CLEAR CHANNEL SQUELCHES OPPOSITION TO BUSH/WAR: The New York Times reports
that Clear Channel, which is run by a major Bush fundraiser and has "close
ties to national Republicans," is refusing to allow an anti-war group to buy
ad space on one of its public billboards during the Republican National
Convention (http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/12/ny...billboard.html) in
New York City. The company claims it objected to bomb imagery, even though
Clear Channel had rejected an earlier version of the ad showing just a dove.
Clear Channel's CEO Paul Meyer
(http://www.opensecrets.org/indivs/se...ame=Meyer,+Pau
l&txtState=AZ&txtZip=&txtEmploy=&txtCand=Bush&txt2 004=Y&txt2002=Y&txt2000=Y&
Order=N) , a Bush contributor who recently gave a speech entitled " Be
Ethical, Be Successful (http://www.nd.edu/~ndlaw/NDLSUpdate/mayjune02.pdf)
," said with a straight face, "We have no political agenda." But a look at
Clear Channel's past shows otherwise. In the lead up to the war, the company
officially sponsored " some of the biggest rallies
(http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/s...157mar19.story)
endorsing President Bush's strategy against Saddam Hussein." That effort was
undoubtedly motivated by the company's strong connection to the Republican
party: R. Steven Hicks (http://www.tpj.org/pioneers/r_hicks.html) , the
founder of Clear Channel, is a Bush Pioneer, having raised more than
$100,000 for the president, and Hicks personally "made Bush a millionaire
15 times over (http://www.tpj.org/pioneers/r_hicks.html) " in their Texas
business dealings. Other company executives
(http://www.opensecrets.org/indivs/se...ame=&txtState=
(all+states&txtZip=&txtEmploy=CLEAR+CHANNEL&txtCan d=Bush&txt2004=Y&txt2002=Y
&txt2000=Y&Order=N) have contributed more than $24,000 to the president's
campaign. Meanwhile, the NYT reports that in the 2000 and 2002 election
cycles, "the company and its officials donated slightly more than $300,000
in unregulated money, almost all of it to Republicans."



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