Tolbert: NRA Objects To Hays Ads In Letter

I posted a couple of days ago on a new deceptive television ad from Pat Hays for Congress where he touts his love of guns and membership in the NRA – an organization that gave him an “F” and endorsed his opponent.  Well, he is at it again and the NRA was not too pleased, sending him a cease-and-desist letter.

The latest ad was sent by the Democratic Party of Arkansas on behalf of the Hays’ campaign.  It takes a fundraising letter that the NRA sent to him and uses quotes from the letter to pretend the NRA supports him.  They do not. In fact, they strongly oppose him. The NRA said that the letter went out to around 5 million people.

The ad is the equivalent of me saying that the American Heart Association endorsed my blog because they sent me a letter soliciting donations. It is silly. It is dishonest. And Hays and the Democratic Party of Arkansas know it.

The NRA calls the ad “patently false” by using “selective quotes from a NRA fundraising solicitation letter signed by Wayne LaPierre to create the false impression that the NRA supports your candidacy.”

“We are therefore writing to demand that you immediately cease any use of any image, photo or likeness of Wayne LaPierre in your congressional campaign materials. In addition, we demand that you publicly repudiate any such use by other organizations on behalf of your congressional campaign,” says the NRA letter.

Hays and the DPA won’t do it. They just don’t care. In my opinion, if they can trick you into believing something is false to win an election, they are willing to do it.

Anyway here is the ad and below is the letter from NRA-PVF Chairman Chris Cox…

October 30, 2014
Mr. Patrick Henry Hays
Patrick Henry Hays for Congress
P.O. Box 94886
North Little Rock, AR 72190
[email protected]

Dear Mr. Hays,

We are in receipt of a mailer from the Democratic Party of Arkansas in which a photo of Wayne LaPierre, Executive Vice President of the National Rifle Association of America (NRA), is used to deliberately mislead voters in into believing that you are the NRA’s preferred candidate in the November 4, 2014 race for the Second Congressional District of Arkansas. This is patently false. We are therefore writing to demand that you immediately cease any use of any image, photo or likeness of Wayne LaPierre in your congressional campaign materials. In addition, we demand that you publicly repudiate any such use by other organizations on behalf of your congressional campaign.

As you know, you have received a rating of “F” from the NRA Political Victory Fund (NRA-PVF). As you also know, the NRA-PVF has endorsed your opponent, French Hill, in this race. Your membership in former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s gun control group, “Mayors Against Illegal Guns”, makes it clear that NRA members, gun owners and sportsmen in Arkansas’ Second Congressional District cannot count on you to oppose the anti-gun agenda pushed by Bloomberg and President Obama.

In addition to the photo, the mailer in question uses selective quotes from a NRA fundraising solicitation letter signed by Wayne LaPierre to create the false impression that the NRA supports your candidacy. Again, this is simply not true.

For these reasons, we demand that you immediately cease any use of any image, photo or likeness of Wayne LaPierre, as well as any quotes from any NRA communications, in your congressional campaign materials or the campaign materials of any organization acting in support of your candidacy.

Sincerely,

Chris W. Cox Chairman, NRA-PVF