News-Record.com

Cross-posted from Decision 2008.

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I was roused from my post-Super Bowl stupor last night by and ad for Crib to College, a nonprofit founded by Crumley and Associates.

The law firm is owned by Republican AG candidate Bob Crumley. The firm does heavy advertising for itself, including on the back page of the phone books.

Now, call me skeptical, but this got me to thinking and digging a little bit.

Crumley formed the Crib to College nonprofit in 2006, shortly after his 2005 declaration that he would run for Attorney General in 2008. (Yes, he's been running for nigh on three years.)

The ad for the scholarships features Crumley in a lot of the visuals and mentions his name several times. It sure as shooting looked to me to be a couple half steps short of a campaign ad. Could the foundation and its on-air advertising be taken as a way to boost his public profile around the state?

Crumley told me I'm taking the coincidence the wrong way. After 2006, the law firm realized it wasn't getting the number of applicants that it wanted for the scholarship. So in 2007 and again this year it began advertising the scholarship.

Crumley said his company has been doing public service work, such as drivers education, for years and that the formation of the nonprofit had to do with the expanding its community outreach efforts.

"Totally coincidental in terms of timing," Crumley said.

Alright. Fair enough. Still, advertising is advertising. Has he given any thought as to cutting back ads for the foundation or the law firm as he runs for AG.

Short answer: no.

"The company has been advertising for a long, long time. The company is going to continue to advertise, I guess forever...It's two separate things and the campaign will do its thing and the law firm will do its thing," Crumley said.

For those wondering if there's a law against this sort of thing, yes and no.

If you're a sitting member of the Council of State - the AG is a member - you can't do publicly-funded Public Service Announcements except in case of a national emergency, said Gary Bartlett, who heads the state board of elections.

So, for example, Democrat Roy Cooper can't do a bunch of ads for his department's fraud prevention efforts this year as a way to build his name recognition and good will.

Crumley, however, is pretty much in the clear to do ads for his foundation and his law firm.

The state can't regulate anything that doesn't have the "magic words," Bartlett said. Those would be words like "vote for," "support," "oppose," or "defeat." Anything else is, at best, an issue ad, which is dicey if not impossible for the state to regulate anyway. Advertisements for private businesses or foundation don't get close to coming into the SBOE's purview.

So there's nothing the state can do to put Crumley's foundation and business ads off the air, regardless of how they may or may not help his campaign. As for Crumley, he emphasized the foundation had nothing to do with politics.

"I don't want to see a really good program politicized for my benefit or anybody's benefit," he said.