Senator Bill Brady was still smiling as he made the campaign rounds at a Polish-American luncheon at Chicago's City Club. But by early afternoon there was a lot less of Brady's smiling face on Chicago television stations. Several, including ABC7, pulled Brady's commercials from their rotations because the Republican's campaign for governor had not paid its bills.
"I understand there was a glitch with our media buyer. We've paid our media buyer, he's taking care of it, he'll be taking of it this afternoon if he hasn't already," said Brady.
"You can't just run ads and expect commercials to be aired without payment," said Gov. Pat Quinn (D).
Quinn, as his supporters expected, took the opportunity to score some political points.
"If you're running for governor, that's a good way to show the people you know what you are doing, to pay the bills," said Quinn.
Brady, who has used the state's $6 billion in unpaid bills as a campaign issue against Quinn, denied his campaign had any financial problems and was visibly perturbed by an ABC7 producer's question about the management of his campaign.
"Now wait a second, no one said we didn't pay our bills...we paid our media buyer, he's the buyer, don't put words in anybody's mouth," said Brady.
The sales department at ABC7, which canceled 23 Brady commercials Thursday, reports the campaign paid what it owes the station late Thursday afternoon. Ads purchased by Citizens for Brady will be back on the air Friday.
