NOW OR NEVER PAC

Brunner Attempts Block Now or Never PACs Television Ads from Airing
Brunner Afraid of the Truth, Tries to Intimidate Television Stations with Creative Spin of his Transgressions
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 31, 2012 CONTACT: Tyler Harber 202-494-3227 tyler@harcomstrategies.com Kansas City, Missouri Missouri U.S. Senate candidate John Brunner has tried, unsuccessfully, to intimidate several broadcast television stations in Missouri to take two Now or Never PACs advertisements off the air. The two television ads that Brunner seeks to block began airing across the state last week with a buy of more than $390,000. The two ads take Brunner to task for his poor business ethics, outsourcing of jobs, off-shore tax havens, mass layoffs, and his support for Obamacare: Advertisement A: Attack Dog (http://youtu.be/LdNK2j0rxc0) VO: John Brunner, a businessman filling his bank account by sticking it to the working guy. Brunners an attack dog who used tax loopholes to avoid paying his taxes. Brunner was sued for failing to pay thousands in taxes, slapped with multiple tax leins, not paying his property taxes, luxury vehicle taxes, private plane taxes on time. Brunners a whimpy yorkie for Obamacare, supporting parts of the plan. BRUNNER: there are certain attributes and things that are good in this plan Sound like someone else we know (image of Brunner and Claire McCaskill) VO: Now or Never PAC is responsible for the content of this advertising

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Advertisement B: Mountain (http://youtu.be/8h_69OzPapI) VO: John Brunner sits on a mountain of money. Howd John make all that money? Brunner cut a deal earning 35 million dollars, while 135 workers lost jobs. Brunner outsourced jobs to China and India increasing profits. Brunners Caiman Island bank account let him avoid paying taxes to the state of Missouri. John Brunner got rich hurting workers and avoiding paying all his taxes. Sounds like someone else we know (image of Brunner and Claire McCaskill) VO: Now or Never PAC is responsible for the content of this advertising

Brunners campaign sent letters (http://www.scribd.com/doc/101674283/Brunner-Complaint-Letter) to at least two broadcast television stations (WDAF and KSHB) claiming that the PACs advertisements contains false and misleading, and defamatory information about John Brunner. The following are the arguments made by the Brunner campaign, and the counterpoints provided by the Now or Never PAC (http://www.scribd.com/doc/101674285/NONP-Response-Letter-to-BrunnerComplaint -and- http://www.scribd.com/doc/101674288/NONP-Second-Response-Letter-to-BrunnerComplaint) that led to the stations upholding the original buy contract to air all of the PACs advertisements. Brunners campaign did NOT dispute that Brunner supports Obamacare: Brunner Claim #1: The Now of Never PACs ad falsely asserts that Mr. Brunner pocketed $35 million while 135 workers lost their jobs. The advertisement makes no attempt to source this claim. First, the claim that Mr. Brunner pocketed $35 million is patently false. Mr. Brunner did not pocket any money. ViJon sold $35 million is assets to Perrigo Company in 1994. Second the loss of 135 workers did not occur until four years later, and, those were workers with the Perrigo Company, not employees of Mr. Brunner or Vi-Jon. Now or Never Response #1: Mr. Brunners campaign does not deny that Mr. Brunners company, Vi-Jon, sold assets for $35 million. The word pocketed, while perhaps not to the liking of Mr. Brunners campaign, is not false, let alone defamatory. Mr. Brunners campaign does not deny that 135 workers lost their jobs; the only complaint is that this did not happen immediately after the asset sale. There is no false statement in the ad, nor does Mr. Brunners campaign claim that the layoffs were not linked to Vi-Jons shedding of assets. The statement is nether neither false nor defamatory. ---MORE Paid for by Now or Never PAC and not authorized by any candidate or candidates committee
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Brunner Claim #2: Now or Never PACs ad falsely asserts that Mr. Brunner outsources jobs to China and India. The PAC makes no attempt at sourcing this claim, likely because it knows that no such source exists. All of Vi-Jons employees are in the United States. Now or Never Response #2: Mr. Brunners campaign claims to refute the outsourcing claim by stating that all of Vi-Jons employees are in the United States. This does not fairly meet Now of Nevers claim. Companies outsource jobs not merely by moving their own employees abroad, but more frequently, by simply relying on foreign contractors for goods or services that were formerly produced in the United States. Credible media reports indicate that Mr. Brunners campaign has actually distributed Vi-Jon materials that were actually manufactured by contractors abroad:
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/candidate-s-company-turned-to-china-israel-for-tonsof/article_9f73422c-d80e-11e1-b067-0019bb30f31a.html

Mr. Brunners campaign does not deny this outsourcing of production, it merely claims that it had to look abroad for the product because there was no domestic source, a stance that the St. Louis Post Dispatch has found to be problematic: Still, in the current national debate over outsourcing of American jobs, the companys importation of thousands of tons of lotion dispensers from Shanghai, plastic tubes from Hong Kong and bubble-bath caps from Yantian may beg the question: Why not buy American for those items? Brunner Claim #3: Now or Never PACs ad falsely asserts that Mr. Brunner avoided paying Missouri taxes because of his Cayman Island bank account. The PAC does not source its claim that Mr. Brunner ever evaded paying any taxes. Again, this is so probably because the PAC knows a source for such a claim does not exist. Assertions of tax evasion are per se libelous or slanderous when the speaker knows them to be false and untrue. Now or Never Response #3: Mr. Brunners campaign quibbles not with the report that he has a Cayman bank account, but that having this account helps him to avoid paying Missouri taxes. Interestingly, presumably in order to intimidate the station with threats of defamation, the letter from Mr. Brunners campaign actually misquotes Now or Never PACs ad, which took care to use the word avoid. Instead, Mr. Brunners letter uses a different word that connotes criminal conduct: evade. The difference is crucial: tax avoidance is perfectly legal, while tax evasion is not. Now or Never does not claim that Mr. Brunner attempted to or actually did evade paying taxes. Missourians can judge for themselves whether the use of the strategic tax planning to avoid tax liability is a good or bad trait. But the allegation is not defamatory. Additional sources/news coverage about Brunners Cayman connection: http://20poundsofheadlines.wordpress.com/2012/07/27/brunner-has-cayman-island-checkingaccount/

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Two weeks ago, the Now or Never PAC announced that it had raised over $451,500 and planned to use all of that amount to support Republican U.S. Senate candidate Sarah Steelman. The pre-primary report, released last week, showed that the PAC has raised an additional $32,500 for a total of $484,000 with more than $450,000 cash on hand. Two of the PACs television advertisements take John Brunner to task for his poor business ethics and his support for Obamacare. The third ad is a positive piece displaying Sarah Steelman as the true conservative in the race.

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Paid for by Now or Never PAC and not authorized by any candidate or candidates committee
www.NONPAC.com