The Walz campaign pulls no punches about an attack ad citing Palin anti-factoid:
LOCAL TV STATIONS ASKED TO STOP AIRING FALSE ATTACK PAID FOR BY REP. DEMMER ALLIES
“The independent Politifact evaluated this claim earlier this year and determined it was ‘false’ and ‘incorrect.’” said Walz attorney and campaign Chairman Jerry Maschka in the letter. “For the sake of both FCC licensing requirements and the public interest, your station should immediately refuse to continue to air this advertisement.”
In the ad, the NRCC claims “Why did Tim Walz vote for a bill that allowed more than one and a half billion dollars to go to companies overseas? Walz helped create jobs – in China. And we paid for it.” The NRCC cites on screen “ABC News, 2/9/10.” The article cited by the NRCC discusses a proposed wind farm project in Texas that may have created some jobs in China if it had proceeded as planned. However, the project has received no stimulus money. In fact, the very article cited by the NRCC states: “Perhaps the most controversial wind project is one that has yet to receive stimulus money.”[1]
“Rep. Demmer needs to step forward and call on his allies to pull down this blatantly false attack,” said Walz campaign manager Richard Carlbom.
Rep. Demmer’s allies poor research claim can easily be disproven by a news search. Multiple news reports that postdate the ABC News article (including one from two week ago) show that the proposed project has not received any stimulus money and is not expected to. The United States Department of Energy has stated that the Texas project has not even applied for stimulus money.[2]
The Pulitzer Prize winning Politifact stated flatly: “it's incorrect to say that any stimulus money has gone to Chinese turbine manufacturers, let alone 80 percent of the $2 billion spent on renewable energy projects.” Politifact rated the claim that stimulus money was going to Chinese turbine manufacturers “false.”[3]
The letters were sent to the following TV Stations: KIMT, KAAL, KTTC, KXLT and KEYC. Rep. Demmer’s allies have spent more than $100,000 for this discredited ad to air between Oct 8 and Oct 14, 2010. To see a copy of the letter, please click here.
[2] Charleston Daily Mail, 9/30/10 (see below)
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