LAST-MINUTE AD CAMAPIGN AVOIDED PRE-ELECTION DISCLOSURE OF FINANCING

The firm hired to develop the advertising campaign for the zone election measure approved by Cape Girardeau voters in November was paid for the ads only days prior to the election.

That's one item at issue in a complaint filed by a former city councilman, who cited 11 violations of state campaign disclosure laws by the committee.

Although the committee hired Red Letter Communications of Cape Girardeau to develop an advertising campaign, they didn't authorize actual broadcast of the ads until Oct. 26, about a week before the Nov. 3 election.

Curtis Smith, who filed the complaint against the committee, charged that the group failed to properly disclose contributions and expenditures such as those for the Red Letter campaign.

Elect a Neighbor Committee members have said they didn't file reports on deadlines prior to the election because they didn't anticipate they'd spend more than the $1,000 threshold that allows for a disclosure exemption.

But Smith pointed out in his complaint that the law requires filing of the reports if "over $1,000 is anticipated to be spent."

He's said that by hiring Red Letter to develop an ad campaign, the committee must have anticipated spending above the minimum level.

Jim Riley of Red Letter Communications said that in most advertising work, his company is paid a small fee to develop a campaign and research what broadcast time would be available should the committee decide to authorize running the ads.

In the Elect a Neighbor campaign, he was paid $100 to develop a radio ad. Once the ads aired in late October, Red Letter Communications received $1,590.

"We prepared it and put it on ice," Riley said. "It was just before the election before it ran, and at that time we were paid. We have to be paid in full in advance, and we were paid the day the commercial aired."

By contracting to have the campaign developed but not authorizing its airing, the Elect a Neighbor Committee kept campaign expenditures below the disclosure threshold until after the filing deadline had passed prior to the election.

But Riley said it's not unusual for a client to ask him to develop a campaign that never runs.

"Often I'm told to develop some marketing ideas only to have a client say they're going to go with somebody else," he said.

The campaign reports show not only expenditures but also contributions. Smith contends the real reason Elect a Neighbor failed to file disclosures was to deprive voters full information concerning who was backing the measure.

When post-election reports finally were filed, they revealed James Drury contributed $2,100 of the $3,100 raised by the committee.

Red Letter Communications has been hired for other projects backed by Drury, including the I-66 campaign.

Also, Red Letter produced ads for Mary Wulfers when she ran for city council in 1990. Wulfers was endorsed for the council by the then Drury-owned News Guardian newspaper.

"In my mind, there's no connection between the I-66 campaign and this neighbor thing," Riley said. "I would be the first one to say that we are definitely for hire by political groups.

But he added, "We don't do much political campaigns. We kind of missed the boat on that."