The Kitsap Sun has requested a campaign ad for Tim Matthes, Republican candidate for South Kitsap Commissioner, be pulled from cable television stations, where it has been running for the past couple of days.

The ad begins with a Kitsap Sun logo and the title of a letter to the editor, “County Government: We’re in Trouble,” by Marion Larm of Poulsbo

Deb Smith, director of marketing for the Kitsap Sun, called Matthes earlier today asking him to pull the ad because it uses the Kitsap Sun logo without permission. Smith cited another ad she saw that used the title of a letter to the editor by Vivian Henderson, director of the Kitsap Alliance of Property Owners. Matthes is a member and past president of KAPO.

“By juxtaposing headlines from letters to the editor and using voice-over with our logo, the commercial improperly attributes their opinions to us,” said Smith in an e-mail.

Matthes said the ad was designed and submitted to the station by Randy Neatherlin, Republican candidate for the 35th District. Matthes said he was unaware he had done anything wrong in approving the ad.

“My intent is to take everything off there, at least the offending portions,” said Matthes. “I’m going to change it. I have to modify it and take anything off that has to do with the Kitsap Sun.”

On Friday afternoon, Matthes was trying to contact Neatherlin and also an attorney to see what the law says about campaign ads.

Managing editor Jeff Brody said clearly Matthes is not entitled to use the Kitsap Sun logo without permission. The only time that would be appropriate is if the Kitsap Sun had actually endorsed a candidate, Brody said.

Democratic candidate Monty Mahan received the endorsement of the Kitsap Sun’s editorial board over the past weekend.

Neatherlin, contacted later in the day, was surprised at the Kitsap Sun’s objection to the ad, material for which he pulled from the Kitsap Sun Web site

Neatherlin, a business owner whose “sideline” is making advertisements for other candidates, said use of newspaper headlines in campaign ads is a routine practice. He has used it before and never run into problems, he said.

Neatherlin apparently did not differentiate between headlines on articles and editorial titles. “From everything I understand, it’s 100 percent legal,” he said. “It’s common practice for political ads.”

Neatherlin said he would not speak for Matthes, but would defer to his wishes on the matter.

A note on the photo above: Matthes submitted this campaign photo to the Kitsap Sun. It shows the candidate seated at a table with the Kitsap County logo in the background. Matthes is a member of the county’s board of equalization.