MoveOn.org Hearings?

By Klaus Marre
September 18, 2007

The ranking Republican on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform wants to convene a hearing on whether The New York Times violated campaign-finance laws when it granted a discounted rate for MoveOn.org’s “General Betray Us” ad.

Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) asked committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) Tuesday to convene a hearing on the issue, saying that any rate change “for political advertising could constitute an unlawful campaign contribution.”

According to media accounts, the “open rate” for the ad should have been $181,000. The liberal group said it paid $65,000.

“The difference between the ‘open rate’ and the actual rate paid by MoveOn.org raises the possibility that The New York Times, as a media company not subject to campaign-finance restrictions for its own messages, unlawfully subsidized the message of MoveOn.org by giving it a discounted rate for its advertisement,” Davis said.

The lawmaker wants the panel to investigate the newspaper’s advertising rate structure, whether others had been offered the same rate as MoveOn.org, why the group had to play significantly less than the “open rate” and whether this constituted a violation of campaign-finance laws.