UPDATE: Attacks, Lies and Videotape: Toomey and Allies Continue to Mislead Pennsylvanians

Another Week of Deception as Toomey Tries to Hide from His Record

This week, the Toomey Campaign and its out-of-state special interest friends continued their pattern of misleading ordinary Pennsylvanians about Toomey’s extremist agenda.

“Congressman Toomey fought for years to drive moderates out of his own party and now he and his outside special interest friends want to hide his extremist agenda from the voters,” said Sestak spokesman Jonathon Dworkin. “Pennsylvanians deserve to know the truth and the Toomey record speaks for itself.”

There have been many distortions – here are the facts.

TEAM TOOMEY VS. THE FACTS

THIS WEEK’S DISTORTIONS

Recovery Act

Toomey: During his interview with Ted Koppel, Congressman Toomey insisted that there were at least a couple hundred billion dollars that could be rescinded from the Recovery Act, “I think we’re on, we’re still a couple hundred billion dollars.” [Interview with Ted Koppel, Chamber of Commerce, PCN, 9/27/10]

The Facts: Roughly 96 percent of all funds appropriated for the Recovery Act have been spent or obligated. [New York Times, 9/26/10]

According to the New York Times, “[of] roughly $260 billion left, contracts have already been signed for $150 billion. Another $45 billion is tax cuts that will soon be claimed, and $33 billion is for safety-net spending, like food stamps. That leaves $31 billion in investment priorities – like roads and rail systems – still up for grabs.” [New York Times, 9/26/10]

Still Congressman Toomey wants to repeal $45 billion in tax benefits for the middle class, even as he advocates $700 billion in tax cuts for the wealthy.

PolitiFact looked at a similar claim by House Minority Leader John Boehner and found it to be “False.” [PolitiFact, 8/8/10]

Deficits (Again)

Toomey: ” I consistently opposed my own party when I thought they were spending too much money.” [Interview with Ted Koppel, Chamber of Commerce, PCN, 9/27/10]

The Facts: Toomey voted for all of President Bush’s budgets, which raised government spending by more than $50 billion every year and added a combined $1.7 trillion to the deficit. [SConRes 95, 05/19/04, #198; HConRes 95, 04/11/03, #141; HCR 353, 03/20/02, #79; HConRes 83, 05/09/01, #104; HCR 290, 04/13/00, #125]

President Bush and Toomey inherited a unified budget surplus of $236 billion from President Clinton, the largest surplus in American history.  Budget surpluses were expected to continue for another ten years when President Bush joined Toomey in Washington in January 2001.   In 2005, when Toomey left Congress, the budget deficit reached $318 billion. [Office of Management and Budget]

Despite contributing to three budget surpluses, Toomey allowed PAYGO rules to expire. As these rules required that any new spending be offset by increases in revenue or decreases in spending elsewhere, the deficit soared when the statute ended. Toomey later tried to block attempts to re-establish this responsible and commonsense policy. [HR 5708, 11/14/02, HRes 602, 11/13/02, 3472; HR 4663, 06/ 25/04, #317; SConRes 95, 05/05/04, #145]

As a Congressman, Toomey testified: “But a broader point must be made about focusing excessively on budget deficits.  While  shrinking the federal deficit is important, it is not crucial as an end in itself, but only to the extent that it serves as a means to another end-increasing prosperity and economic growth.  At the end of the day, job growth, higher incomes, and gains in family wealth are more important than the number on the federal government’s ledger.” [Congressional Testimony, 7/25/2007]

Veterans

Toomey: “Toomey said Thursday that Lehman would not have endorsed him if he were not a strong supporter of the military and veterans.” [Philadelphia Inquirer, 10/1/10]

The Facts: Toomey gets a failing grade when it comes to supporting our troops and veterans. He only has a 25 percent lifetime record of voting with the nonpartisan Disabled American Veterans. [Disabled American Veterans:  http://bit.ly/cUO5rP,  http://bit.ly/a3eesx,  http://bit.ly/9PalF0,  http://bit.ly/9EUPwR,  http://bit.ly/bn9vzZ,  http://bit.ly/dwMLHS]

Toomey voted to underfund the VA by $1.3 billion, even though we had troops returning from two wars in 2003. [S Con Res 95, #198, 5/19/04]

As a Congressman in 2003 under the Bush Administration, he did nothing as more than one million “Priority 8” Veterans making as little as $29,000 a year were excluded from VA health coverage.

