THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, May 11, 1996 TAG: 9605110287
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
LENGTH: Short : 40 lines
A campaign ad for U.S. Sen. John W. Warner that attacked his Republican primary opponent, James C. Miller III, ran on a radio station Friday - once.
The ad was pulled after it aired in the morning on WRVA-AM. The radio station said the campaign asked that the ad be stopped; Warner's campaign said it was never supposed to run.
The ad criticizes Miller's performance as budget director under President Reagan and his political action committee. Warner has alleged that the PAC misused funds.
``The truth is Jim Miller is not a true Virginia conservative,'' the ad says, adding that ``John Warner has been fighting to restore conservative values'' and has a 95 percent rating from the Conservative Coalition.
With its repeated use of the word ``conservative,'' the ad echoes a more positive television commercial that Warner began running Wednesday. That ad focuses on the senator's war record and pictures him with conservative icons such as Reagan and former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
Rick Sands, WRVA's production director, said the Warner campaign paid for the attack ad to start Friday. ``They sent the tape and told us to run it,'' he said. After it aired once, the campaign called to pull the ad and ask that a different one be run beginning Monday, he said.
Warner campaign spokesman Eric Peterson agreed that a different radio ad will begin running Monday, but he said the attack ad was not supposed to have aired Friday.
Miller's campaign has yet to air any radio or TV ads, said his campaign spokesman, Bill Kling. But Miller's supporters in Lexington have paid for an ad running on a radio station there, he said. by CNB