Blair: I paid for my campaign billboard
October 2, 2008 at 6:59 am by Wayne GarciaHillsborough County Commissioner Brian Blair has told the St. Petersburg Times that he paid for the billboard on Ehrlich Road that was the subject of our story this week. He produced a copy of a check for $2,500 for the billboard, which was dated Sept. 19.
Blair has sublet the billboard from the company that has a contract for it, North Dale Development, which is owned by developer and Blair supporter Stephen Dibbs.
Creative Loafing began calling Blair and Dibbs on Sept. 23, and, despite repeated attempts, did not receive a response from them about who had paid for the billboard. An August invoice for the billboard, obtained by CL, was sent to North Dale Development, and the billboard itself makes reference to voting for Blair in the August primary.
According to the Times:
Blair’s campaign produced a check stub showing a $2,500, first-month’s payment to CBS Outdoor, owner of the billboard. CBS also provided a computerized copy of the check, along with a copy of a mailing label from the DHL Express envelope in which it arrived.
CBS spokesman Jeremy Murphy said a company called North Dale Development has a contract to use the billboard, and that it has sublet the advertising space to Blair’s campaign. Blair has access to the billboard from the Aug. 26 to. Nov. 4, Murphy said. Those dates span the period from the primary to the general election.
“There was a letter of assignment, assigning it to the campaign,” Murphy said. “The campaign has paid for the billboard.”
The Blair campaign check has not shown up on a campaign finance report yet. Sept. 19, the date on the check, came after the deadline for the latest report. Blair told the Times it would be included on the report that is due in the mail on Friday.
