Glenn Miller a.k.a. Frazier Glenn Miller
A former KKK leader, Miller made a big splash this spring when he began airing his anti-Semitic campaign ads on radio stations across western Missouri. Dozens of headlines followed, as did guest appearances on Howard Stern and other radio shows.
Then in April the Glenn Miller message went silent. The reason?
The Missouri Broadcasters Association and Attorney General Chris Koster complained to the Federal Communications Commission that Miller was not a bona fide candidate, meaning that radio stations shouldn't be required to run his ads.
Now -- nearly three months later -- the FCC has reached its informal ruling, agreeing that Miller is not entitled to reduced rates on the radio. At issue isn't Miller's hate-filled diatribes against Jews and the "mud people" he says are ruining the country, but the FCC's decision that Miller is not a legitimate candidate.
"It's a bunch of bureaucratic bullshit," Miller tells Daily RFT this week. "They say I'm not a bona fide candidate because they don't like my message. It's a plot to shut me up and trample my rights to free speech."
Not so, counters the the broadcast association's legal counsel Gregg Skall, who says Miller -- who is running as a write-in Republican candidate -- is free to say whatever he wants in his ads.
"If he were the party's nominee, stations would be required to run his ads and he could say whatever he wants," says Skall. "But the case law is clear that stations are only required to offer reduced ad rates to bona fide federal candidates and that's what the FCC used to make its decision."
Skall notes that the FCC uses a checklist to determine whether someone is a qualified candidate for federal office, including whether the person has a campaign office and staff, issues press releases, campaigns across the state and has a platform.
"We asked Miller to provide such evidence," says Skall. "He sent us a photo of himself in front of a strip mall holding a piece of paper. And the press release he sent us did not look like it was even a finished product."
