Nickels's New Problem: His Own Ads?

Erica C. Barnett over at Publicola has an interesting tidbit this morning: apparently, a local lobbyist has filed an ethics complaints against Mayor Greg Nickels for the above ad. The shot that's causing the trouble is at 40 seconds in. Apparently, that shot of the new Link Light Rail line wasn't filmed from a public area (or so the complaint maintains), raising the question of how the crew got access. It would be a violation for Nickels to use his power as mayor or other public resources to help his election campaign. UPDATE: As comments suggested, it turns out it was pulled from earlier footage, according to Publicola.

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By Jeremy in News on July 21, 2009 9:00 AM

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Publicola post on this issue. It's all good.

(Josh) 1. I talked to Seattle Ethics and Elections Director Wayne Barnett regarding an ethics complaint filed about a Nickels campaign ad. (The crux of the complaint, which we reported in this morning’s Morning Fizz, was that Nickels, abused his public office to get privileged access to the light rail stations to shoot a video spot.)

Ethics director Barnett reports, as I believe some people in the comments thread pointed out, that the ad was shot from a public location (4th and Lander). Barnett adds: The footage was actually borrowed from another ad—it’s footage from the 2007 roads and transit initiative. No foul.