Tuesday, September 30, 2008

DCCC Spends Thousands on false TV attack ads


Here is Congressman Shadegg's Latest TV Ad:


To: Shadegg Friends
From: John Shadegg

RE: Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Spends Thousands on TV ads falsely attacking me

The most recent string of false attack ads that began airing this weekend continue to mischaracterize my record and promote the same misleading comments we've already seen from my liberal opponent, who has used them to distract from his lack of a record or even a real platform.

Now, Nancy Pelosi’s well-funded Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) is at the wheel, spending thousands of dollars on TV ads that continue the trend of distortion and half-truths. Despite the money Democrats are spending on these TV ads, we know the truth, and it is important that you help me share it.

Democrats would like to assert that Washington has somehow changed me and that I have put party over principles, but, in reality, I have never stopped fighting for the strong, independent conservative philosophy that you and I share.

However, the DCCC is using its large purse in an attempt to keep people from seeing the truth. They are bankrolling deceit with these ads, but the price they are paying is not nearly as high as the price of not knowing the truth.

In fact, Arizona Republic columnist Bob Robb called Lord's claims "a fundamentally false charge," saying, “The real test of independence is whether you are willing to buck your party on important stuff. Shadegg has passed that test…”
To see the full article, click here and read the second item.
Democrats claim they stand for “change,” but spending obscene amounts of money on advertisements that falsify my record is part of the same old bag of Beltway campaign tricks that people are sick of seeing. In the information below, I have outlined the issues these TV ads mislead the public on and provide the TRUTH behind the distortion. The voters of District Three deserve better, and I would appreciate it if you'd help me get the word out and forwarding this email to your family, friends and colleagues.

Pay Raise Half-Truths
In the newest television commercial, the DCCC repeats the same half-truths my opponent has been using in his television ads.
To be clear:
I have voted against congressional pay raises eleven times
Lord's ad deceptively misrepresents procedural votes to "block" the automatic cost of living pay increases which occur annually as a result of a law passed before I was elected

The Truth about Troop Benefits

I voted for pay raises for soldiers at least twelve times and increased health care benefits

I have voted for every National Defense Authorization Act including
a 3.5% increase in basic pay and an increase in hardship duty pay from $750 to $1,500 per month this year

The DCCC ad cites a Democrat amendment to cut Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund

This amendment would have seriously hurt our effort to win the war
Arizona's own Congressman Jim Kolbe opposed this amendment
Even Democrat ranking member, Jack Murtha, opposed this amendment

The DCCC is using our soldiers in a sordid attempt to score cheap political points

The Truth about Children's Healthcare
The Democrats cite a vote against the "State Children's Health Insurance Program" (SCHIP) claiming I voted to "deny 82,000 Arizona children health insurance." I (and my colleagues that voted "no) did not deny insurance for low-income children.
The real issue is the Democrats' proposal perverted the SCHIP program's original purpose, thereby expanding the program to provide government funded coverage for middle class children and adults who were already insured - with your tax dollars!
Now Lord and his supporters are using every ounce of political leverage to exploit the issue. How could I support the expansion of a program that would move two million children that are already privately insured to government run-healthcare?
According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, half of the newly eligible children under the Democrat's plan I voted "no" on already had private insurance!
780,000 adults would have received benefits under the SCHIP program through 2012 if their bill became law. That's right: a program that is supposedly about "health insurance for poor children" was being dramatically expanded to pay for the health care of adults.
If this bill was really about poor children it would have barred states from using SCHIP dollars to cover childless adults.
The Democrats were essentially saying: "We don't care if you have
private insurance; we want your health care controlled and provided by the government."
The Truth about Social Security
The claim that I want to "risk your retirement on Wall Street" is absurd. I have worked hard to promote policy alternatives advocating the reform of Social Security.
Amazingly, opponents of reform such as Mr. Lord have proposed no alternatives. It would appear that Mr. Lord and his Democratic attack dogs are members of the "Save the Status Quo" coalition. Why won't the current system continue to work? The number of workers supporting each retiree in 1945 was 42. Today that number has dwindled to three and soon that number will drop to two. A declining ratio of workers to retirees will doom the system. There are a number of ideas for reforming Social Security and I'm proud to have sponsored legislation for market-based solutions. The provisions include:

Allows individuals to invest a portion of their payroll taxes in personal accounts that they own and control

Guarantees that individuals would receive at least the amount of benefits they are promised under the current Social Security program.

The bill transitions to personal accounts with NO benefit cuts and NO tax increases.


PAID FOR BY JOHN SHADEGG'S FRIENDS

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Actually, the Shadegg points on the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) are completely inaccurate. The bill would have covered 4.4 million uninsured children of the 8.7 million uninsured children in this country and Rep. Shadegg voted against it with no alternative.
The legislation also specifically did not expand coverage to adults through SCHIP but actually required states to remove adults from SCHIP.

Thus, the lies against SCHIP are actually being spread by inaccurate portrayals of the bill by people willing to give $700 billion over two years to bailout the banking industry but who opposed providing just 2 percent of that money to cover 4.4 million uninsured children in our nation.