A new Republican National Committee ad going after Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) not only invokes the racist Willie Horton attack from 30 years ago and smears Kaine for honorable work he did as a defense attorney — it also appears to have ripped off a Richmond-based alt-weekly.
An image used as the end of the ad was clearly lifted from Style Weekly:
Dear @GOP, you are using a Style Weekly portrait in this @timkaine attack ad (about the legal system) without permission. Please contact. pic.twitter.com/LzaEFoz9XF
— Style Weekly (@StyleWeekly) October 5, 2016
Reached for comment Wednesday afternoon, Style Weekly Editor-in-Chief Jason Roop told ThinkProgress the photo of Hillary Clinton’s vice presidential nominee was shot by a photographer working for his publication last summer.
“We want to protect the work of our photographers and writers,” Roop told ThinkProgress, adding that unlicensed use of that sort “happens all the time.”
“It’s an ongoing battle when you have others who lift photos for the taking, but this is not fair use and our lawyers have confirmed that,” he said. “Everybody takes pictures now, and they don’t realize the hard work, creativity, and expense that goes into getting a great photo like that.”
Roop said Style Weekly’s lawyers were in touch with the RNC Wednesday. He wasn’t sure what measures party officials were planning to take, if any, to rectify the situation.
Before he became the Governor of Virginia and a U.S. Senator, Kaine was the Mayor of Richmond from 1998–2001.