Reality Check has already shown how “Neutral” Conservative News Websites Breitbart and The Daily Wire are actually fronts for the Ted Cruz Campaign. In our article “The $25 Million Dollar Trump Take Down” we clearly show that the owners of those sites donated over $25 Million Dollars to the Cruz Campaign and then use their websites to promote him. But is Talk Radio also on the take? Reality Check dug into Cruz FEC Filings and discovered the Cruz PACs paid a Talk Radio Insider over $8 Million Dollars, and the endorsements of Glenn Beck, Mark Levin and others quickly came in.
The FCC regulates the nation’s TV and Radio Stations because the signals they use are owned by the public. This is why you cannot use certain words on the radio, stations must have licenses, keep a public records file and make it available, etc.
One FCC rule is 47 U.S. Code § 317 or the Payola Rule. Simply put, Radio/TV Stations and their employees are not allowed to take money to put content in their programming, mention items, talk about candidates, etc. unless that sponsorship is disclosed.
In other words, if a Talk Show host like Glenn Beck, Mark Levin, Hugh Hewitt or others was paid money by a campaign to talk glowingly, defend or endorse a candidate, and not disclose that they were paid on-air to the audience, or the radio stations they are broadcast on, they’d be in violation of the law. The station could lose it’s license and the host could be jailed and fined.
Politico published an article in December called, “Talk Radio Rallies Around Ted Cruz” highlighting Glenn Beck, Mark Levin and Erick Erickson, amongst others as hosts defending Cruz and bashing Donald Trump (to Cruz’s benefit). If these hosts are doing it on their own, with no payment, it’s perfectly legal. However, if money is flowing to them, and they are not disclosing it, they are violating Federal Law.
Cruz won a convincing primary in Wisconsin and as Mark Graul, a Wisconsin based GOP Strategist pointed out:
The question is, are these talk show hosts becoming Pro-Cruz on their own volition? Or are they being paid big money to sway the election in Cruz’s favor?
A look at Ted Cruz PAC filings (Keep The Promise I & Keep The Promise PAC) turns up expenses totaling $8,467,466.00 to a company out of Plano Texas called Rigel Strategies LLC. Below is a screenshot of just a small sample of the payments Keep The Promise I has paid to Rigel Strategies, LLC.
Rigel Strategies, LLC is owned by a man named Dennis Sternitzky. Sternitzky is the only employee of Rigel Strategies, LLC from extensive research. Sternitzky is a former sales rep for Salem Communications (now known as Salem Media Group), which owns 117 radio stations across the United States. Salem also owns the website Red State which puts on the “Red State Gathering” that is hosted by Erick Erickson. The Red State Gathering notoriously banned Donald Trump from appearing at it’s latest get together in Denver Colorado.
When Sternitzky founded Rigell Strategies, LLC he began pushing a different kind of marketing he calls, “Embedded Marketing”. Sternitzky quotes Michael Margolis, “If you want to learn about a culture, listen to the stories…if you want to change the culture, change the stories.” In short, Sternitzky’s marketing plan is to pay hosts to promote brands, campaigns, etc. during their show which is perfectly legal, AS LONG AS IT’S DISCLOSED to the public.
Here is a youtube video of Sternitzky explaining his concept.
According to Sternitzky’s LinkedIn Profile, he was the National Account Manager for Salem Communications (syndicator for Dennis Prager, Michael Medved, Bill Bennett, Mike Gallagher, Erick Erickson and Hugh Hewitt) from August 2005 to August 2011. Before that Sternitzky worked for Premeire Radio Networks (syndicator for Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Meghan McCain).
In 2015, Ted Cruz’s PAC “Keep The Promise I” made 58 payments to Rigel Strategies, LLC. for a total of $1,094,268.00. The PAC increased its spending with Rigel Strategies, LLC. dramatically in 2016 and in just January and February (the latest filings available), has paid Rigel $7,373,198.00. The expenses are listed as “Media” and “Pac Radio Advertising”. Below is a screenshot of all of the payments made by Cruz’s “Keep The Promise 1” and “Keep The Promise PAC” to Rigel Strategies, LLC.
