan attorneys also said, “The present lawsuit appears to be one of the very few times that a television network has sued a political candidate challenging the fair use of an interview of another candidate.”
Carnahan spokesman Linden Zakula, in a news release, points out the use of footage in ads is nothing new.
“Even Congressman Blunt uses campaign videos that include footage from a variety of cable news networks including Fox News,” he said.
In an email to supporters, Carnahan said, “Complete and utter bull. That’s what this is, pure and simple.”
Carnahan says she’s not going to back down.
“We’re fighting this lawsuit. And nobody – not Fox News, and certainly not Congressman Blunt – is going to stop my campaign from telling the truth and holding Congressman Blunt accountable for his record,” said Carnahan.
The ad will continue to air, and has been placed back online by the campaign.
“We’re going to keep showing this ad on TV and online because we believe Missourians deserve to hear the truth,” said Carnahan.
News America Holdings, the political arm of Newscorp, which owns Fox News Network, donated $2,500 to Blunt‘s campaign in 2009, and has consistently in the past.
“We filed this lawsuit because we cannot allow it to appear as though Chris Wallace is endorsing any candidate,” Chris Silvestri, Fox News senior vice president for legal and business affairs, said in a statement to the Post Dispatch. “While we appreciate the campaign’s willingness to remove the ad from the web, we’ve also asked that the ad not be used on TV.”
Fox News’ attorneys responded late Monday. “For all of the foregoing reasons, Plaintiffs respectfully request that this Court deny Defendant’s Motion to Expedite Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1657, and grant such other and further relief, together with costs, as this Court deems appropriate.”
Essentially – they don’t want to hurry-up the process.
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The Documents:
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