HMP Calls on Stewart Mills To Cancel Hubbard Fundraiser
August 14, 2014
Washington, D.C. – House Majority PAC called on Stewart Mills, Republican candidate for congress in Minnesota’s 8th Congressional District, to cancel his fundraiser this evening hosted by Stanley Hubbard. Hubbard is the billionaire owner of Hubbard Broadcasting, the only broadcasting company to refuse to air HMP’s “Personally Offensive” ad. Hubbard is a maxed-out donor to Mills’s campaign, major supporter of Republican causes, and Koch-brothers-backer who once told them, “You can count on me.”
“It is clear that there is a conflict of interest when the owner of a television station is allowed to both financially support a candidate and block the airing of ads attacking that same candidate,” said Matt Thornton, Communications Director for House Majority PAC. “Mills has the opportunity to tell voters in the 8th district that he wants nothing to do with Hubbard’s partisan manipulation of the public airwaves by cancelling his fundraiser this evening.”
Hubbard claims he and his family had nothing to do with the decision.
Hubbard told the Star Tribune, “I heard someone accused the Hubbards of being behind that decision. We had nothing to do with it.” [Star Tribune, 8/11/14]
But that directly contradicts an earlier POLITICO story:
Rob Hubbard, who also described himself as the general manager of KSTP-TV, the Twin Cities affiliate, said in a phone call that he made the ultimate decision to pull the ad, and that he arrived at that decision after consulting “management, the legal team, sales managers, people directly involved in this process.” [POLITICO, 7/29/14]
Rob Hubbard is Stanley’s son and also a Mills donor.
WDIO has been under fire from the public in recent days.
House Majority PAC has encouraged the public to express their disappointment in Hubbard Broadcasting for pulling our ad.
19378 people have signed a petition calling on Hubbard to air our ad.
At least 600 people have called WDIO to express their opinion.
The petition and ad have been shared over 1,100 times on Facebook and tweeted about nearly 300 times.
Background:
National Journal, 7/30/14: Democratic PAC Sees Koch Influence Behind Scuttled TV Ads
“[Station Owner Stanley] Hubbard has a long history of supporting conservative causes and pledged in a letter to the Kochs that they could ‘count on me, my wife, and our family to stand foursquare with your ongoing efforts to preserve our unique American way of life.’”
MaddowBlog, MSNBC, 7/31/14: GOP donor’s station rejects Democratic ad in Minnesota
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-
“But the ad from House Majority PAC and AFSCME was nevertheless rejected, which very rarely happens. It’s not unreasonable to ask why. In this case, the stations that turned down the ad are owned by Stanley Hubbard, a major Republican donor and attendee to the Koch brothers’ donor events. Making matters much worse, Hubbard donated the legal maximum to Stewart Mills – the person being criticized in the ad.”
Krystal Ball, MSNBC, 7/30/14: Another candidate finds himself in hot water
http://www.msnbc.com/the-
“Yeah. In our democracy, 2 TV stations run by Stanley Hubbard who just happens to be a major financial backer of Stewart Mills and the RNC and who hangs out with the Kochs at their political donor summits. He decided that these particular ads were not fit to air saying in part: “We think it just crossed the line of how it tells its story or the message it’s trying to get across.”
I watched the video of Stewart Mills making his comments in its entirety online. The clip used in the campaign ad is definitely edited for time and cut together but wholly representative of the point that Mills was making.”
KBJR coverage of the controversy:
Original Report: https://www.youtube.
Nolan weighs in: https://www.youtube.com/