Raleigh Firm Attributes Fake Release to Mayor's Office

(Pic via newsobserver.com)

Yesterday the Raleigh, North Carolina-based firm Misner & Associates defended its decision to issue a press release falsely attributed to the city’s mayor Nancy McFarlane and her communications team.

The release, created to promote a biker festival run by Misner client Ray Price, was printed on what looked like official city letterhead and mailed to local publications; the “letter” listed the mayor’s spokeswoman as a contact alongside Scott Misner himself.

When pressed by reporters to explain the strategy, Misner said that his firm had been talking with the mayor’s office about promoting the event but that the decision to send the fake letterhead was his own mistake as the firm did it without the consent of the mayor’s office.

Misner said that “It should have come directly from me with no Raleigh public affairs information” but insisted that everything in the release itself was factual–except for the “fact” that it came...