politics

An Associated Press story led staff members for Al Franken's campaign to say, "Wait a second." As a result, the Star Tribune is refunding more than $12,000 to the DFL candidate for U.S. Senate because of an error in the pricing of an advertisement.

On Tuesday, the Associated Press wrote about the full page advertisement Sen. Norm Coleman's campaign took out to chide Franken for not condemning a liberal advocacy group's criticism of Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Iraq. The story reported that Coleman's campaign paid slightly more than $23,000 for the ad.

"I said, 'Wait a second, I'm pretty sure we paid about $37,000 [two months ago],'" said Andy Barr, spokesman for the Franken campaign.

On Wednesday, the Star Tribune said it will refund the Franken campaign $12,165 to rectify the situation.

Star Tribune spokesman Ben Taylor said that Franken's campaign was charged the correct rate for its previous advertisement, but that the Coleman campaign was given an incorrect price.

"A new sales rep made a mistake and gave the Coleman campaign a rate from the local retail rate card, rather than the national rate card," Taylor said. "We only discovered the mistake when the Franken campaign complained. We thought the best way to make it right is to give the Franken campaign the same rate we gave Coleman on this particular ad.

"Going forward, both campaigns will be charged the national rate."

Barr said the Franken campaign was satisfied.

"People make mistakes," Barr said. "We're certainly glad that the Star Tribune is making it right for us."

Cullen Sheehan, Coleman's campaign director, had no comment on what he called "a simple mistake."

On Sept. 10, the liberal advocacy group MoveOn.org placed a full-page ad in the New York Times in which it attacked Petraeus as "General Betray Us." The ad has been widely criticized and condemned by both houses of Congress.

Jeff Shelman • 612-673-7478

Jeff Shelman • jshelman@startribune.com