The billboard Roy Blunt doesn’t want you to see

In the end, freedom of expression prevailed.

Last week, as the debate over health care reform continued to dominate the news cycle, an effort to place a billboard in U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt’s home district was, well, blunted.

The billboard was to have featured a picture of Blunt with the words: “Roy Blunt has taken $556,682 in contributions from the insurance industry. Is that why he won’t take our side on health care reform?”

USAction and its Missouri affiliate, Missouri Progressive Vote Coalition, had arranged to place the billboard in downtown Springfield. However, the groups were informed Thursday that it was being rejected based on political content.

“Roy Blunt, the target of this smear campaign, is a local politician and has been a strong proponent of Outdoor Advertising in Missouri for a number of years,” Lamar Advertising Company said in an email message. “As much as we would always love the business, we will have to respectfully decline.”

The next day, however, the company reversed itself and said the advertising would be allowed. “The copy as presented was in compliance with our policy and we should have run it,” a company official told the Springfield News-Leader. The official, Hal Kilshaw, Lamar Advertising’s vice president of governmental relations, added that the ad copy is accurate, including the fact that Blunt has taken more than half a million dollars from the insurance industry.

You can view a PDF of the rejected billboard here.