Anchorage Daily News

Sen. Ted Stevens' re-election campaign called on Alaska radio and television stations to stop showing a pair of political commercials attacking the longtime Republican Senator this week.

The Stevens campaign spent all day Thursday arguing the ads are deceptive, while a national Democratic group battled to keep the commercials on the air.

Except for a collection of Fairbanks radio stations that temporarily pulled the ads, most of the broadcasters had refused to remove them as of Thursday night.

Stevens is running for re-election against Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich, a Democrat.

The radio and TV commercials accuse Stevens of getting a sweetheart deal on a car from the former head of the Veco Corp., and of steering money to groups that hired his son as a consultant. They're paid for by a Washington, D.C.-based group that works to get Democrats elected to the Senate.

The Stevens campaign called the commercials false and misleading. A law firm representing the campaign faxed letters to Alaska broadcasters Wednesday warning them to remove the commercials from the air and hinting at a possible lawsuit.

For the stations to knowingly broadcast an inaccurate ad "is actionable as a matter of the law and could expose you to potential legal liability," the lawyers wrote.

The group behind the commercials, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said everything in the ads is true.

Chris Fry, general manager of Tanana Valley Television -- which owns the Fairbanks FOX and CBS affiliates -- said she felt caught in the middle as she tried to sort through the tangle Thursday. At first she decided to remove the ads, but changed her mind by the end of the day and kept them on the air after learning that other TV stations would continue to show them.

"This could go back and forth forever," she said at one point.

DUELING LETTERS

The DSCC said its television ad is based on news stories and the federal indictment of Stevens, which accuses the senator of failing to disclose gifts from the Veco Corp.

The ad says Stevens also used his influence to "send money" to groups that hired his son.

The Stevens campaign called the commercial a "gross distortion of the real facts." It argued, for example, that Stevens can't "send" anyone federal money because it's up to the entire Congress to direct spending.

To support its claim, the DSCC cited news stories reporting Stevens created the Alaska Fisheries Marketing Board, which received $30 million in federal funding and gave some of that money to groups that hired Ben Stevens as a consultant.

Ben Stevens was at one point chairman of the board.

The Stevens campaign argued that the 11-member board decided how to direct funding, not Ben Stevens alone, and that not all companies or groups the board gave money to hired the younger Stevens.

The Democrats' radio ad takes a different tact. The clip begins with an actor -- presumably playing Stevens -- demanding a sweetheart deal on a car. It's a reference to the federal indictment of Stevens, which claims former Veco Corp. chief Bill Allen swapped a $44,000 Land Rover to the Senator in exchange for a Mustang worth less than $20,000, plus a $5,000 payment.

The Stevens campaign says the ad distorts the facts, and doesn't, for example, note the $5,000 payment: "The indictment does not contend that Ted Stevens ever talked to a car salesman, which is the premise of the ad," the campaign's lawyer wrote to radio stations.

DEMOCRATS RESPOND

The DSCC, in its rebuttal letter to broadcasters, said the radio ad is clearly a parody and relies on assertions made in Stevens' indictment.

Thursday morning, the Stevens campaign declared victory in the dispute, saying various radio stations in Anchorage and Fairbanks -- and one Fairbanks TV station -- had agreed to remove the commercials. But by the end of the day, things had changed, with both sides saying the other was lying about who did or did not pull the ads.

"Ted Stevens is about to start a trial where he will take an oath to tell the truth, and if his testimony looks anything like what he said today, then he could soon find himself in even more trouble," wrote DSCC spokesman Matthew Miller.

The Stevens campaign claimed Begich was unwilling to stand up to his party and denounce the ads. "Alaskans, including Mark Begich, should demand that the DSCC cease their lies and deceit. Alaskans will not fall for these deceptive, dishonest tactics," wrote Stevens spokesman Aaron Saunders.

Perry Walley, general manager for New Northwest Broadcasters Fairbanks, got the cease-and-desist letter from the Stevens campaign late Wednesday. Three of his company's Fairbanks radio stations had been airing the ad, he said.

He removed the commercials Wednesday night.

"Obviously in the political season, it gets crazy," Walley said. "The mud slinging happens and I just wanted to make sure that we're doing the right thing."

Thursday afternoon Walley said he planned to put the commercials back on the air.

Find Kyle Hopkins' political blog online at adn.com/alaskapolitics or call him at 257-4334.

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