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Markey Attack Ad On Musgrave Stretches The Truth

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Sep 30, 2008 12:03 pm US/Mountain

Markey Attack Ad On Musgrave Stretches The Truth

Reporting
Raj Chohan
(CBS4) There's a tough new ad by Democrat Betsy Markey attacking Republican Congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave in the 4th congressional district race.

Ad: They say the only things you can count on are death and taxes, and Marilyn Musgrave's lies.

The claim is a statement of opinion.

Ad: A news outlet says she has no evidence for her highly misleading charges.

 This claim is true. The statement refers to a previous Reality Check segment which focused on an attack ad by the Musgrave campaign. It had to do with a claim against Markey that implied she used her position as a staffer for Sen. Ken Salazar to funnel contracts to her family business. As I've reported before, there is no evidence to support that allegation.

I spoke with general counsel for the Senate Ethics Committee who told me that Markey's ownership interest in her family's company, even while she worked for Salazar, was likely not a conflict of interest because there is no indication that she used her position to help the company win government contracts. Markey divested her interest in the business to her husband ten months after she started working for Salazar. Her campaign allowed me to review transactional documents verifying the transfer. I also spoke with the company's attorney who corroborated the date of the transaction.

Ad: Musgrave voted to let lobbyists wine and dine her.

 The claim is false. The votes cited in the ad were procedural votes involving legislative maneuvering. They were not votes on the merits of lobbying reform. In fact, when the lobbying reform bill did come up for a vote on the merits, Marilyn Musgrave voted in favor of it. That is, she voted with Democrats to ban lobbyists from wining and dining members of Congress.

Ad: and took $14,000 in pay raises

 The claim is true. The automatic cost of living adjustment to congressional pay boosted her paycheck over a series a years from $154,700 when she first joined Congress in 2003 to $169,600 today. It is the same automatic pay increase all members of Congress receive.

Ad: Musgrave sponsored a bill to save her family thousands

 Here's the spin. Musgrave co-sponsored a capital gains tax cut for certain types of precious metal coins. At the time her husband owned precious metals, some of which would have qualified for the tax cut if it had become law. The tax cut would have affected a relatively small group of people compared to those impacted by broader tax cut measures. However, the Musgrave campaign correctly points that she has voted for other tax cuts that have impacted millions of Americans.

Ad: No wonder she was named one of the most corrupt in Congress

 This claim is highly misleading. As I've reported in a previous Reality Check, its conclusions are unsupported by the evidence.

Bottom line: both candidates in this race are running commercials that have stretched the truth beyond recognition. This ad is no exception.

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