Cable Network Pulls MoveOn.org Ad

A TV station and a cable network are refusing to run an ad sponsored by a liberal activist group that targets Republican U.S. Rep. Deborah Pryce because of questions about material the group provided to back up the ad's claims.

The group MoveOn.org is spending $300,000 on ads targeting Pryce and other lawmakers. The ads say they accepted thousands of dollars in donations from defense contractors and then "opposed penalties for contractors like Halliburton who overcharged the military in Iraq."

Tom Griesdorn, president and general manager of WBNS-TV, said the station didn't air the ad because its attorneys "did not feel comfortable with the documentation provided by Moveon.org," he said.

Time Warner Cable pulled the ad from the Columbus market after receiving a written complaint from Pryce's campaign. The network was reviewing the material Moveon.org provided to document the ad's content, Time Warner spokeswoman Mary Jo Green said.

The ads also target Reps. Nancy Johnson of Connecticut, Chris Chocola of Indiana and Thelma Drake of Virginia. The 30-second spots, which began running Wednesday, are part of the group's $1.3 million ad campaign in the midterm elections.

Pryce's campaign manager, John DeStefano, called the ad false and a deliberate attempt to sway voters toward Mary Jo Kilroy, Pryce's Democratic opponent in the November election.

It's the second time WBNS has refused to air an ad attacking Pryce. Moveon.org paid the station $89,400 to run ads in May claiming Pryce was "caught red-handed" taking donations from energy companies and then voting against legislation that would have punished them for gas-price gouging. The station pulled the ad after Pryce's campaign complained. Three other stations had already rejected the ad.