Alliance Demand Equal Time

The following first appeared in Capitol Weekly. The chairman of the Alliance for a Better California has demanded equal time on the state's largest Spanish-language network after Arnold Schwarzenegger taped an hour-long interview set to run on Univision stations statewide on Saturday. Joe Nuñez sent a letter to Univision General Manager Diego Ruiz to request that the station provide equal airtime to Schwarzenegger's opponents. In a release, Nuñez wrote, "Unfortunately, your station has not offered the Alliance equal time." Because Schwarzenegger is not a candidate on this fall's special election ballot, federal requirements for equal airtime for candidates do not apply. But in a 1992 letter obtained by Capitol Weekly, the Fair Political Practices Commission's then-acting General Counsel Scott Hallabrin wrote in an informal ruling that, "the donation of free radio time to one side of a ballot measure, which is not offered to the other side of the ballot measure, is considered a contribution." Ironically, that letter was addressed to Charles Bell, whose law firm now represents Gov. Schwarzenegger... Read the rest here