November 4,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Hackensack NJ, Playbill, a leading publication covering Broadway, is threatening legal action regarding an advertisement produced by House Majority Pac for Josh Gottheimer.
According to a release on their website, Playbill Inc. CEO and President Philip S. Birsh completely condemns the advertisement:
“Playbill is aghast at this unauthorized use of our logo and we plan to take legal action against the House Majority PAC. We won’t stand for the use of the Playbill brand in any way, shape, or form on behalf of any campaign.” (Playbill “Aghast” at Use of Trademark in Attack Ad, Playbill.com, 11/4/2016)
This is the second time this week that the Gottheimer campaign and its allies have been caught illegally fabricating documents.
Earlier this week, Gottheimer forged a government document with false claims about Congressman Garrett.
Attorney General Christopher Porrino and U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman have been formally notified of Josh Gottheimer’s deliberate and fraudulent alteration of a government document by the Office of Congressional Ethics in a desperate attempt to mislead the public.
Gottheimer’s campaign admitted his forgery to the Star-Ledger: “An official with the Gottheimer campaign confirmed that it had produced the ad and manipulated the image.”
The actions by the Gottheimer campaign violated both state and federal laws including 18 U.S.C. 1001 (false or fraudulent statement or document within the jurisdiction of the legislative branch of the Government of the United States), 18 U.S.C. 912 (impersonating any department or agency of the U.S.), §2C:21-1 (forgery) and §2C:21-4 (falsifying or tampering with records).
PR people should know better. Don’t dis Disney!