Stop airing Brian Fitzpatrick’s TV ads, Bob Harvie’s campaign asks Philly area stations
One Fitzpatrick ad claims that Harvie voted to 'abolish' local police funding. Harvie's lawyer says that's false and defamatory.
Bucks County Democrat Bob Harvie is asking TV stations in the Philadelphia area to stop airing advertisements from U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, calling them misleading to viewers.
In letters sent Thursday, an attorney for the Democrat’s campaign highlighted two attack ads from Fitzpatrick’s campaign related to Harvie’s time as a county commissioner.
He said the ads relied on dubious reporting from a source who has personal connections to Fitzpatrick, the incumbent Republican who has represented the 1st Congressional District for five terms. Harvie is challenging Fitzpatrick for the Bucks County-based seat, one of four in the state that both parties targeting ahead of November.
In one of the ads, for example, Fitzpatrick’s campaign referenced a headline from Patch.com, the hyperlocal news organization, that said “Bob Harvie was the lone vote to abolish local police funding on the Board of Commissioners.”
Harvie opposed a roughly $43,000 purchase of “civil unrest protective equipment” for the Bucks County Sheriff’s Office in a 2024 vote, attorney Timothy Ford said in the letter, but voted to approve every other law enforcement spending request, including about $31,000 for a Sheriff’s Deputy vehicle and about $44,000 for a police interceptor utility vehicle.
The legal action comes after revelations from POLITICO that the author of multiple Patch articles Fitzpatrick is using in his campaign ads is Dave Sommers, who received occasional payments from Fitzpatrick’s campaign over the years, though not in the most recent financial reporting cycle.
“Sommers’ claim that Mr. Harvie voted to ‘abolish local police funding’ is a deliberately false characterization of the official and public record of the Bucks County Commissioners’ Meeting,” Ford wrote.
Harvie’s campaign asked the TV stations to scrutinize any future advertisements that refer to Sommers’ work.
“These advertisements rely on reporting from a highly uncredible and biased source with a penchant for publishing out-of-context, false statements that mislead voters and damage Mr. Harvie’s reputation in the community,” Ford wrote.
Sommers had previously been charged with stealing an election sign for a previous Fitzpatrick primary challenger and attended the lawmaker’s June wedding, Politico reported.
Representatives for the Fitzpatrick campaign did not respond to The Inquirer.
Thursday’s letter is the latest effort by the Harvie campaign to use legal means to thwart an ad blitz from Fitzpatrick, who led Harvie in fundraising according to campaign finance reports this summer. The next round of financial disclosures will be available Oct. 15.
Several public polls put Harvie and Fitzpatrick in a tight race, but the Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan group that provides election analysis, still shows the seat will likely remain in Republican control.
This summer, Harvie’s campaign sent a cease-and-desist letter to Fitzpatrick and his campaign for, what they say are, defamatory allegations that falsely suggest Harvie was the subject an FBI investigation. A PAC supporting Fitzpatrick that used similar language in its social media posts, news releases, and video content also received a cease-and-desist, and was slapped with a lawsuit.
The practice of sending these kinds of letters is common for campaigns, and some go ignored.
In another ad Harvie’s campaign complained about in the letter, Fitzpatrick referenced a Patch headline that said “Bob Harvie Voted to Give Himself a Significant Taxpayer-Funded Pay Raise.”
As chair of the Bucks County Board of Commissioners, Harvie approved an annual 1% increase in salaries beginning in 2024 for commissioners and several other local offices. State law requires commissioners to set salaries prior to an upcoming election year for most county level roles, including their own.
“There was nothing ‘significant’ or unusual about the pay raise that Mr. Harvie and his fellow Commissioners approved,” Ford wrote. He added that the raises were approved across party lines, including support from the Republican commissioner.
