BAINBRIDGE – Today Republican Assemblyman Cliff Crouch publicly denounced politician Nick Libous for unethical campaign advertising and indicated that he is taking legal action after Libous ignored repeated requests to cease and desist using his name or image over the past several months.

 

Crouch's office said Libous is currently running misleading television and radio advertisements on several Southern Tier media stations that indicate false support.

These television, radio, direct mail and online advertisements prominently feature Crouch’s name and face, and Crouch said they are clearly intend to mislead voters into believing that he is supporting Libous’ political campaign for State Assembly.

 

“Let me be crystal clear: I do not support Nick Libous for State Assembly. His deceitful campaign is everything that’s wrong with politics. He and anyone associated with these misleading ads should be ashamed of themselves and need a lesson on basic ethics,” said Crouch.

 

“Joe Angelino has my support because he’s honest and ethical. He served our community as a police officer and police chief, and served our nation as a U.S. Marine. After being wounded in battle on two separate occasions, he earned the Purple Heart Medal, among many other accolades. That’s the kind of person who is fit to serve in the Assembly.”

 

Crouch said the ads were running on, but are not limited to, WBNG, WIVT, WBGH, WICZ, Spectrum Cable (Fox News Channel, CNN, History Channel), WNBF, WBKT and WKXZ.

His office said according to FCC records, the advertisements were created and placed for Libous by Binghamton area advertising agency Ad Elements. Crouch said the ads included glossy mailings to thousands of area voters and published paid “sponsored” ads on Facebook. 

 

Citing FCC records, Crouch's office claimed Libous spent more than $17,000 so far this year on television and radio ads. They also estimated that he has spent more than that amount on postal mailings. In addition he has spent thousands more on Facebook advertising, according to Facebook’s public ad file.

 

“Nick Libous has spent tens of thousands of dollars repeatedly misleading voters. It’s cheating and it’s wrong,” said Crouch. “I’ve made public statements in hopes of voters hearing the truth, but I’m genuinely concerned that the startling amount of money that Libous is spending spreading these untruths means that many voters will hear his lies without hearing the truth from me.”

 

“I implore all media stations to report on this matter and to pull these false ads,” added Crouch. “Bad politicians shouldn’t be able to buy elections because they have piles of money to spend with media stations on ads that mislead the public.”

 

Crouch noted that, going back as far as January, he politely and privately requested to Libous that he remove Crouch’s name and image from all campaign materials. Crouch initially made the request in response to a Libous campaign Facebook ad that falsely implied Crouch’s support for Libous. Libous not only refused to respect his request, but deleted Crouch’s public comment on the Facebook page, depriving the public of the truth. Libous continues to run this misleading image as a paid ad on Facebook to this day, and later expanded his unethical use of Crouch’s face and name in the aforementioned television, radio and mail advertisements.

 

“How would you feel if your grandfather appeared in an ad in a way that made it seem like you support someone who you have absolutely no respect for? That’s exactly what happened to me, when one of my grandkids called me appalled at what she saw on TV. This bad behavior by Libous has to stop, which is why I have had to take the unfortunate step of taking legal action to stop Libous’ lies,” added Crouch.

 

Earlier this year, Crouch announced that he would be retiring from the State Assembly at the end of his current term (December 31, 2020). Crouch immediately endorsed former Norwich Police Chief and U.S Marine combat veteran Joe Angelino as the right Republican candidate to succeed him. 

 

Crouch is widely respected by Republicans in the 122nd District, having handily defeated Libous in 2018 in landslides in the General Election (85% to 15%) and Republican Primary Election (72% to 28%). NYS Board of Elections records show that Libous spent nearly $55,000 in his unsuccessful 2018 campaign.