He voted against increasing funding for Veterans, including increased funding for the Veterans Health Administration [H J Res 107, #478, 9/29/04] and against an additional $1.3 billion for veterans’ health care. [HR 3289, #600, 10/30/03]

Misleading Ads

Toomey: “Now, Sestak and his party bosses are attacking Pat Toomey with ads that have been called false, deceptive, and wrong.”

The Facts: Team Toomey’s ads have been called “wrong,” “false,” and “badly misleading”:

Wrong — “Republican Pat Toomey’s new ad in the Pennsylvania Senate race states that the $862 billion stimulus package ‘gave us record debt without creating jobs.’ He’s wrong on both counts.” [Factcheck.org, 8/13/2010]

False — “The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is behind an ad criticizing Sestak’s voting record in Congress…On the News 8 Ad Watch Truthmeter, this one registers as false.” [WGAL, 7/19/2010]

Badly Misleading–“A group with ties to Karl Rove sends viewers astray in a $2 million ad campaign attacking Democratic Senate candidates in Pennsylvania, California and Kentucky. The ads make badly misleading claims about the health care legislation…most of those buying insurance on their own would get help paying their premiums, a fact simply ignored by the ad… Equally egregious is the ad’s claim that ‘Sestak voted to gut Medicare’… There’s much misinformation in this trio of ads, and even what’s accurate leaves out important context.” [Factcheck.org, 8/30/2010]

Leaves Out Important Information — “Toomey attacks Sestak on the issue of health care reform with a claim we found leaves out some important information.” [WGAL, 7/9/2010]

Glosses Over Context — “The ad glosses over three pieces of context that are important…Toomey exaggerates the scope of the tax, incorrectly implying that it would apply to far more taxpayers, and that it applies to their entire estates.” [Factcheck.org, 7/14/10]

The Original Top Ten Distortions:

Social Security

Toomey: “I’ve never said I favor privatizing Social Security.” [Philadelphia Inquirer, 8/26/10]

The Facts: Toomey is on record no less than 36 times calling for Social Security to be privatized, including:

“‘We can play a very big role’ in pushing for the partial privatization of Social Security.” [Philadelphia Inquirer, 1/24/05]
Toomey said “privatization would improve dramatically on Social Security’s low investment return, providing today’s workers the promise of more retirement income in the decades to come.” [Morning Call, 10/25/98]

“Toomey: Privatize Social Security.” [Morning Call, 4/25/03]

Toomey’s 2009 book, The Road to Prosperity outlined his plan under the headline “Personal Accounts Mean Personal Prosperity.” [The Road to Prosperity, pg. 128, 2009]

Eliminating Corporate Taxes

Toomey: Claimed that he never seriously wanted to eliminate corporate taxes, and that when he called for it in the past it was “impractical” and just “an intellectual exercise.” [St. Petersburg Times, 9/1/10]

The Facts: According to St. Petersburg Times’ PolitiFact: “We gave the Toomey camp the opportunity to say the candidate opposes zero corporate taxation, but the campaign did not do so.”

On CNBC, Congressman Toomey said: “Let’s not tax corporations . . . I think the solution is to eliminate taxes altogether.” [CNBC, 7/20/08]
Estate Tax

Team Toomey:  Claimed that Joe “even wants to bring back the death tax,” alleging that it would let “the IRS take half of your savings when you die.”

The Facts: “In fact, only the wealthiest Americans would pay the tax under the proposal that Sestak supports, and the proposal would exclude $3.5 million per person and $7 million per couple.” [PolitiFact, 8/24/10]

Private Health Insurance

Toomey:  Admiral Sestak “voted to permit banning all private health insurance.”

The Facts: Admiral Sestak actually voted against a provision that would ban private health insurance, and then worked to make sure it was removed from the health care reform bill as a whole [WGAL, 9/16/10]

Medicare

Team Toomey: Asserted that Admiral Sestak “voted to gut Medicare.”

The Facts: The claim is “egregious,” as the bill in question did not cut current Medicare spending at all; “in fact, the new law calls for some improvements in benefits like free preventative care and closing the “doughnut hole”. [Annenberg Public Policy Center, 8/30/10]

Israel

Team Toomey: The “Emergency Committee for Israel” questioned Admiral Sestak’s support of America’s most important ally in the region.

