KTVQ asks democrats to change controversial ad - billingsgazette.com

By SARAH COOKE
Associated Press

HELENA -- At least one TV station is asking the Montana Democratic Party to change its ad criticizing Republican Sen. Conrad Burns for what the party called an "improper relationship" with a GOP lobbyist under federal investigation.

Monty Wallis, president and general manager of KTVQ-TV in Billings, said Tuesday he's asked Democrats to change a line referring to $136,000 they claimed Burns received from lobbyist Jack Abramoff. The ad may be pulled if they do not, he said.

Wallis said Federal Election Commission records show the money, donated to Burns' campaign, came from a number of sources, not just from Abramoff. He said he wants the record set straight.


"We want to make sure we're not disseminating information that's written in such way that it really is not correct," Wallis said.

The Montana Broadcasters Association voiced similar concerns and told members in an e-mail they were not obligated to run the TV spot, which began airing statewide Monday.

The Burns campaign and the National Republican Senatorial Committee have said the ad is false and are asking TV stations to stop airing it.

Dennis McDonald, chairman of the Montana Democratic Party, said Tuesday he had heard rumors that a TV station was asking the ad be changed, but had not "seen anything in writing and nothing official."

Democratic Party officials stood by the TV spot and said its central premise remained unchallenged.

"Whether it says 'associates' or not, the fact is that Jack Abramoff -- who is embroiled in a criminal probe -- drove $136,000 into Conrad Burns' campaign coffers and got Burns to work for special interests in Michigan when he should have been working for Montana's families," Montana Democratic Party spokesman Tim Tatarka said.

The ad criticized Burns for what it said was his vote to give one of the nation's wealthiest American Indian tribes $3 million from a federal program intended for cash-strapped tribal schools. The Michigan tribe was a client of Abramoff's, who is now under investigation for possibly bilking his Indian clients.

The ad urged voters to call Burns and "tell him to start working for Montana."

Burns has said the aid to the Michigan tribe was requested by that state's congressional delegation as part of the 2004 Interior Appropriations Bill. The legislation received bipartisan support in the U.S. Senate, passing 87-2, Republican Party officials said.


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