Republican U.S. Senate candidate Eric Hovde is suing several television stations for defamation because they broadcast a political advertisement directed against him.

This goes back to the PAC WinSenate, which bought airtime to run a political ad against Eric Hovde on numerous television stations across the state, including the parent companies of local stations such as FOX11 and WBAY.

These companies include Sinclair Communications (WVTV-TV), Scripps Media (WGBA-TV) and Gray Media (WBAY-TV), as well as a total of seven media companies.

Hovde’s lawyer presented three statements from the complaint that he considered defamatory.

The first is to call Hovde a “California banker,” which they say is simply misleading.

In response to this claim, WinSenate’s legal counsel stated that the “California Banker” designation was entirely accurate because Hovde is the chairman and CEO of Sunwest Bank, which was founded in Tustin, California and has more branches in California than in any other state, including no branches in Wisconsin.

The next statement in the ad, which Hovde believes is defamatory, is: “Now he is hiding his wealth in shady tax havens around the world.”

WinSenate’s response to this alludes to the fact that Hovde’s own campaign team admitted that he did business in Bermuda and the Cayman Islands, which are notorious tax havens.

It is also noted that Hovde objects to the claim that he is “now” doing business in tax havens.

Hovde considers the last statement in the complaint to be defamatory: He claims that his “family manipulated the system to collect 30 million in state subsidies and loans.”

In addition, Hovde and his lawyer stated: “there is no way to manipulate the system.”

WinSenate’s response states that the campaign letter itself acknowledges that Hovde’s development company received grants and loans from local Wisconsin state governments that are not available to the general public.

The defamation suit was filed on August 9^th In Brown County, however, according to court records, none of the seven media outlets have commented and no hearings have been scheduled in the case.