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Politics : Don't Blame Me, I Voted For Kerry -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: American Spirit who wrote (28857)	6/6/2004 12:30:04 AM
From: Ann Corrigan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 81568

Comment at the bottom was made by a veteran on a local message board: Capitol Hill Blue By Matthew Sturdevant, June 5, 2004 John Kerry's presidential campaign staff is investigating how photos of Texas war veterans were obtained for a television commercial in possible violation of copyright laws. The commercial featured 16 photos, including 15 that appeared in "South Texas Heroes," a book published by the Corpus Christi, Texas Caller-Times last year in honor of Coastal Bend veterans. Two veterans and relatives of six others said the photos in the ad could only have come from "South Texas Heroes" because they have the only other copies and the man who made the commercial never contacted them. The man hired to produce the commercial for the Kerry campaign, Armando Gutierrez of Corpus Christi, issued an apology on Friday in an advertisement to the Caller-Times. The apology, directed at the veterans and their relatives, does not say "South Texas Heroes" was the source of the photos. Guttierrez would not comment on the source of the photos. On Wednesday, he said he did not take them from the book. On Thursday, the newspaper's attorney, Jorge C. Rangel, issued a letter to the Kerry campaign's Washington office demanding that the campaign immediately stop any political ads containing photos from "South Texas Heroes." The letter also requested a public apology to the newspaper and families of the veterans. The Kerry campaign modified the commercial late Wednesday and removed nine of the 16 photos because of concerns about copyright violations, said Fabiola Rodriguez-Ciampoli, director of Hispanic media for Kerry campaign. It is still not clear if the photos that remain in the commercial were taken from "South Texas Heroes." The Kerry campaign contacted at least one veteran who did not give permission to use his photo. The campaign was apologizing by phone to other veterans or their family members who were upset by being included in the ad. The ad targeted Hispanic voters and began airing May 28 in six states - Arizona, Colorado, Florida, New Mexico, Nevada and Ohio - all considered close contests between Democrats and Republicans. The modified version of the ad is still being broadcast in those states. The commercial was produced by Gutierrez's political advertising company, A. Gutierrez & Associates, Inc., which has offices in Albuquerque, N. M. and Corpus Christi. Gutierrez said that he borrowed the photos from family and friends of family, who gave verbal permission to use the photos in the commercial. The families of two more veterans said they never gave permission to use photos in the ad. At least half of the 16 photos in the ad were broadcast without permission. In the ad, Gutierrez said he didn't obtain permission from some of the veterans or their survivors. "In my haste to get a spot done before deadline and with the belief that anyone whose image I chose to use was family and friends, in many instances, classmates, I did not get approvals from some beforehand." Gutierrez wrote. "My idea was that once things had settled down a bit I would make a copy of the spot and hand deliver it to each family as a token of appreciation for their service." "I want to sincerely apologize to anyone who was offended that an image was used before I could contact them." Gutierrez did not address whether he violated copyright laws. The attorney Gutierrez retained, Rudy Gonzales, Jr., said he won't have a chance to discuss the case with Gutierrez until early next week. "He's been out of town, and I have not had a chance to visit with him and go over the facts," Gonzalez said. The possible copyright infringement came to the newspaper's attention when an imaging technician, Frank Lemos, Jr., saw an Associated Press photo of a frame from the Kerry ad. Lemos helped produce "South Texas Heroes" and his father and two uncles were in the book. When he saw the Associated Press photo, he recognized his father, uncles and others from the book. Newspaper President and Publisher Larry L. Rose said the Kerry campaign isn't going far enough to make amends. The copyright issue seems lost on John Kerry and his team," Rose said. ***(looks as if Kerry is still sticking it to the 'Nam vets)