Pritzker's Lawyer Threatens Lawsuits If TV Stations Do Not Pull PAC Ad

CHICAGO — Local television stations have pulled a political ad produced by the People Who Play By The Rules PAC after attorneys for Gov. J.B. Pritzker threatened a lawsuit.

The spots feature a direct-to-camera message from Beverly Miles, the nurse and retired U.S. Army major who challenged the incumbent governor for the Democratic Party's nomination in the June primary.

"As retired military, the words 'duty' and 'honor' mean everything to me," Miles says. "Those values mean nothing to Gov. Pritzker, who tried to get me fired from my job as a nurse."

The caption, "Miles told to 'quit or drop out'" appears at the bottom of the screen, as well as a footnote citing a June 30 Patch column.

In the column, Miles describes facing legal and ballot challenges to her long-shot gubernatorial campaign, which ended up earning the votes of nearly 70,000 people — more than 8.2 percent of Democratic primary voters.

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"People like me and you need to stand up to J.B. Pritzker's mafia politics," Miles continues.

"I'm a lifelong Democrat. I believe in serving others. We are less safe in our neighborhoods, our tax burdens are up, our job opportunities are down," she concludes. "We put Pritzker into office. He failed us."

The very same day the advertisement appeared on the PAC's YouTube page, attorneys for the governor wrote to station managers, describing it as "false and defamatory" toward Pritzker.

"This letter puts your station on notice that the claims in the advertisement are patently false and that both the person delivering the accusation on camera and her attorney previously admitted that they have no evidence to support them," attorney Courtney Weisman said in a letter obtained by Politico, which reported Friday that WGN and NBC pulled the ad.

"The ad must be removed from the air immediately. Your station’s failure to do so is actionable under Illinois defamation law," the governor's lawyer said.

The attorneys' letter includes a statement from Pritzker denying the claim.

"The allegation that I sought to have Ms. Miles removed from her position at the Hines Veterans Administration Hospital is patently false. I never took any actions that would have caused Ms. Miles to lose her job, nor did I ever direct anyone on my staff, or otherwise, to take such actions," Pritzker said.

"This is another desperate attempt by Republicans to smear me, and it will not stand," the governor said. "I have the utmost amount of respect for the brave men and women who serve our nation and remain grateful for Ms. Miles' service to our state and country."

The letter from Pritzker's attorneys emphasizes that Miles told Patch that she could not prove that Pritzker was behind the complaint she faced during her campaign, which she had been told had come from someone "high up" politically.

Citing Patch, it notes Miles' own attorney noted that he had no idea who was behind the complaint to the Veterans' Affairs Office of Special Counsel, which accused Miles of violating the Hatch Act by being a federal employee while running for office.

"And yet the advertisement, without reservation, states that Governor Pritzker tried to get Ms. Miles fired," said attorney Courtney Weisman.

Proft said Monday via email that the governor's attorneys had not contacted him or his PAC directly regarding the ad.

"All the stations with which we placed the ad are airing the spot," Proft told Patch.

It is not the first time a local news broadcaster has rejected an advertisement from the People Who Play By The Rules political committee, which is funded by a Lake Forest billionaire and operated by a Florida radio host.

Earlier this month, a television commercial featuring doorbell footage of a daylight mugging in the North Center neighborhood was pulled off the air. According to the local NBC affiliate, "viewers expressed complaints" about its controversial "Lakeview Scream" ad.

Dan Proft, who operates the PAC, defended the ad, noting that he was not required to seek the victim's permission. In a statement at the time, he emphasized that local television stations had shown the same video during their broadcasts as part of their "if it bleeds it leads" style of coverage.

“All the network affiliates approved the ad. Then came the push back from the targets the 'news' stations serve, Gov. Pritzker and Mayor Lightfoot, and other enthusiasts of lawlessness and unchecked violence and down came my ad," Proft said. "It began with NBC and, since all these network affiliate executives share a brain, the rest of the stations, with one notable exception, followed."

On Thursday, print advertisements posing as newspapers and produced by a Proft-affiliated company prompted the governor's campaign to announce it was pulling out of a planned Sept. 30 gubernatorial forum hosted by the Daily Herald.

Management of the newspaper's parent company responded within hours by ending its contract with the company, Lake Forest-based Local Government Information Services.

"The perception for some has become that the Daily Herald favors one party over another and by printing for LGIS, it's somehow promoting its message. That is not true," Paddock management said. "Still, we understand that perception matters. And we want to move forward and extract ourselves from this politically charged environment."

Proft said in a social media post that the decision would not halt the distribution of the print advertisements.

"Paddock Publications has been replaced as the printer by a bigger operation and the distro of newspapers will [increase]," he said.

The Illinois Associated Press Media Editors organization, of which the Daily Herald is a member, announced on Friday that the forum was back on.

"A JB For Governor Campaign spokeswoman said Pritzker was able to clarify the Daily Herald's position after reading the newspaper's front-page statement Friday," according to the group.

The Pritzker campaign gave WFLD-TV until the end of business on Tuesday to pull the Miles advertisement off its airwaves, Capitol Fax reported. The governor's campaign told the blog a new 15-second version of the ad that do not include the firing allegation is airing on the local Fox affiliate instead.

Related:

• Publisher Voids Contract With 'Fake' Newspapers After Pritzker Letter
• Controversial 'Lakeview Scream' Political Ad Pulled Off Airwaves
• The Untold Story Of Beverly Miles' Ignored Campaign For Illinois Governor