C-SPAN drops suit against GOP candidate
SATURDAY DECEMBER 23 2000
ELECTION 2000
Gephardt objected to broadcast of promises
to promote homosexual agenda
By Jon E. Dougherty © 2000 WorldNetDaily.com

C-SPAN -- the cable television channel that features congressional and
governmental hearings and testimony --- said it would drop its lawsuit
against a former Republican congressional candidate that the network said
illegally used its footage in a campaign ad against House Minority Leader
Dick Gephardt, D-Mo
The suit claimed that Bill Federer, a St. Louis-area real estate executive
and author who ran an unsuccessful campaign to unseat Gephardt, violated
copyright law because his campaign developed an ad using C-SPAN footage
showing a speech the House minority leader gave to the National Gay and
Lesbian Task Force Oct. 5, 1999.
Attorneys for the cable channel said the network would drop its suit
against Federer and not ask him to pay any damages if he agreed to drop an
appeal he had filed against C-SPAN in the U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of
Appeals.

Bill Federer ran against Gephardt in Nov. 7 election.
"This is a tremendous victory for the American people," Federer said in a
statement released Thursday, after both parties agreed to settle the
matter out of court. "It is vital to the life of the nation that the
political processes be open to the public."
"We are pleased that C-SPAN has thought better of suing Mr. Federer for
constitutionally-protected speech," added Stephen M. Crampton, chief
counsel for the American Family Associated Center for Law & Policy, which
represented Federer.
In his speech before the homosexual group, Gephardt said, "If I have
anything to say about it, I can assure you that these measures -- that
make good sense and represent the right values for America -- will be on
the agenda and will be passed."
That portion of Gephardt's speech was included in the Federer ad. The
agenda Gephardt referenced includes the National Gay and Lesbian Task
Force's support for legislation promoting, or approving of -- on the
federal level -- homosexual marriage, homosexuals in the Boy Scouts,
government-funded needle-exchange programs for drug addicts, homosexual
recruitment programs in the public schools and opposition to any law that
would criminalize the purposeful transmission of AIDS.
Federer has charged the Gephardt campaign with encouraging C-SPAN to
initiate legal action -- much in the same way Gephardt campaign officials
initially encouraged St. Louis television stations to pull Federer's
campaign ads.
The ads first aired Oct. 24, but were ordered off the air by U.S. District
Judge Charles A. Shaw Oct. 27 after Gephardt officials complained to local
television stations that an ad featuring the C-SPAN footage violated
copyright laws.
"We understand that C-SPAN does not authorize their footage to be used in
political television ads and the Federer campaign may be violating a
copyright and other intellectual property rights," said Kevin Gunn of the
Gephardt campaign, in letters to KDNL-TV and KSDK-TV.
Officials at C-SPAN, said Tom Federer -- a campaign spokesman and the
candidate's brother -- faxed a warning to the Federer campaign within a
day of the ad's first airing, threatening legal action if campaign
officials did not have it pulled.
However, Federer's campaign appealed Shaw's ruling to the Eighth Circuit
Court of Appeals, and Nov. 2 the appeals court reversed the district
court's ruling, supporting the Federer campaign's claims that barring use
of C-SPAN video footage was a violation of the First Amendment right to
free speech.
"The attempt to block Federer from publicizing Gephardt's pandering to a
left-wing special interest group amounted to little more than censorship,"
said Bryan J. Brown, litigation counsel for the law center and lead
Federer counsel on Thursday. "If C-SPAN had prevailed, it would have made
[the network] not a mere reporter of the news but the owner" of it.
Due to Friday's congressional recess, Gephardt was unavailable for
comment.
Gephardt and Federer squared off in Missouri's Third District. According
to official state results, Gephardt defeated Federer by a margin of 57.8
percent (147,222 votes) to 39.7 percent (100,967 votes).

NEWS:
California schools' new homosexual curriculum
COMMENTARY:
This is a tremendous victory for the American people. It is vital to
the life of the nation that the political processes be open to the
public.
-- Bill Federer

We are pleased that C-SPAN has thought better of suing Mr. Federer
for constitutionally-protected speech.
-- Stephen M. Crampton, chief counsel for the American Family
Associated Center for Law & Policy

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