New Mexico GOP accuses billboard company of double standard
By Kate Nash (Contact)
Thursday, September 27, 2007

A state Republican Party activist says a billboard company has refused to allow ads criticizing Mayor Martin Chavez.

Clear Channel Outdoor declined billboards critical of a new city policy on immigration enforcement because it didn't want to jeopardize business with the city, said Adam Feldman, executive director of the New Mexican Republican Party.

Not so, said Sally Adams, president of Clear Channel Outdoor in New Mexico. She acknowledges rejecting the billboard, but said it was because she found it offensive.

The billboard in question describes Albuquerque as "Chavez's sanctuary city for criminal illegal immigrants." It has been seen on mobile billboard trucks in the city in recent weeks.

Feldman said Clear Channel was initially open to the billboard, but that after seeing the text, Adams in late August told him, `We do too much business with the city, and we can't upset the mayor.' "

Adams said that's not the case, and that she alone vetoed the idea as she's done with other ads she considered offensive.

"The minute the copy was shown to me, I turned it down," she said. "I support the community, and I think it's negative for the community."

Adams said she never spoke to Chavez about the billboards. She said it's not unusual for the company to reject billboards it finds offensive, but declined to give past examples.

"I've been here 18 years, and I've turned down many pieces I felt were negative," she said.

The Republicans are particularly upset because a Clear Channel billboard paid for by the Sierra Club criticizes U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, an Albuquerque Republican.

They see that as a political issue-based ad, something Adams in an e-mail told Feldman the company wasn't accepting.

The ad says "Senator Domenici, don't dim our future. Create new jobs in New Mexico. Support renewable energy."

Feldman said he sees a double standard in allowing that, but not the billboard his party wanted.

"She won't do anything to upset the mayor, but she'll put up something against Senator Domenici," Feldman said.

Adams said she approved the Sierra Club's ads because she didn't find them offensive.

"I didn't find them antagonistic," she said.

City spokeswoman Deborah James said Chavez didn't play any role in Clear Channel's decision.

"It has nothing to do with the mayor at all being involved with Clear Channel," she said.

"The mayor isn't influencing Clear Channel with what they do."

The city is a Clear Channel customer, Adams said, and pays for billboards including those aimed at recruiting Albuquerque Police Department officers.

After Clear Channel said no, Republican party officials earlier this month took their billboard to the streets anyway, paying to have it driven around the city on a mobile billboard truck.

The controversy over immigration arose in August, when Albuquerque Police Chief Ray Schultz specified that officers can ask about a person's immigration status only if that person is a crime suspect or in custody and the person's immigration status is pertinent to the investigation.

The policy also says police are not required to notify federal immigration officials or call them to an investigation, unless the crime is human trafficking.

The changes stemmed from settlement of a 2005 lawsuit that accused Albuquerque Police Department of detaining three high school students until they could be questioned by immigration officials.

Supporters have said the policy allows immigrants to feel they can report crime without fear of retribution. They also say it doesn't impede the Police Department's ability to catch criminals and doesn't prevent local law enforcement officials from cooperating with federal crime fighters.

Feldman said Republicans won't forget the experience during the election cycle.

The company "has set a double standard, and we'll keep that in mind next year when it comes to using billboards," Feldman said. "We'll know who our friends are and who are not."

http://www.abqtrib.com/news/2007/sep/27 ... double-st/