It’s also been widely reported that, David Barton, the Director of Cruz’s “Keep The Promise PAC”, is also the Chairman of Glenn Beck’s Mercury One Charity. Between January 18, 2016 and February 18, 2016, “Keep The Promise PAC” paid Rigel Strategies, LLC. $1,033,300.00.
Since Rigel Strategies, LLC. is not a public corporation, just what that $8,467,466.00 dollars in “Media” spending has been used for is not public record. However, it’s not hard to connect the dots and see that a one man corporation, with connections to radio hosts and a marketing plan of “embedded marketing” may be using that money to purchase the loyalty of Talk Show Hosts around the nation to sway the election in Cruz’s favor.
Is Cruz’s “Keeping the Promise I” and “Keep The Promise PAC”, through Rigel Strategies, LLC. paying conservative talk show hosts and media pundits for their endorsements, their defense of Cruz and to attack his opponents? If so, this would be a blatant violation of the FCC’s Payola and Plugola laws as the hosts mentioned have not disclosed on the air the payments made in exchange for their programming.
Further, this would be a violation of the FCC’s Equal Time Rule which was created because the FCC thought Radio and TV stations could easily manipulate the outcome of elections by presenting just one point of view, and excluding other candidates.
Some other articles you may find interesting:
GOP Establishment Money Funding Mark Levin, Glenn Beck, Erick Erickson To Attack Trump
Is this illegal? Shouldn’t they be required to disclose to viewers & listeners they are paid spokesmen for Ted Cruz? Is this similar to payola for recordings but on a much higher scale & consequence?
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The claim has no basis in truth.
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Julie, if they are accepting money in return for favorable coverage, endorsements, or negative coverage of opposing candidates, it’s Federal Law it be disclosed on air. Watcher, I challenge you to disprove anything in the article as everything is sourced and 100% based in fact.
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I can give you 400,000 reasons why you’re wrong. http://dailycaller.com/2016/04/08/gop-establishment-money-funding-mark-levin-glenn-beck-erick-erickson-to-attack-trump/
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http://dailycaller.com/2016/04/08/gop-establishment-money-funding-mark-levin-glenn-beck-erick-erickson-to-attack-trump/
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Amazing.
And this is probably just the tip of the iceberg.
What is especially galling about this, is all these conservative pundits who claim to be staunch defenders of the Constitution…are supporting the one foreign-born candidate who isn’t even eligible to President.
So they are not only selling their souls, they are selling out our country too.
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They’re already soulless and demonically possessed. For sure, they’re TRAITORS. Pure Evil personified.
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http://www.sldforum.com/2016/04/rush-we-hardly-know-you/
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hi
Ill never listen to Beck or Levin again. True colors shinning through. I made me sick.
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self-aggrandizing bloviators
worth less than the toxic fumes they exhaust from their holes into otherwise previously breathable air
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Thank you!
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WHY DOESNT.THE.MAIN STREAM MEDIA REPORT
ON.THIS
THIS IS CORRUPTION, VERY SHOCKING,I.WONDER IF
THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN KNOWS ABOUT THIS
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I’ve been asking myself the same thing for a while now. I decided if they won’t do it then I will do it myself. Couldn’t sit back and let this election go by with only 1/2 the story out there.
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There is a very bad odor coming from the GOP and insiders in leading the Never Trump campaign that does not bode well for the party. The fix is in when these clowns should be embracing the reinvigorating energy that Trump and all those new members are bringing into the space.
Fortunately there is a 20 year plus emergence of a new truth detecting technology developed by John David Oates called “Reverse Speech”. The breakthrough development focuses on the hereto unknown fact that intelligent people also communicate from their sub consciousness (does not lie) and these can be discovered in their reverse speech. Lies are easily detected, and now even come on a phone app. http://reversespeech.com/products/rssoftware/
Predictably this brings out the idiots about Charles Manson and the Beatles records played backwards but nonetheless it is an important technology development breakthrough and it works to flesh out the deceit we are bombarded with daily from public officials. Oates has thousands of interesting examples and recently started doing speech reversals on Donald Trump.
