Pictures have RNC frowning
Posted on 01/24/2003 4:53:23 AM PST by MeekOneGOP
Pictures have RNC frowning
Miller asked to remove Bush photos from Web site; Poss is critical
01/24/2003
Pictures of Laura Miller and President Bush pose a problem now that the Dallas mayor's race is under way, according to the Republican National Committee.
Party officials have asked the mayor to "cease and desist" using photos that show the smiling president with Ms. Miller and her husband. The pictures, which are reproduced on Ms. Miller's campaign Web site, were snapped last year when she visited the Oval Office.
Tom Josefiak, the RNC's chief counsel, wrote to the mayor's campaign Wednesday, saying the photos suggest that Mr. Bush has endorsed Ms. Miller.
LauraMiller.com Laura Miller said she posted photos of her with President Bush because meeting with him was a highlight for her. |
"The Miller campaign Web site's implication that President Bush supports Ms. Miller over Mary Poss is false and misleading," Mr. Josefiak wrote.
Ms. Miller said she's surprised that Republicans are policing her pictures. And she plans to appeal the cease-and-desist directive to the president.
Ms. Poss, a City Council member and the mayor's primary rival in the May 3 election, has made no secret of her Republican affiliation during the nonpartisan campaign.
Poss campaign spokeswoman Lisa LeMaster said two Poss supporters noticed the photos and contacted the White House.
The mayor is in Washington this week for the U.S. Conference of Mayors and will attend a coffee with Mr. Bush on Friday morning at the White House.
"It's a good chance for me to say to him, 'Is this a problem?' " she said. "If it is, I'll take the photos down, no big deal. I won't be hurt either way because it's a nonissue."
Ms. Poss said removing the photos is the appropriate action.
|
"I'm very surprised that she would defy instructions from the White House," she said. "At some point this becomes an issue of right and wrong, and misleading the public is wrong."
As recently as a few weeks ago, a photo of Ms. Poss, the president and several other people appeared on her City Council Web site. A new campaign Web site is under construction and has replaced Ms. Poss' council Web page. Ms. LeMaster said she did not know whether the campaign would seek permission to use the photo during the mayor's race.
Ms. Miller said the White House sent her the photos last year. She said she posted the pictures, along with other personal and political snapshots, because meeting with the president was one of the highlights of her year as mayor.
Chad Colby, spokesman for the RNC, said that using the photos on a nonpolitical Web site would be acceptable but that politicians must obtain the president's permission before using his image in a campaign.
During the fall campaigns, candidates of all political stripes went to great lengths to align themselves with the Texas president, bragging to voters about even tenuous connections such as serving on a committee for first lady Laura Bush's book festival.
Mr. Colby said similar cease-and-desist letters were sent to several candidates across the country, including a few Republicans.
E-mail cmccain@dallasnews.com
Ahhh, don't you just love it!
If he does not want his picture used, he shouldn't pose in front of cameras. It's that simple.
We sure didn't hesitate to use the Arkanbilly and his beastly wife Hillary, in a wide selection of pictures with various criminals from time to time.
She is a socialist gun-grabber. Her solution to Dallas financial problems is ever more taxes.
She needs to be thrown out of office pronto.
I understand. But their point was that if President Bush doesn't endorse Laura Miller the RINO and endorses another candidate in the Dallas Mayor race, Miller is deceiving people into thinking he endorses her. Miller says that she will take them down also, if the President asks her to - and I believe that that is what will likely happen, too...
What Laura Miller the candidate does is one thing. What private citizens such as FReepers do is yet another. I, for one, intend to continue posting the 'RAT pictures to expose them for what they are, and hope that you will too, my FRiend...
After announcing her candidacy for mayor in the May 3 election, Ms. Poss, a council member, is turning to fellow Republicans to help unseat Laura Miller, a Democrat.I quit smoking 20 years ago this coming March. Dallas will probably find that they should have let the free market decide the smoking issue, imho...
Miller camp says Bush photos to move to noncampaign site
What a sarcastic comment, eh?.
I'll post the full text to "All" in a minute if you're interested in reading this...
Oh, and my thanks to Redbob for setting me straight. Laura Miller is not a RINO - she's a 'RAT...
I guess that's why the DMN is being so hateful in their comment above. They are a Liberal rag...
Mayor: Intent wasn't to make it appear that president endorsed her
01/25/2003
WASHINGTON - Even as White House officials Friday accused Iraq of "willful defiance" and the president declared homeland security efforts unfinished, a key adviser deep in the West Wing was worrying about another "crisis."
The flap over White House photos on the Dallas mayor's Web site.
It wasn't a "situation room" situation, but two of the president's closest confidants were involved.
Mayor Laura Miller's campaign agreed Friday that it would create a new "official" Web site, which would include the photos taken in the Oval Office of the mayor and her husband, Democratic state Rep. Steve Wolens, chumming with their Texas friend, President Bush. The photos would be removed from the campaign site.
"They don't want the president's picture used in a political context in a nonpartisan way," said Rob Allyn, the Miller campaign's media consultant.
On Wednesday, the Republican National Committee's chief counsel, Tom Josefiak, wrote to Ms. Miller's campaign, asking that it "cease and desist" using the photos.
The letter said photos on a campaign site might mislead voters into thinking the president endorsed Ms. Miller, a Democrat, over her opponent, City Council member Mary Poss, a Republican.
Asked whether that was her intent, Ms. Miller quipped: "Oh gosh, no. I don't talk about Mary Poss at all."
Mindy Tucker, the RNC communications director, said: "I think people infer a lot from a picture like that - especially when they're on a campaign Web site."
Lisa LeMaster, Ms. Poss' campaign adviser, said she was pleased the photos were being removed from the campaign Web site.
"I would call that a victory," she said. "All we would ask for is that you play by the rules. The issue has always been what is right and wrong for a campaign Web site."
Ms. LeMaster added that the campaign Web page should not include links to the new site where the photos will be posted.
She said that displaying a photo of Ms. Miller, a Democrat, with the Republican president could confuse voters.
"The Mary Poss campaign expects to launch its Web site next week," Ms. LeMaster said. "And the one thing I'm thoroughly certain of is there won't be a picture of Mary Poss and Al Gore."
Ms. Miller - who happened to be visiting the White House on Friday morning for a briefing with Mr. Bush as part of the U.S. Conference of Mayors - breezily suggested she would ask Mr. Bush: "Hey, you know, is this OK?"
Alas, the event for mayors was a bit too formal to do so, she said, although the mayor was happy to say the president singled out her and the Midland mayor for kind words.
Mr. Allyn, a Republican, said he talked with senior White House adviser Karl Rove and e-mailed adviser Karen Hughes, saying the Miller campaign would "fully respect White House wishes."
"This is pretty small potatoes compared with saving the world from terrorism and dealing with Iraq," Mr. Allyn said.
Staff writer Colleen McCain Nelson contributed to this report.
E-mail jfry@belo-dc.com
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
