Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich may be in prison, but Chicagoans are still seeing his face about town.
Last week, radio billboards started popping up across the Chicago area, featuring Blagojevich with the line, “He never listens.” Sheldon Sorosky, who defended the former governor in court, is not pleased.
“There has been an emotional response,” Sorosky said of the Blagojevich family’s reaction. “Obviously, his daughters have seen it and are hurt and offended by it.”
Sorosky said he believes the billboards are a violation of the law under the state Right of Publicity Act, which says, in part, that a person’s image cannot be used for commercial purposes without their permission.
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“There isn’t any doubt it’s for commercial purposes,” he said, adding that no decision has been made on whether to file suit. “It’s clearly a violation of the law.”
Jonathan Jennings, a partner at the Chicago firm of Pattishall, McAuliffe, Newbury, Hilliard & Geraldson who helped draft the statute, said there is some leeway if the advertising is used in relation to specific news coverage or a story. While not involved in the Blagojevich billboard issue, Jennings said that from what he has seen, he doesn’t believe that to be the case.
“It’s not clear to me that it is tied to news coverage, his time in prison or anything like that,” Jennings said.
The billboards are for WIQI-FM 101, owned by Merlin Media and run by former Tribune Co. CEO Randy Michaels. John Gehron, an outside spokesman for the company, said Merlin believes it’s well within its First Amendment rights, adding it is part of an advertising push to highlight the relatively new station, which was converted to news from alternative rock last summer.
Blagojevich reported to prison in March to begin serving a 14-year sentence on federal corruption convictions.