PAC drops ad after Scheller calls out its ‘lies’ about her company’s environmental record
Wild tweeted about ad, but campaign says incumbent was not directly involved with its content.
A political action committee on Wednesday pulled a political ad targeted at Republican Lisa Scheller after the 7th Congressional District candidate said it contained “inaccuracies and lies” about the environmental record of Silberline Manufacturing, the Schuylkill County company where Scheller serves as president and CEO.
LCV Victory Fund, an arm of the League of Conservation Voters, this week had begun airing an ad called “Toxic” that Scheller’s campaign said contained “false accusations” about water pollution. The ad urged support for her challenger, incumbent Democrat Susan Wild.
In an Aug. 30 cease-and-desist letter to media outlets, lawyers for Scheller’s campaign demanded that the ad be taken down – saying the group strung together claims to mislead viewers, including one that said “ ‘her company paid more than $300,000 in penalties and broke Pennsylvania environmental codes at least 64 times including for repeatedly releasing pollutants into Pennsylvania’s water . . .’ ”
“Lisa Scheller’s company certainly did not ‘break Pennsylvania environmental codes . . . including for releasing pollutants into Pennsylvania’s water.’ There are ZERO citations for polluting water,” lawyers Chris Winkelman and Darby Grant, described as counsel to Scheller for Congress, said in the letter.
The LCV Victory Fund issued a statement saying it stands by the ad but took it down “rather than engage in a time-consuming back and forth with Lisa Scheller’s lawyers.”
“...we’re going to focus our energy and funds on talking to the voters about why Lisa Scheller is out of step with Pennsylvania’s 7th district. An additional ad is coming,” the LCV statement said.
LCV Victory Fund filed a recent report with the Federal Election Commission saying it has spent $307,802 this year in opposition of Scheller with the bulk of it going for TV ad buys.
The League of Conservation is an environmental advocacy group that promotes environmental laws and seeks to hold politicians accountable for environmental stands.
The group has backed Wild. Under federal law candidates and PACs are not allowed to communicate on things such as ad buys.
Wild was aware of the finished ad, retweeting the LVC’s tweet on the subject, saying “@SchellerforPa makes her corporate profits at our expenses.” She has since deleted the tweet.
“Our campaign is not responsible for the content of ads that we neither authorize nor pay for. But based on her willingness to sacrifice American jobs to China it wouldn't surprise us if she sacrificed our environment too,” Sarah Carlson, Wild’s campaign manager, said in response to the ad pull.
In explaining their demand for the ad’s removal, Winkelman and Grant’s letter further stated that two citations mentioned in the ad are not water violations but are actually about Silberline’s efforts to clean up a site it purchased in Lansford, Carbon County, in 1963.
“These two citations have absolutely nothing to do with Ms. Scheller’s company in any way polluting Pennsylvania’s water,” wrote the lawyers who are from the law firm Holtzman Vogel Baran Torchinsky & Josefiak, which has offices in Washington, D.C.
The lawyers reminded the media outlets of their legal duties “to protect the public from false, misleading, or deceptive advertising.”
It’s difficult to ascertain from DEP records available online how much over the years that Silberline has paid in fines.
A review of available data from the Department of Environmental Protection shows about 30 notations for alleged violations since 1994. Scheller took over the helm of the company founded by her grandfather in 1997.
The bulk of them involved no fines. Alleged violations were for regulations involving air quality, permits, records and procedures. Records can be viewed here and here.
“My company has always prioritized health and safety, and I won’t tolerate dishonest attempts to smear the strong record of our employees who have spent decades building this safe and sustainable business that responsibly serves customers across the state and beyond,” Scheller said in a statement on the ad.
“Pennsylvanians are fed up with political stunts and mistruths coming from Washington, and I am disappointed that Susan Wild and her allies continue to perpetuate misinformation not only about me but about hundreds of manufacturing employees. Susan Wild owes these employees and their families an apology for this latest stunt,” her statement said.
The 7th Congressional District is among six battleground Congressional seats that the LCV Victory Fund is spending $2 million on “media investments” to oppose what it described as “pro-polluter, MAGA extreme candidates.”
The group is supporting candidates such as Wild, who voted in favor of the Inflation Reduction Act, which is making historic investments in climate initiatives.
“LCV Victory Fund stands by the ad and remains concerned about the history of environmental violations and enforcement actions documented against Lisa Scheller’s company, but rather than engage in a time-consuming back and forth with Lisa Scheller’s lawyers,”
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