Surprisingly and quite amazing (as this is rare) Trump has a 100% reverse speech congruency record in dozens of reverse samples. Ted Cruse has zero. Reverse Speech congruency means that the speaker is telling the truth and speech incongruence means they are lying through their teeth (both Cruz & Priebus). The RNC/GOP are flirting with their own demise. Both the Dems and Repugs will rue the day when both Trump and Bernie get fed up with their transparent childish games and run as a power duo independent ticket. That fire has already been lit and will spread fast as these games go on.
In any case most will agree that this is a long overdue truth technology and all will be horrified and shocked to hear the Pope’s reversals where he admits to raping children. Thankfully with truth technology like this, in the future, these cretins can be outed before we fall for their shit.
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It’s up to we the people to get the word out because the mainstream media will not do their job reporting this like they should!
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Add one More: Michael Berry – based in Houston, TX
CruzBOT extreme…
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Cruzbot is no where extreme enough a word. He is full blown Tedophile and anti-Trump to an extreme that may exceed Beck’s irrational hatred of Trump.
I will not listen to him because he simply goes on for hours about typical Trump supporters. He calls them them Trumpkins, Trumpholes, Trumptards, wife beaters, disability drawers, low information, Brownshirts, Nazis, SS types, never been laid 40 year old virgins… and countless others as those are just the ones that quickly come to mind as I have not listened in a while.
In a very faux outrage kinda way, he says Cruz supporters are classy as Trump supporters always send e-mails, make phone calls and write letters that he should be removed from the air. He then says in a sanctimonious way, no other candidate’s supporters do that. I would love to see him direct a like loathsome ire toward Cruz supporters and see the nastiness ensue. The Tedophiles would be 100 times. worse.
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You can clearly see that the alt media has all been compromised and bought and paid for just like the mainstream media! Clearly money talks, and honesty walks!!!
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Disgraceful! When Cruz bites the dust – so will they!. Limbaugh is walking a tight rope, but Savage has been faithful – never wavering. Trump2016!
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I stopped listening to Rush when I became aware of how he talked about Cruz and Trump. While I was still listening to him, he said positive things about both men. When he talked about Trump he praised his ability to out-maneuver the MSM, in other words his style. When he talked about Cruz it was how he was the “true conservative” and how “conservatism wins every time it’s tried.” In other words, his substance. And with Rush, it’s always substance over style.
In essence, Rush was endorsing Cruz without actually saying he was: a wink-wink nudge-nudge endorsement. And when he’d say something positive about Trump, he’d always preface his remarks with a caveat that “THIS ISN’T AN ENDORSEMENT OF TRUMP!” He sounded paranoid that anyone would think otherwise. When I realized what Rush was doing, I stopped listening because I can no longer trust him. Since then I’ve wondered if he’s being blackmailed or paid off, because I’ve been listening to Rush since 1992 and I can’t ever recall him behaving like this. I never questioned his honesty until now.
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Thank you for posting the listing payola to ‘Rigel Strategies’. Damning proof.
Sleazy, creepy pervert & serial adulterer, congenital LIAR ‘ted’ raphael cruz, jr, is a pustule on Humankind, and a useful-idiot pawn of GHOULS ~ ~ Globalist Hegemony of Oligarchic Utopianists and Licentious Satanic Supremacists.
GHOULS are Pure Evil parasites. They suck life & positive energy out of everything worth positive value.
george herbert walker ‘poppy’ bush is one of the high genocidal GHOULS. teddy cruz and its Cuban-born, seemingly naturalized American, draft-dodging daddy are bush crime clan insiders, albeit expendable & disposable fringe thugs.
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Tree falls on my head. Newsboy arrives tries to sell me newspaper. Headline ” Tree Falls On Man’s Head.”
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Many might like to read this related article as well. http://dailycaller.com/2016/04/08/gop-establishment-money-funding-mark-levin-glenn-beck-erick-erickson-to-attack-trump/
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Totally obvious in respect to Levin and Beck.
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This information has destroyed my confidence in Beck, Levin, and Erickson. I’ve lost respect for them. Trump’s campaign is shining a revealing light in a lot of dark corners, it seems.
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