Left: Adult Video Gallery sign/Photo by Noah Dawson; Right: Jason Herrick/Screenshot via Jason Herrick Campaign
An ad released by mayoral candidate Jason Herrick appears to have been in part filmed in the parking lot of an adult video store.
The ad features Herrick driving while talking about his platform. At several points, Herrick appears to be dramatically interrupted after hitting potholes.
While most of the ad is filmed with Herrick sitting in his car, the end features him crouching next to his car in front of a pothole. “Cole Stanley can’t even fix our streets,” says Herrick. “How is he going to solve the more complex challenges that are facing our city.”
However, a social media post by Kim Benson claimed the pothole featured at the end of the ad is not on a city street. Rather, according to the post, it is in the parking lot for the Adult Video Gallery at NE 3rd & Osage.
Our team investigated and found that the social media report appears to be correct. The scene appears to have been filmed at the southern end of the parking lot, looking southeast. From that angle, the same buildings and powerlines from the background of the ad can be seen. Additionally, we found a pothole in the parking lot which appears to match the one in the ad.
According to a map provided by the city website, the parking lot does not appear to be part of a city street or right-of-way. According to data from the appraisal district, the parking lot is a separate lot from the lot containing the actual Adult Video Gallery. However, both lots have the same listed owner. Additionally, the lot has a large “Adult Video Gallery” sign with an arrow pointing towards the entrance.
We reached out to Herrick’s campaign for comment, which initially denied filming the ad in that parking lot.
“That’s not factual,” said campaign manager Rachael McClung. “It was filmed over off NE 24th street, and it was on public streets.”
When confronted with the fact that the buildings in the background and shape of the pothole match the location at the Adult Video Gallery parking lot, McClung claimed it was a coincidence. “There are thousands of potholes across the city, so that would be quite remarkable that you could match a single pothole to another,” said McClung. “He was not on 3rd Street filming that commercial, and they wouldn’t have gone into a private parking lot.”
When pressed for the exact location of the pothole, McClung told us that she did not have specifics as she was not at the shoot. She told the Amarillo Pioneer that she would later provide us with specifics. McClure later told The Amarillo Pioneer that she “cannot confirm or deny any locations” as she did not have the full list of locations.
This isn’t the first time an ad has landed Herrick in hot water. In his first ad, Herrick stated he would work to ensure the city is “providing reliable, unleaded water.”
Shortly after the ad aired, the City of Amarillo released a statement noting that the city publicly reports water quality information on the city website. Sharing the city’s statement, Stanley stated that “Amarillo’s water system is held to the highest standards, meeting and exceeding all state and federal regulations.”
This story will be updated if we receive further comment from the Herrick campaign.