The Facts: The Jewish Chronicle said the so-called Emergency Committee was “Swiftboating Sestak on Israel.” [Jewish Chronicle, 8/10]

WHYY Radio said the “ad calling Sestak anti-Israel looks like a Pennsylvania ‘Swiftboat,'” [WHYY, 7/22/10]
While Joe’s voting record on aid to Israel is spotless,  Congressman Toomey voted seven times against aid to Israel, to the tune of $15 billion. [HR 3196,  #572, 11/5/99; HR 4811, #546, 10/25/00; HR 2506, #266, 7/24/01; HR 2506, #505, 12/19/01; HR 2800, #429, 7/24/03; HJRES 2, #32, 2/13/03; HR 4818, #390, 7/15/04]

Small Businessman

Team Toomey:  Positions himself as a “former small-business owner.” [Morning Call, 7/9/10]

The Facts:  According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, in 2000, Toomey admitted that he “delegated the day-to-day running” of the restaurant to his brother, and was a “hands-off” owner who visited “once a month or less over the years he held majority ownership.”

In his own words: “‘For most of the period of ’91 in which Rockin’ Robin’s was opened, I was living and working in Hong Kong’ as a banker, Toomey said.” [Inquirer, 7/9/10]

Earmarks

Team Toomey: Claimed repeatedly that he had only accepted earmarks during his first term in the House of Representatives. [Philadelphia Daily News, 7/28/10; Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, 8/31/10]

“‘Pat isn’t trying to hide anything,’ Toomey spokeswoman Nachama Soloveichik said of Toomey’s first-term requests. ‘He has very openly admitted he got a couple of earmarks . . . and quickly realized how out of control and how abusive the process was and said, ‘Enough.”” [Inquirer, 9/8/10]
The Facts: Toomey secured at least $1 million in earmarks in 2001, during his second term in the House – directly contradicting his earlier claim. Many other organizations in his District received appropriations in House bills during his tenure. He has yet to release a full list of earmarks – and his own staff admits that the current list may be incomplete. [Morning Call, 9/11/10]

Deficits

Team Toomey: Assumed the mantle of a fiscal conservative, claiming the side of those who are “worried about the size of the deficit.”

The Facts:

“I don’t think deficits are the biggest problem here.” [MSNBC, Hardball with Chris Matthews, 7/11/2006]

Allowed PAYGO rules to expire after they contributed to 3 budget surpluses by requiring Congress to offset the cost of any new spending programs, then voted against re-establishing them, allowing our deficit to skyrocket [HR 4663, 6/25/04, #317; SConRes 95, 5/5/04, #145]

Voted for President Bush’s budgets that raised government spending more than $50 billion every year

Voted for President Bush’s tax cuts for the richest of the rich – more than 50 percent of which went to the top one percent – and added $1.7 trillion to the deficit [HR 1836, 5/26/01, #149]

Wall Street

Team Toomey: “I worked on Wall Street just out of college and left twenty years ago.” [Post-Gazette, 9/7/10]

The Facts: Toomey has never stopped working for Wall Street. In Congress, he fought for deregulation, to allow Wall Street to engage in risky behavior and gamble with people’s savings. [Inquirer, 8/17/10]

Then, he ran a group founded – and funded – by Wall Street special interests, the Club for Growth:

“Over the past decade, a group of Wall Streeters has quietly funneled money to politicians, think tanks and advocacy groups …their investment has paid off. Meet the bankrollers of the conservative counter-establishment.” [National Journal, 1/28/95]  

“Although the club is headquartered in Washington, its genesis was on Wall Street, where the bulk of its financial support still originates.” [New York Observer, 5/28/01]
The Club’s “roots lie in a small group of Wall Street movers and shakers … that in the mid-1990s enjoyed ties to conservatives such as Newt Gingrich and Steve Forbes.” [Orlando Sentinel, 8/12/02]   

“The Club for Growth was formed in 1999 with significant backing from Wall Street … true to its original founding, it is driven by” Wall Street’s agenda. [Politico, 11/17/09]

“A secretive group of New York financiers …The Club, many of whose leaders have Wall Street pedigrees, has raised more than $2 million while remaining shrouded in mystery, refusing to release its full membership list.” [Arizona Republic, 4/2/00]

Even today, he is among the top ten Wall Street-supported candidates from either party in this election cycle. [The Hill, 9/8/10]

TO BE CONTINUED . . .