Rand Paul is preparing our ads for 2016

[malaise]

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/11/rand-paul-takes-a-swipe-at-chris-christie-for-sandy-ads/
<snip>
During a Senate committee hearing on post-Sandy recovery efforts, Paul asked Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan whether it was appropriate to use federal relief funds for television ads, a clear jab at the New Jersey Republican who starred in ads touting the Jersey Shore.

“Some of these ads, people running for office put their their mug all over these ads while they’re in the middle of a political campaign,” Paul said at Senate Homeland Security hearing on recovery from superstorm Sandy. “In New Jersey, $25 million was spent on ads that included somebody running for political office. Do ya think there might be a conflict of interest there?”

“That’s a real problem. And that’s why when people who are trying to do good and trying to use taxpayers’ money wisely, they’re offended to see our money spent on political ads,” Paul continued. “That’s just offensive. In New York, you actually have a rule. They’re not allowed to do it. So New York did the same thing, which I still object, but at least they didn’t put someone’s face on the ads and their family, and it looks like a bio ad.”

Christie and his family starred in a television ad campaign called “Stronger Than the Storm” last May encouraging tourists to visit the Jersey Shore in the aftermath of Sandy. The ads ran in states beyond New Jersey, and the campaign used money from the $60 billion in federal emergency disaster funding allocated to states affected by Sandy.

At the time, the ad campaign drew criticism from Democrats who complained they were funded by taxpayer dollars.