Businessman in Martha Coakley TV Ad Doesn’t Actually Support Coakley
Martha Coakley’s latest television ad in the race for Massachusetts governor is pretty typical as far as campaign ads go, featuring a positive voiceover and an engaged candidate speaking with locals. One of those locals, though, isn’t a Coakley supporter.
MassLive spoke with Evan Plotkin, a Springfield real estate developer who appears for a couple of seconds in the ad speaking to Coakley. They found that Plotkin, a registered Democrat, actually supports Republican gubernatorial candidate Charlie Baker in the coming election.
“I have no problem appearing in Martha’s advertising, but I wasn’t asked to be in that,’’ Plotkin told MassLive. “Maybe I’m naive and she used that intentionally. I don’t know. It’s not an endorsement. It’s nothing. I’m happy to talk to Martha or anyone else running for office about their political vision or agenda.’’
The ad doesn’t actively suggest that he, or any of the other people Coakley talks to, is a supporter of her campaign. But there are assumptions made that the people in a campaign ad would support that candidate. Apparently their conversation wasn’t enough to change Plotkin’s mind.
It’s a small snafu that could have happened to either side. Jim Conroy, Baker’s campaign manager, said that Baker’s campaign doesn’t vet the people that appear in their advertisements on which candidate they support.
“We’re very pleased that as we see all across the state that Democrats are coming across the aisle to support Charlie,’’ he told Boston.com.
In any case, here’s the ad itself. Plotkin comes appears starting at the 11-second mark:
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