Brown removes WSU logo from campaign ad
Manager says staff will no longer use university imagery
ADAM JACKSON | DAILY EVERGREEN FILE
Lisa Brown, pictured here speaking at the Foley Institute on March 29, has apologized and edited an ad showing a WSU logo at the request of the university.
July 12, 2018
Lisa Brown’s campaign has apologized to WSU after using a clip of a person wearing a baseball cap with the university’s logo on it in an advertisement.
Brown, the former WSU Spokane Chancellor challenging Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-WA, for her seat representing Washington’s 5th Congressional District, released a campaign ad at the end of June containing a video of a man on a farm wearing a hat with the WSU logo on it.
WSU sent a letter to Brown’s campaign asking her team to take down the video after being made aware of the usage of the logo, said Phil Weiler, WSU vice president of marketing and communications.
“As a public agency, we can’t be perceived to be supporting one candidate over another,” he said.
On June 28, Brown’s official YouTube page posted a video showing an updated version of the ad with the logo blurred out.
Tanya Riordan, Brown’s campaign manager, responded to Weiler’s email informing the university of the new, edited version of the video and ensured the campaign would work to avoid further usage of the logo.
“As a courtesy to WSU and to honor your request, we will work hard to ensure that no WSU logos are visible in our campaign materials,” she wrote in the email.
Brown served as the Chancellor of WSU Spokane from 2013 until her decision to run for Congress forced her to resign in June 2017.
The university previously asked Brown’s campaign to cease using WSU imagery in campaign materials after the candidate used photos of the WSU flag, WSU Spokane campus and video of the first class of students in the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine in her announcement video.
“They should not have used WSU imagery,” Weiler said at the time.
The Washington State Republican Party filed a complaint with the Public Disclosure Commission after the first instance of a WSU logo appearing in Brown’s campaign materials. The complaint was denied, and it is unclear if another complaint was filed this time.
Erin Ross, Brown’s chief of staff, said in an email to the Evergreen in response to the usage of logos in the announcement video that Brown and her campaign had not used public resources to make the video.
Primary voting in Washington takes place from July 20 until Aug. 7, in which Brown will face Rodgers and three others in an attempt to be one of the final two on the ballot come November.
