Palm cards advertising the candidacy of David Smoak for the Lee County Board of Commissioners were apparently inserted into print copies of The Rant Monthly at at least one location in Lee County this month without the knowledge or consent of LPH Media, which owns and operates The Rant.
A source confirmed that the palm cards fell out of copies of September’s The Rant Monthly that were picked up recently at the Carolina Trace Country Club, and that all remaining papers at the site contained an insert. Insert materials placed in newspapers typically constitute paid advertising, and The Rant has no agreement for advertising in place with Smoak. Unpaid advertisements for political campaigns could be considered an in kind contribution from a business, which is illegal under North Carolina law.
Three other local candidates for public office paid for advertising in the September edition of The Rant Monthly.
Smoak, a Republican seeking one of three at large seats on the Lee County Board of Commissioners, had not responded to an email explaining that LPH Media does not authorize placement of any items in the publication without consent, and asking if palm cards that may have been inserted in papers at any other pickup locations be removed, as of Friday afternoon.
How did I know he is a REPUBLICAN?
I noticed there are no Republicans responding to this article😀.
I’ve known a lot of Republicans named “Meme”, lol. How do we know you aren’t one?
Why would you say that?
I don’t see a single ad in the September edition of the printed Rant.
There are a few paid political ads in this issue, ’tis the season!
Well, if you are trying to make this a political thing——- I don’t think that would be a great idea. It easily could have been and more likely than not, a Democrat. So, please don’t make this political-
Tammy, I’m sorry to say it’s all about politics now because so much money, power and control has been given to government, therefore the fight to control the government has become so vicious. TBH, most of our lives are busy enough without having to deal with this stuff which is one reason why so few citizens wish to get involved anymore. I’m really not that invested in winning, but when our taxes do go up again in the near future I just want to say I tried.
But it was a Republican Tammy. So cut that bothsidesism BS right now. Anything that Republicans bitch about Democrats, they do 10 times worse. If you ever want to know what the GOP is up to, just listen to what they complaining about the most.
I acknowledge the disclaimer posted by the Rant and also that I was offered an opportunity to buy their advertising services which other political candidates did purchase. In the September issue of the Rant, I provided 1,000 words of free content in response to their survey questions asked of all candidates and my business card containing an additional few words about myself was placed in their free printed publication which is distributed throughout the county on commercial and public properties. To echo my remarks about the Board of Education, I respect the entire process of how the Rant was created to provide Lee County residents with an alternative news source, although how this topic is being treated now does remind me a little bit of George Orwell’s “Animal Farm” where the farm animals rebel only to realize they have merely replaced their masters with themselves. (continued due to lack of space)
I encourage all supporters of the Rant to continue their support, as an FYI there are two ways to support a business based on providing free content. There is direct financial support such as advertising, then there is encouraging the wide dissemination of their product such that their advertising value increases, which Facebook has been incredibly successful at doing. I believe the legal principle of distributing free materials is that once they are not under your direct control, then others are free to use them.
I appreciate the additional publicity provided by the Rant on my campaign to be your County Commissioner and hope other political candidates will receive the same response if their cards are scattered around these issues which focus on the future of this county. I will be distributing these “forbidden” cards widely at next week’s county fair, my campaign is clearly based on fiscal discipline and preserving your individual freedoms. It may sound pretentious but defending freedoms like speech, expression, bearing arms etc is easy until we start seeing those freedoms expressed in ways we disagree with personally. I will be distributing my other free materials in a couple of weeks along public right-of-ways with yard signs advertising “Smoak the Vote” and fully expect the passionate Democrat supporters of my opponents to seize on this event as justification to take down or destroy those materials and that news should be widely publicized also.
How does one get in contact with you If not on social media? I can’t find hardly any info about you via Google. Chris.m.nance@gmail.com
I have read all of David’s responses but nowhere did I see an apology for his breech of ethics. Perhaps I missed it.
Doubt you missed it. I’m thinking an apology is not in the works.
Several years ago, The Rant used one of my graphics without permission to promote one of their partisan political hit pieces. I never got an apology [nevermind any compensation from online ad revenues… ehm. 🙃🖖].
For the record, the October monthly paper copy of The Rant carried this article, but somehow claims that I did not respond to them while it is obvious both here and on their FB article I have responded. Also as an FYI, we candidates were asked four questions. Still, the Rant did not publish the 4th question/response related to our County Manager, and I have submitted my “official” headshot to the Rant. Still, they apparently want to continue publishing a casual photo that probably came from my personal FB account.
Apparently, there is some website plug-in named Gravatar that at one point assigned me this bizarre “princess” name, lol. After I submitted the above response, instead of asking for my name/email as always it went ahead and called me a princess, now some of you can chase that name down and see if I called myself a “Hispanic Nazi” like the detectives on Mark Robinson found. This is David Smoak, Republican Candidate for County Commissioner, not a Princess, delectably or not…..sheesh!
Princess probably suits you better. You look like one
David is another POS GOP candidate that believes the rules don’t apply to him. He’s one of Jim Womack’s Election Integrity Squad. We’ll be out there on election day looking for these poll watchers and we will be AGGRESSIVE. You be safe out there.
As always, I’m not replying to this anonymous troll, but to the thoughtful reader of this thread. First they come with the personal attacks then some wild “rules don’t apply” accusations without even saying what the “rules” are, if he means “laws” then please list what laws are not being applied to me? I’m actually not part of NCEIT, which is another lie, but who is counting, lol. I do encourage us all to be safe, as the whackos face defeat on Election Day, the smell of desperation and the lashing out will increase.