Toomey Again Misleads Pennsylvanians

Harrisburg, PA – Today, Wall Street derivatives trader Pat Toomey is again attempting to mislead Pennsylvanians by using a Republican activist to attack Admiral Joe Sestak in a new television ad. Dr. Maria DeMario, who Toomey features in the ad, is a supporter of Sarah Palin and the founder of Physicians for Corbett. Her affiliations are not noted in Toomey’s advertisement. Furthermore, despite the ad’s claims, Dr. DeMario was invited to three separate health care-related events by Sestak’s office.

“Today, Pat Toomey rolled out a new advertisement that uses a Republican activist to falsely attack Admiral Sestak,” said Mark Nicastre spokesman with the Pennsylvania Democratic Party. “Nowhere in the ad does Toomey note her affiliations. The ad also does not say that she was invited to several of Joe Sestak’s events. It’s just one more example of Pat Toomey misleading Pennsylvanians.

First, Toomey said he never advocated privatizing Social Security when he has been the strongest advocate for Social Security privatization since his days in Congress. A quick search found 36 instances of Toomey supporting privatization, and he even devoted a chapter of his book to advocating for Social Security privatization.

Then, Toomey claimed he never supported eliminating corporate taxes even though he wrote in support of the idea in his book and advocated strongly for it in television interviews. He even stated, ‘I think the solution is to eliminate corporate taxes altogether.’

Now, Pat Toomey is hiding the background of a supporter he is using to attack Admiral Sestak while distorting the facts. Pennsylvanians deserve better than to be misled by Pat Toomey.”

BACKGROUND:

Toomey Uses Republican Activist in Ad:

“Dr. Maria Demario, a doctor from Media, leaned in to say, ‘Bless you. Stay true to your convictions. We are so proud of you.’ Palin smiled warmly and said thanks.” [POLITICO, 9/28/08]

Dr. Maria DeMario is the founder of Physicians for Corbett. [physiciansforcorbett.com, Accessed 9/16/10]

In July, Dr. DeMario hosted an event for Toomey.

Toomey Misleads on Social Security:

On August 23, Toomey told the Pennsylvania Press Club that “I’ve never said I favor privatizing Social Security.”

But a quick search found 36 instances of Toomey expressing support for Social Security privatization including an article from the Morning Call just three days earlier noting that Toomey was one of the few candidates to not back away from Social Security privatization.

“When George W. Bush proposed privatizing Social Security during his presidency, one of the most vocal supporters of the plan was former Lehigh Valley Congressman Pat Toomey… Toomey has not backed away from the idea, but it’s not a central tenet of his campaign, as it was when he was a House member.” [Morning Call, 8/20/10]

On September 3, Pat Toomey told a Wall Street Journal reporter that he “embraces” the idea of privatization and continued by saying, “I’m not backing away from that in the least.”

[Democrats are campaigning hard on the Social Security issue against the Republican candidates who have endorsed private accounts. In Pennsylvania, Joe Sestak went after his Republican opponent for the Senate, Pat Toomey, last week. “We don’t want to gamble your benefits on Wall Street,” Mr. Sestak said. “[Former] Congressman Toomey has said he wants to let people take their Social Security and hand it over to Wall Street. That would gut the program.”

Mr. Toomey says he isn’t scared of those attacks. “I totally embrace the idea,” he said in an interview. He said calling the changes he supports “privatization,” as Democrats do, is “just a poll-tested attack term.”

Private accounts make sense for younger workers, Mr. Toomey said. “I’m not backing away from that in the least,” he said.

Toomey Misleads on Corporate Taxes:

Earlier this month, Joe Sestak’s campaign released an advertisement that caught Pat Toomey on tape in a 2007 CNBC interview advocating for the elimination of corporate taxes. Toomey’s campaign has since had trouble defending his extreme position-and has now tried five different ways and counting to hide where he really stands on the issue of granting tax giveaways for corporations at the expense of the middle class.

After the 2007 CNBC interview surfaced, Toomey’s campaign first tried to say the remarks were taken out of context. Toomey’s spokesperson told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette “Congressman Sestak takes Pat Toomey’s comments out of context.” [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 31, 2010]

The full exchange shows that the remarks were not only in context, but Toomey explicitly said:

“Let’s have a transparent system. Let’s not tax corporations. Let’s allow them to compete most aggressively on the global economy. It’s better for our workers. It’s better for our economy. It would attract more capital. I think the solution is to eliminate corporate taxes altogether.” [CNBC, July 20, 2007]

According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “In the clip, Toomey clearly supports the elimination of corporate taxes, with no ambiguity: ‘Let’s have a transparent system. Let’s not tax corporations. Let’s allow them to compete most aggressively on the global economy. It’s better for our workers. It’s better for our economy. It would attract more capital. I think the solution is to eliminate corporate taxes altogether.'” [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 31, 2010]

Realizing that their first defense held no water, Toomey’s campaign then claimed that the interview was “probably” the only time Toomey had outlined his plan to eliminate corporate taxes and that his proposal was more an of “intellectual exercise” and that “he knows “it is impractical for a host of reasons.” But it was quickly revealed that he had also taken that stance in his 2009 book.

In a response to the video provided to WGAL, his campaign claimed, “this is probably the only clip you’ll find of Pat saying this.” [WGAL, August 31, 2010]

His campaign also noted to the Philadelphia Inquirer that Toomey knows his position is “impractical for a host of reasons” but in his 2009 book, The Road to Prosperity, Toomey wrote:”For little more in lost revenue than was spent in that single bill, Congress could have eliminated all corporate income taxes for nearly three full years. America would have become by far the most tax-advantaged country in the world. We would have attracted a flood of new capital investment, new start-up ventures, and expansions of existing businesses.” [The Road to Prosperity, p. 206] and [Philadelphia Inquirer, August 31, 2010]

With his campaign fresh out of ideas on how to spin his words, and Toomey refusing to back down on his position, they tried to ignore the issue all together.  As the website PolitiFact pointed out in a fact-check piece, they gave Toomey the opportunity to say he opposes zero corporate taxation, but his campaign did not do so.

“We gave the Toomey camp the opportunity to say the candidate opposes zero corporate taxation, but the campaign did not do so”. [Politifact, September 1, 2010}

A week later on September 8, Toomey went back to an old tactic. In an interview with WTXF, Toomey again tried to make the completely debunked claim that his remarks were out of context.

Toomey: “Well, again, this is Joe Sestak taking things completely out of context, taking a little tiny clip from what was a long interview. The fact is I was trying to illustrate the point that businesses don’t really pay taxes so much as they collect taxes from their consumers.” [WTXF, September 8, 2010]

Again, when reviewing the full CNBC clip, Toomey is clearly advocating for the elimination of corporate taxes.

“Let’s have a transparent system. Let’s not tax corporations. Let’s allow them to compete most aggressively on the global economy. It’s better for our workers. It’s better for our economy. It would attract more capital. I think the solution is to eliminate corporate taxes altogether.” [CNBC, July 20, 2007]

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