Now it’s being deployed on behalf of Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) against the Scranton Times-Tribune. The National Republican Senatorial Committee, backing Santorum, filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission charging that the newspaper may have unlawfully made a “corporate contribution” to Santorum’s opponent, Bob Casey Jr., by printing in promotional material a mock headline that read “Casey to run for Senate”. (Carrie Budoff, “Scranton paper’s promo an issue”, Wilkes-Barre Times-Leader, Aug. 16; Brett Marcy, “GOP files complaint of paper’s Casey ‘ad'”, Aug. 19; Ryan Sager, “Dirty Speech Trick”, New York Post, Aug. 19; Sager’s blog, Aug. 19 and again). For more campaign finance law censorship, see Jul. 11.

Filed under: campaign regulation, newspapers, Pennsylvania