$4000 election ad? Still looking...

UPDATE: Friday I called Jennifer Peterson at the Bend Bulletin. During our initial conversation she stated that she had an archive of multiple copies of all issues and would find the Oct. 28th issue and give me a call back. She never did.

I called her back on Monday and she stated that she did not have any copies of that issue. She then referred me to Sean Tate, who is in charge of advertising. So I called Sean, who picked up on the first ring.

I stated who I was and what I was looking for, whereupon Mr. Tate suddenly informed me he was in a meeting and had to go.

So I called Bryan Iverson, of the Iverson Group that the amended Orestar filing now states actually paid for, produced and placed the ad. He stated that it was a single-sheet, two-sided ad that was inserted into the Oct. 31 issue. I said I haven't been able to find it and asked if he could produce a copy. He said he might still have one around and that he would take a look. I plan to call him again tomorrow.

On the ORESTAR election funding database the transaction has been amended from a single filing showing the Bend Bulletin as donating $4000 in ad space in which was placed an ad produced by the Iverson Group that featured the four candidates for City Council Kathie Eckman, Tom Greene, Jeff Eager and Don Leonard. The amended filing is two entries: the original #541503, now amended, showing a $4000 In-Kind contribution from the Iverson Group for a Bend Bulletin newspaper ad, and a second filing, #540613, that shows the purchase of a $4000 ad by Iverson Group, as an agent for BB PAC, from the Bend Bulletin. Both show a transaction date of 10/28/08.

I just can't seem to find an actual copy of this ad.

UPDATE 2: On Wednesday afternoon I was actually able to hold what seems to be the last copy of this ad in my hands, courtesy of the Bulletin's Sean Tate. He would not let me actually have the two-sided color full-page insert, but did make me a copy. I'll get a scan soon and update this story in a new post.

Mr. Tate was unable to discuss the funding of this ad in any way.

Where is that full-page Bulletin ad?

Updating the Bend Business PAC purchase of a full-page ad for the four "chosen" Republican candidates for Bend City Council, let's go over the basic issues as we understand them:

1) Someone bought a full-page ad in the Bend Bulletin for City Council candidates Kathie Eckman, Tom Greene, Jeff Eager, and Don Leonard, according to Bend Business PAC filing for the transaction and the filings of the four candidates at Orestar. The dates of the filings are from 10/28/2008 to 11/1/2008.

2) The first amended filing from Bend Business PAC stated that the Bend Bulletin donated a $4000 full page ad to them, which they passed on to the candidates

3) Follow-up from the Oregon State Secretary of State with BB PAC ended with a changed purchaser of the full page ad from a Bulletin contribution to an Iverson Group purchase and contribution. The Iverson Group is a well known local Republican advertising agency. The four candidates listed above spent over $50,000 with the Iverson Group during the last election.

Since then, both myself and H. Bruce Miller from the Source went to the library and looked for the actual ad. I went through the papers from election day back through the start of October. Neither of us found the purported ad. Both of us noticed that the local section was missing from the Oct. 28 issue.

Today I went to the Bulletin office and looked through their archives. I found that the last page of the Oct. 28th issue local section was missing. It did not look like a full page ad for anything from the little bit left at the top. The two receptionists expressed shock that something was missing from the archived issues just off the front reception area.

So my questions are 1) what does that ad look like and who is listed as paying for it in the ad itself, 2) who actually paid for it, and 3) simply, does this ad even exist?

We will continue to investigate this issue.

UPDATE: I forgot one thing--when I originally called the receptionist said sure, I can buy a copy of Oct. 28th. Then she went back to get it and said "We don't have anymore. Was there something really popular in that issue?". They have plenty of all other issues, but none from Oct. 28th. Really kind of strange.