The Virginian-Pilot today reports that Del. John Welch is using a picture taken of himself with Virginia Beach Sheriff Paul Lanteigne in his mail. Problem is, Lanteigne didn’t authorize its use and he is not endorsing Welch in his battle against Democratic challenger Bobby Mathieson.
“If he’d asked me to use those photos, I’d have said no,” Lanteigne said.
You know, they say a picture is worth a thousand words. I have no doubt that many folks who receive this ad will assume that Lanteigne supports Welch and will never see the story in the Pilot saying differently. I saw the effects of the use of photos in my own campaign. On my all of my campaign mail, I listed the names of those electeds who supported me. But it wasn’t until the mail piece included the pictures that a number of people said that they were aware of their support. And, of course, there was this incident. I wonder how many people saw the article? I know that an ad was run in a local paper after the article appeared with the offending photo included.
There is a really simple answer to this: require that written permission from people be obtained prior to the photo being used in an ad. Before a mail firm uses a photo which contains a clearly identifiable individual, they should be provided a copy of the permission slip. Before the newspaper runs an ad, they should be provided a copy of the permission slip. And, to avoid situations like this one with Welch and Lanteigne, the permission slip should be dated within a certain time frame, say one year or six months.
The voters deserve to have some semblance of truth in advertising.
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VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
You’re right. I won’t use it in polite conversation. It’s difficult enough getting a point across (the minefield of half-truths and enuendos) without having to de-code every other word. Thanks for mild admonishment. Remember…self-censureship is easy for thinking people.