Ads to run in Reps. Blunt’s, Nussle’s, and Gerlach’s districts

Media campaign meant to put pressure on GOP Reps. to force Tom DeLay to resign

Washington—Public Campaign, a nonpartisan money and politics watchdog group, will launch television advertisements in three congressional districts tomorrow to build pressure on Republican members of Congress to demand Majority Leader Tom DeLay’s resignation. The ads will run in:

• The 7th Congressional District of Missouri, currently represented by Majority Whip Roy Blunt;
• The 6th Congressional District of Pennsylvania, currently represented by Rep. Jim Gerlach; and
• The 1st Congressional District of Iowa, currently represented by Rep. Jim Nussle.

“With Rep. Chris Shays’ courageous statement yesterday calling on Tom DeLay to step down, we are turning up the heat on Republican members to join him,” said David Donnelly, National Campaigns Director of Public Campaign. “DeLay’s big money scandals and cash-and-carry politics should be repudiated by elected officials everywhere.”

The ads are identical, with the exception of the ending. In the ad running in Rep. Blunt’s district, for example, the text ends: “Congressman Blunt: Stop defending Tom DeLay’s corruption and clean up Congress without DeLay.” The ad text running in Rep. Gerlach’s district ends with a demand that he return the tens of thousands of dollars that DeLay helped raise for him a few weeks ago at a Washington fundraiser. Rep. Nussle is asked, “When will you stand up?” in the spot running in his district.

Each of the ads and the ad scripts can be seen at www.withoutdelay.org. Similar ads were run in the districts of Reps. Rob Simmons (CT-02); Tom Reynolds (NY-26); and Doc Hastings (WA-04) last week.

In addition, an on-line citizen petition calling for DeLay’s resignation, found at www.withoutdelay.org, has nearly 25,000 signatures.

Public Campaign is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to sweeping reform that aims to dramatically reduce the role of big special interest money in American politics.