Podcast: Emotional Heitkamp Apologizes for Ad, Victim Named in Ad Says Situation Is “Horrible”

Senator Heidi Heitkamp appeared on the radio show today for the first time ever and apologized for a recent campaign ad which named sexual assault victims without their permission. Also, some of the women named in the ad said they are not victims.

“All I can say is at the end of the day when I put my head on the pillow I know that I caused hurt…this was incompetent. This was wrong,” Heitkamp said. “This should have never happened.”

[mks_pullquote align=”right” width=”300″ size=”24″ bg_color=”#ffffff” txt_color=”#000000″]”All I can say is at the end of the day when I put my head on the pillow I know that I caused hurt…this was incompetent. This was wrong,” Heitkamp said. “This should have never happened.”[/mks_pullquote]

Asked if she felt her campaign had any legal liability for naming these women, Heitkamp said she wasn’t sure. “Some people who are lawyers would say the worst thing you can do if you’re worried about lawsuits is admit culpability or negligence and I’m admitting it right here,” she said. “This is a very flagrant error of the campaign and I own it.”

Eve Lancaster, one of the women wrongly named in the ad, also was also on the show. “I had no idea what this open letter was open. I’m not even into politics,” she said. “I had nothing to do with this and I saw that my name was on there and obviously I got really mad.”

“It’s really messed up. I don’t know if I want to have her apologize to me,” she continued. “Wouldn’t you have the common sense to get in contact to get permission in order to prove your point on a serious subject like this?”

“It’s horrible. It really makes me mad,” she concluded.

Also during the show we had a debate over the approval voting measure in Fargo.

Here’s the full audio of today’s show:

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