PETE SESSIONS, M.C.

GUY HARRISON
CHAIRMAN EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

NATIONAL REPUBLICAN CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE

October 27, 2010

Dear Station Manager:

This letter is in regard to the negative advertisement the Democratic

Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), is running against Matt Doheny, a
candidate for U.S. House of Representatives for New York’s 23rd Congressional District
(“the Advertisement”). The Advertisement contains false information deliberately
intended to damage Mr. Doheny’s reputation and alleges a criminal background that in
fact does not exist. Because the Advertisement conveys information that is plainly
disproven by fact, we respectfully demand that your station immediately stop airing the
Advertisement and that no further airings of this misleading content be allowed on your
station.

The Advertisement states, in part: “There goes Matt Doheny…charged twice in

one month with boating under the influence. Arrested.” See Attachment 1. This is a
complete falsehood, intentionally designed to mislead voters.

Matt Doheny was absolutely, never arrested. It is simply impossible to prove

otherwise. Several news outlets falsely reported that Mr. Doheny was arrested, and it is
conceivable that the DCCC is relying on these flagrantly inaccurate publications, but this
claim is simply not true. Matt Doheny was never arrested, and any claim to the contrary
is a complete and total lie.
For the record, the Watertown Daily Times did finally correct the inaccuracies
published about this situation, and clarified that there was absolutely never an arrest.
Please see “Hoffman to Doheny: Release BUI report (updated)”, The Watertown Daily
Times, August 6, 2010, available at
http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20100806/BLOGS09/100809878/-
1/BLOGS09. In pertinent part, this article states that “Mr. Doheny was never arrested.”
This fact simply cannot be made more clear, and the Advertisement cannot be more
succinctly proven to be false.
We challenge the DCCC to come forth with an arrest record for Mr. Doheny, and,
being certain that they will not find such a record, we demand that your station cease
airing this advertisement until the DCCC produces this record. It is inconceivable that the
DCCC would stoop to this level to sway the voting population, and we insist that your
station not participate in perpetuating such a mistruth.
This attack by the DCCC against Mr. Doheny does not constitute a “candidate
use.” Under Columbia Broadcasting Sys., Inc. v. Democratic Nat'l Comm., 412 U.S. 94
(1973), and Nat’l Conservative Political Action Comm., 89 FCC 2d 626 (1982), your
station is not obligated to air any advertisements from third parties, such as the DCCC, as
third parties have no guaranteed right of access to air their advertisements on your
station. Thus, broadcasting stations are not protected from legal liability for airing a false
and misleading advertisement sponsored by the DCCC.

Broadcast licensees have a legal responsibility to review and to eliminate any

false, misleading, or deceptive materials contained in advertising. We urge you to stand
up for the truth and put a stop to these false attacks on your station.

Based on the foregoing, we respectfully demand that your station immediately

cease the airing of this false and misleading Advertisement and further request that you
reject any attempts by the sponsor of this Advertisement to purchase time for the future
airing of this Advertisement because of its material misstatements of fact and defamatory
nature.

Please contact NRCC General Counsel, Jessica Furst, at your earliest convenience
at jfurst@nrcc.org, or via phone at (202) 479-7069, to advise as to your station’s actions
with respect to cessation of the airing of this advertisement. If we do not hear from you
within a few hours, we’ll check back before taking further action.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. I will anticipate your
immediate response.

Sincerely,

Jessica C. Furst
General Counsel
National Republican Congressional Committee
Attachment 1

Advertisement Transcript:

There goes Matt Doheny - boating to his private island of Caprice, charged twice in one
month with boating under the influence. Arrested. Described by the Coast Guard as
combative. Even put in handcuffs. Now Doheny is trying to steer us off course again,
signing a pledge that protected tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas. Matt
Doheny: Millionaire foreign banker, at our expense.