The Uber- and Lyft-backed political action committee, Ridesharing Works for Austin, has spent at least $600,000 on television ads in Austin over the last three weeks.

Why �at least�? We couldn�t get numbers from two of Austin�s four major�TV stations: KVUE (ABC-24) and KTBC (FOX-7). (KVUE and the Statesman partner�in some reporting endeavors, and KVUE�s weather forecast appears in the Statesman print edition each day.) The city�s other two major TV stations, KXAN (NBC) and KEYE (CBS), had no problem providing the logs to the Federal Communications Commission.

First, a little background:�Typically, in elections local, state and federal elections, local TV stations post a log of the ads purchased by candidates and political committees. The disclosures for TV ads purchased by candidates are required under�the McCain-Feingold campaign finance bill. The legislation�also requires the stations to report ad spending on �any political matter of national importance,� though it�s vague about what �national importance� means. The Sunlight Foundation explains:

What exactly a �national legislative issue of public importance� means is not defined. Nor is it totally clear what an ad must do to �refer� to a candidate.

For years, broadcasters and some sympathetic to the FCC have complained that the language of the statute is hard to understand, especially as concerns national legislative issues. But when candidates are involved, the disclosure should be relatively straightforward, according to Eric Null, a staff attorney at Georgetown Law�s Institute for Public Representation. �If you mention, or refer to, or have a picture of, or put the name up of a candidate, then you have to disclose in your filing that this ad referred to that candidate and you also have to disclose which office that candidate is seeking election for,� Null said. The law was �somewhat ambiguous� for ads that include both national issues and candidates, according to Null. But, he added, �If you�re running an ad for Mitt Romney, and it talks about gun control then you should be disclosing that you talked about Mitt Romney in your ad and that you talked about gun control in your ad and that it�s for the 2012 presidency.�

So while the local TV affiliates are required�to post ad buys by�local candidates, such as the Democratic primary fight for Travis County district attorney, there is apparently no mechanism to mandate disclosure in a ballot proposition campaign � even if it involves the biggest spender in Austin�s municipal election history.

�The FCC does not require stations to post orders relating to local propositions,� said a spokeswoman for FOX-7, citing the��national interest� clause. When asked why the station disclosed the ad buys for the DA�s race but not Prop. 1, the spokeswoman said she would get back to the Statesman, but never did.

�We�re following the law,� said Patti Smith, the president and general manager at KVUE, who said that both KXAN and KEYE were mistaken in providing that information to the FCC. �If it is a state or local issue ad, you do not upload to it to the FCC file.�

Like the FOX-7 spokeswoman, Smith�said the fight over Prop 1 did not meet the �national issue� threshold for disclosure and added�that providing the log of Ridesharing Works ad buys could result in accusations of stations colluding on ad prices.

That rationale doesn�t add up for Andrew Schwartzman, an attorney who is an expert on FCC regulations.

�I am not aware of any FCC rule that precludes revealing this information,� he wrote in an email to the Statesman. �It sounds like pretextual BS to me. They might be trying to argue that somehow it would violate the antitrust laws, but that is also BS and certainly doesn�t implicate the FCC�s rules.�

The two stations� refusal to disclose the ad buys drew a rebuke from campaign finance watchdogs.

�Put simply, the people of Austin deserve to know the full picture of how much is being spent to influence the public�s view on this ordinance,� said Jenn Topper, a spokeswoman for the Sunlight Foundation, which tracks money in politics and published the aforementioned report.

�Stations often disclose local election information that is of public interest and there is no compelling reason why a broadcast station would keep this political spending from the public,� she added.

But stay tuned: We may learn more in the campaign finance reports that must be filed today with the Austin City Clerk.

The pro-Prop 1 ad campaign has been controversial, not just because of its size, but because of the claims that Ridesharing Works� ads are making.

� One ad claims that taxpayers will get stuck with the bill for the fingerprint-based background checks of Lyft and Uber drivers, even though the ordinance passed by the city would have the ride-hailing firms and�their drivers picking up the cost.

� Another ad claimed that a vote for Prop 1 would �require Uber and Lyft to keep doing criminal background checks.� However, drivers for the companies would still be required to undergo background checks regardless of the election�s outcome. The fight is over whether the background checks would require fingerprinting or not.

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