Twin Cities Public Television (TPT) had to resort to rumblings about “taking appropriate legal action” after two formal requests to state Rep. Erik Paulsen that he stop using video from TPT’s “Almanac” program in an ad attacking his 3rd Congressional District Democratic rival, Ashwin Madia, went unheeded. The ad is now absent from the Paulsen campaign Web site and its YouTube channel, and a YouTube message for the ad, titled “Disturbing,” explains it is indeed gone because it contained copywritten material from TPT. In a public statement cited by City Pages and mnblue, TPT said it never lets candidates or parties use its video, has always found campaigns willing to comply with cease-and-desist requests, and wants broadcasters to pull the ad. 

Soon after the 30-second “Disturbing” spot debuted two weeks ago it earned a “D” in a KSTP-TV “Truth Test” – in part because it pinned blame on Madia for an ad from the independent Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) that had received its own bad grade from KSTP in an earlier “Truth Test.” 

Paulsen’s filings with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) for the past six months show that Upgrade Films of Washington, D.C., is the only commercial production firm to receive payments from the campaign: $25,000 on July 23, $9,000 on Sept. 5, and $18,000 on Oct. 7. Upgrade Films is the production company for (and a wholly owned subsidiary of) Dawson McCartney Nelson Media (DMNM) of Washington, D.C. — the same outfit that bought video from the Pawlenty for Governor campaign in 2002 for a state Republican Party TV ad. That bit of prohibited coordination resulted in a $100,000 fine for Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s campaign from the state Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board. DMNM founder Terry Nelson was U.S. Sen. John McCain’s first campaign manager for the current election.