Former public safety director Glenn Brown failed to properly label a short web video promoting his mayoral candidacy. His three-minute video features the candidate sitting for a haircut to talk about the issues that ail the Silk City.
“There’s no respect for the city. There’s crime – it’s out of control contrary to popular beliefs,” says Brown in the video while a barber trims his hair using an electric razor. “Those are the issue that need to be addressed immediately.”
Towards the end of the video, Brown suggests restructuring the police department may be the key to addressing the city’s crime problem. His barbershop talk with the voter has everything that makes for a good political ad; however, it fails to include the “paid for by” statement that is required for all political communications.
“You’re going to shoot me because I didn’t put that in there?” remarked Brown when asked about the lack of “paid for by” statement in the ad.
Brown was asked who paid for the web video ad. Without a “paid for by” no one knows who paid for the political advertisement. “My campaign paid for it,” he said. His video producer was not aware the clip needed to be labeled.
“If we knew we had to do that it would have been done,” said Brown. His ad was posted on YouTube on Aug. 1, 2017 and has since received 306 views.
Some of his opponents, who saw the barbershop ad, wondered who paid for it. Among them was councilman William McKoy, who has announced his intention to run in 2018.
“He’ll probably tell you this is the first time he’s running for elective office,” said McKoy suggesting it was a rookie mistake. He expressed deep skepticism at Brown’s message to address crime by restructuring the police force in the video.
McKoy said the city is still suffering from Brown’s bad policies in the Paterson Police Department. Brown served as public safety director from 2006 to 2014 overseeing both police and fire departments.
“The city is still paying for the damage he caused in the department,” said McKoy referring to the police department. He pointed to incidents that occurred under Brown’s watch that resulted in costly lawsuits.
Both men are running to succeed indicted mayor Jose “Joey” Torres. The race has a dozen plus candidates so far. One of those likely candidates, school board member Manny Martinez, thought Brown’s infraction, failing to properly label the video was required by New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC), was a minor one.
“It’s small potatoes,” said Martinez. A video ad can cost thousands of dollars to produce. Brown would not say how much the ad cost his campaign. He promised to ensure future campaign communications are properly labeled.
“Next time, I’ll make sure it’s done,” said Brown.
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