Toomey Releases New Ad on Sestak’s Washington Ways
Say It Ain’t So, Joe

Allentown – In a new television ad, U.S. Senate candidate and former small business owner Pat Toomey expresses his disappointment with how Congressman Sestak has become just another Washington politician.
The ad will run statewide on broadcast television for an indefinite period of time.  Watch the ad here and read the transcript below.

Entitled “Sad,” the ad praises Congressman Sestak for his military services, but expresses disappointment with Sestak’s transformation into a political insider who walks in lockstep with Washington’s extreme agenda, supporting bailouts, government run health care, sky-rocketing debt, and job-killing cap-and-trade energy taxes.

To make matters worse, Congressman Sestak has violated the public’s trust by violating his own ethics pledge on earmark-related contributions, taking over $119,000 in contributions he had promised to return.  Congressman Sestak and his Washington cronies have also been running a series of false attacks ads even after he promised to run a different kind of campaign, based on the issues.

“It is truly sad to see Congressman Sestak fall into the Washington trap and become another insider politician who will rubberstamp Nancy Pelosi’s extreme agenda and violate his own ethics pledge,” said Toomey Communications Director Nachama Soloveichik. 

Transcript:
Pat: I’m Pat Toomey and I approved this message.

Voiceover: It’s sad what’s happened to Joe Sestak.  He served our country well, then he went to Washington where’s he voted in lockstep with the extreme agenda of bailouts, debt, government health care, and job killing energy taxes.  He took an ethics pledge, then broke it.  Now, Sestak and his party bosses are attacking Pat Toomey with ads that have been called false, deceptive, and wrong.  Say it ain’t so, Joe.

Background:
Extreme Agenda
Sestak voted with Nancy Pelosi 97% of the time over his Congressional career.  He even voted 100% of the time with Speaker Pelosi in 2009. (Congressional Quarterly)
Bailouts:
Sestak voted for to bail out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. (RC #519, 07/23/08)
Sestak voted to bail out Wall Street – twice! (Roll Call #681, 10/03/08) (RC #27, 01/22/09)
Sestak voted to bail out the car companies. (RC #690, 12/10/08)
Debt:
Sestak voted to raise the debt limit to $14.3 trillion. (RC #46, 02/04/10) 
Health Care:
Sestak voted for government health care. (RC #165, 3/21/10)
Energy Taxes:
Sestak voted for job-killing cap-and-trade energy taxes. (RC #477, 06/26/09)
Ethics Pledge:

Sestak violated his own ethics pledge according to the Philadelphia Inquirer: “Rep. Joe Sestak, Pennsylvania’s Democratic nominee for Senate, has reaped at least $119,650 in campaign contributions from employees of companies to which he has steered federal earmarks since 2008, according to public records . . . On his campaign website, he says he returns contributions from an ‘organization or individual [who] has made a request for an appropriations project,’ or earmark.” (Philadelphia Inquirer, 07/15/10)
According to the Philadelphia Daily News: “Sestak’s campaign Web site (joesestak.com) says: ‘If an organization or individual has made a request for an appropriations project, and has made a contribution to [Sestak’s] campaign, he returns that contribution.’  But the Inky recently reported that Sestak took at least $119,650 from employees of companies in his district with ‘earmarks’ from the congressman . . . Sestak’s baby step should not be offered, portrayed or touted as anything more than it is: a vague, disingenuous attempt to polish his own credentials.” (Philadelphia Daily News, 07/28/10)
Sestak and DSCC Ads

FactCheck.Org: “A Democratic Party ad says Republican Senate candidate Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania was a ‘Wall Street wheeler dealer’ trading in financial products that ‘wound up nearly destroying our economy.’  We find that to be false.” (Annenberg Political FactCheck Website, 08/17/10)

WGAL NBC: “So it’s misleading for the ad to make it seem like Toomey had a hand in the same financial method that led to the economic crisis.” (WGAL NBC, 08/13/10)

The Associated Press: “The ad’s attempt to link Toomey to the troublesome derivatives is questionable.” (The Associated Press, 08/13/10)

FactCheck.Org: “It’s true that Toomey has said he ‘helped craft’ the bill, and Leach publicly thanked him — along with seven other Republicans who Leach said also helped. But to say he ‘wrote’ the bill is wrong.” (Annenberg Political FactCheck Website, 08/17/10)

WGAL NBC: “When we put this one through the truth meter, we found it’s mostly false.” (WGAL NBC, 08/13/10)

WTAE ABC: “That’s false. Toomey has never been a lobbyist.  We checked the records.  Toomey is not now, and never was a registered lobbyist.” (WTAE ABC Pittsburgh, 09/23/10)

The Allentown Morning Call: “Factcheck.org had checked out a similar claim made by Arlen Specterand determined it to be a false attack because the types of derivatives Toomey worked on are different than the credit default swaps that led to the financial meltdown.” (The Morning Call, 08/13/10)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: “Further, Toomey is not now, nor has he ever been – a registered lobbyist according to records kept by the Clerk of the U.S. House and the Secretary of the Senate.” (Philadelphia Inquirer, 09/20/10)

Lancaster New Era: “Instead, Sestak cast his Republican opponent as siding with corporations over American citizens. Toomey ‘thinks corporations shouldn’t pay any taxes,’ the Sestak ad declares.  Well, not exactly.  Sestak was referring to a comment Toomey made to a CNBC reporter that was more of an academic exercise than anything else. Toomey was trying to explain to the reporter that consumers ultimately pay for taxes on businesses through higher prices.” (Lancaster New Era, 09/14/10)

Lancaster New Era: “Sestak needs to clean up his act, and he should disavow the deceptive ads pedaled by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.” (Lancaster New Era, 09/14/10)