The RGA writes:
As has been the case throughout his career as a Washington D.C. bureaucrat, Ohio Democrat gubernatorial candidate Richard Cordray seems to believe the rules don’t apply to him. After his campaign was caught airing an ad that used footage from Ohio’s state government TV channel – in an apparent violation of a state law that forbids its services from being used for political purposes – Cordray has refused to comply with a request that the footage be removed from his ads by the service’s executive director.
This isn’t the first time Cordray thought he didn’t have to play by the rules. While running the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Cordray spent $215 million in taxpayer dollars on luxurious renovations to the agency’s headquarters, going far above-budget. When pressed during a Congressional hearing on how he spent such an incredible amount by Congresswoman Ann Wagner, Cordray responded by asking “why does that matter to you?”
When it comes to furthering his own interests and pursuing his personal political ambitions, it appears that Cordray doesn’t believe the rules apply to him.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports:
“Richard Cordray’s campaign for Ohio governor says it will continue to use footage shot by the state government’s TV channel in a campaign ad, despite the service’s policy barring its footage from being used for political purposes.
The Cordray’s campaign said its use of a 2010 news conference Cordray gave as state attorney general is fair use, a legal concept that allows copyrighted material to be used without permission under certain conditions, such as commentary or news reporting. But an official with the Ohio Channel, which recorded the news conference, said that’s against the quasi-governmental agency’s internal policy. The official, Executive Director Dan Shellenbarger, also cited a state law that forbids its services from being used for political purposes.
‘Usually, they have the idea, and it’s a mistaken idea, that it’s public and that it’s fair use, so it requires a little bit of education … on what is appropriate use and what is inappropriate,’ Shellenbarger told cleveland.com.”
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