Eliot Spitzer apologizes, promises to revise ad featuring Oregon's Caitlin Baggott and her daughter

Kari Chisholm FacebookTwitterWebsite

On Monday, former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer launched a TV spot in which he acknowledges the prostitution scandal that brought down his governorship. In the spot, he says "I failed; big time" -- a stark admission that's brought the spot lots of attention.

But here in Portland, the video made the social media rounds for another reason. 46 seconds in, it features an image of Bus Project executive director Caitlin Baggott and her daughter. The image was shot and approved for use in a Kitzhaber 2010 ad, and was used by the Spitzer campaign without Baggott's approval.

It didn't take long, though, for Michael Radway (Oregon's DNC Committeeman) to get on the case. I'll let him tell the story:

So, after I complained to a friend who is one of his attorneys, Eliot Spitzer called this afternoon to apologize for using the clip of Caitlin and Augusta in his ad and to offer to take it out of the ad.

He explained that they had a release. I explained that it wasn't about the legality but rather the propriety of using a clip that implied endorsement without explicit permission.

To his credit, he is taking prompt, corrective action, and didn't have a minion call.

That's right, Eliot Spitzer personally made the call to apologize. Turns out, he's actually a stand up guy. Presumably his ad team is busily revising the spot today so that they can take it down from YouTube.

Video

connect with blueoregon