Peoples Majority P.O.

Box 320014 Alexandria, VA 22320

October 30, 2012 Joshua N. Pila Senior Counsel LIN Media One West Exchange St., Suite 5A Providence, RI 02903 Dear Mr. Pila: In response to the letter from Perkins Coie on behalf of Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, demanding that LIN Media cease and desist from airing the advertising paid for and sponsored by Peoples Majority, the committee responds as follows: First, and most importantly, we find it extremely troubling that your stations are so easily cowed by the threats of a United States Senator. You are far too eager to accept Sen. Whitehouses mere assertion that he did not receive any non-public information as prima facie proof that he did not, or that his investments are managed and that he therefore had no influence in these incredibly fortuitous securities transactions. We are advised that members of the Senators family have significant holdings in media interests in Rhode Island and we hope that those interests do not include your stations. Our concern that we are being treated in an arbitrary and capricious manner is heightened because yours are the only media outlets that are cowering beneath the Whitehouse threat at present. Second, Peoples Majority is a well-funded political committee that is attempting to exercise its right to free speech as recently established in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (130 S. Ct. 876, 550 US 50). Your willingness to pull our ad based on the bald assertions of Sen. Whitehouse is shocking and exposes your stations to legal actions that we intend to bring should you pull our advertising. The Peoples Majority ad essentially makes three claims: 1. That numerous members of Congress, including Mr. Whitehouses colleagues in the Senate Democratic Caucus, received a closeddoor briefing from administration officials making clear to them that the coming market troubles were far deeper and broader than

had been thought by most as of that date. The ad makes no claim that Whitehouse attended the meeting (hence the language receives), but implies that Whitehouse had every opportunity to learn of the information presented to his colleagues. In fact, according to sources cited, at least nine other senators including Whitehouses good friend, John Kerry also traded heavily in the aftermath of that briefing. 2. That subsequent to that briefing, over a matter of a few days, Mr. Whitehouse or his proxies (thus the passive voice stocks got sold) traded large blocks of stock holdings before the market could decline further. That is a fact, as evidenced by Sen. Whitehouses own annual financial disclosure. We believe that Mr. Whitehouse or his proxies acted in part or whole on the information received by and from his colleagues. We reject his assertion that it was simply remarkably good luck that led his financial managers to dump shares of Wachovia and Bank of America before they could decline further. 3. Our assertion that other people go to prison for trading on nonpublic information is a fact (Securities Act of 1933 and Securities Exchange Act of 1934). We make no assertion that Sen. Whitehouse committed any crime. Indeed, the United States Congress passed the STOCK (Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge) Act a few months ago as a direct result of the actions of many members of Congress (including Sens. Whitehouse and Kerry) to make clear that members of Congress are prohibited from the type of conduct that was so rampant in the run-up to the financial collapse of 2008. The fact that prior to the passage of this Act, members of Congress could trade on information gleaned from their public duties is a subtext of our advertising. Thirty seconds do not allow us to expand upon this theme, but we believe that the voters of Rhode Island will understand this message. We trust that you will abide by the law (including the Constitution of the United States) and continue to air the advertising for which we have paid. Yours very truly, Peoples Majority