ADAM C.

BONIN
Direct Phone 267.242.5014
Direct Fax 215.827.5300
adam@boninlaw.com

April 28, 2023

VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL

Philadelphia-Area Station Managers

Re: Cease and Desist – Coalition for Safety and Equitable Growth SuperPAC.

To whom it may concern:

I am writing on behalf of mayoral candidate Helen Gym and her campaign committee,
Friends of Helen Gym, to demand that you cease and desist airing a false, defamatory ad from the
dark money Coalition for Safety and Equitable Growth SuperPAC.
You are under no legal obligation to air this ad because it does not qualify as a candidate
ad under 47 U.S.C. § 315(b)(2)(C) and 47 CFR §73.1212; No opponent’s visual image appears
towards the end of the spot for at least four seconds, nor does the ad indicate that any candidate
has authorized or paid for the advertisement. It is touted as an independent expenditure, and this
group has taken full advantage of loopholes in City law to hide its donors for as long as possible.
That’s why you can take down this ad.
As for why you should, that’s simple. This ad contains multiple demonstrably false and
offensive accusations, and this letter does not tackle them all. However, most egregious are these
two passages:
1. “It’s a clear conflict of interest.”
The ad claims that Gym engaged in unethical behavior.
To the contrary, the general counsel for the City of Philadelphia Board of Ethics—the
governing authority for such questions—specifically told Councilmember Gym in writing, upon
Gym’s inquiry as to voting on this bill, that “I do not think there would be a conflict of interest
that mandates disclosure and disqualification under the City Ethics Code.” See attached emails.
This is not a difference of opinion. The enforcement agency which governs these
questions—and which could have taken action against Gym if she had violated any ethics law—
specifically concluded that there was no conflict. AmerisourceBergen itself never lobbied Gym or
any other members of Council on this bill, nor according to City records have they ever lobbied
Council on any bill.

________________________________________________
121 South Broad Street, Suite 400, Philadelphia, PA 19107
Coalition for Safety and Equitable Growth
Page 2
April 28, 2023

There was no conflict of interest, The claim is defamatory. While Gym supports a gift ban
on the pharmaceutical industry, she did not support this bill for the same reason a majority of her
Council colleagues did—it was a bad bill. Indeed, not one member of Council running for Mayor
voted for it.
2. “After the vote, drug company executives gave Gym tens of thousands of
dollars.”
We are only aware of one “drug company executive” who has ever made contributions to
Friends of Helen Gym—John Chou, general counsel to AmerisourceBergen, who was a personal
friend of Gym’s from well before her first run for office and the majority of whose giving to
Friends of Helen Gym occurred after his 2022 retirement from the company. He consistently
contributed to Friends of Helen Gym at the City annual limit both before and after the vote.1 That’s
it. The ad wrongly insinuates otherwise by claiming multiple contributors.
Mr. Chou is a board member of the good-government group Committee of Seventy and
was a founder of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association who donates to numerous charities
and organizations. The suggestion that his contribution was motivated by this or any other vote is
defamatory both to Gym and Chou. The suggestion that multiple “drug company executives” made
contributions to Gym as a result of the vote is simply false.
***
This ad is plainly, willfully, demonstrably false. And because it is not a candidate ad, you
are under no obligation to run it. Instead, your potential legal liability should you continue to do,
under both defamation and false light law in Pennsylvania, is clear.
The constitutional protections against defamation liability for statements against
candidates like Helen Gym end when it comes to defamatory falsehoods published “with ‘actual
malice’—that is, with knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard of whether it was false
or not.” New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U. S. 254, 280 (1964). While the Supreme Court
has recognized that the First Amendment's “guarantee of free and uninhibited discussion of public
issues” is critical to the functioning of our democracy, it has sagely opined that “there is also
another side to the equation; we have regularly acknowledged the important social values which
underlie the law of defamation, and recognized that society has a pervasive and strong interest in
preventing and redressing attacks upon reputation.” Milkovich v. Lorain Journal Co., 497 U.S. 1,
22 (1990). “The right of a man to the protection of his own reputation from unjustified invasion
and wrongful hurt reflects no more than our basic concept of the essential dignity and worth of
every human being-a concept at the root of any decent system of ordered liberty." Id.
In American Future Systems v. Better Business Bureau, 592 Pa. 66, 923 A.2d 389 (2007),
the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania explained that the Pennsylvania Constitution “places
reputational interests on the highest plane, that is, on the same level as those pertaining to life,
liberty, and property.” Id. at 77 n. 7, 923 A.2d at 395 n. 7; see Pa. Const’n. art. I § 1 (“All men ...
have certain inherent and indefeasible rights, among which are those of enjoying and defending ...

1
The maximum was $6,200 in 2019 because limits were doubled because a self-funding
candidate was in the race.
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Coalition for Safety and Equitable Growth
Page 3
April 28, 2023

reputation....”); id. § 11 (“[E]very man for an injury done him in his ... reputation shall have remedy
by due course of law ....”).
This reprehensible advertisement has nothing to do with the facts. We call upon you to
cease and desist airing it, immediately. By way of carbon copy, we are demanding that the
Coalition for Safety and Equitable Growth and all related candidates, PACs, and entities cease and
desist its reckless disregard of the truth and not reproduce or retransmit this false allegation in any
other format, be it print, radio, digital, or otherwise. We will fully exercise our legal rights if it
becomes necessary.
Please govern your actions accordingly. I look forward to receiving your prompt reply to
this correspondence and request that any questions regarding its contents be directed to my
attention.

Very truly yours,

ADAM C. BONIN

Attachment

cc: Coalition for Safety and Equitable Growth, mrushdy@riverwardsgroup.com

.

Distribution List
WPVI-TV Dirk Ohley
KYW-TV/WPSG-TV Kristin Long
NBC 10 Rob Halpern
WPHL-TV Dave Yost
WTXF-TV Robb Willinger
Comcast Susan Kailis
Comcast Dan Sinagoga
Comcast Kathryn Koles, Esq.

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