Faso challenges Teachout to defend television spot’s demonstrably false claim or remove it
SEE LEGAL LETTER HERE.
Kinderhook, NY … October 31, 2016 – John Faso, the Republican, Conservative, Independent and Reform candidate running for the 19th Congressional District, called on his opponent Zephyr Teachout to substantiate a recent Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) negative television advertisement or immediately direct the organization remove it from the airwaves, his campaign announced today. DCCC has spent more than $2 million in media advertising on behalf of Teachout’s campaign.
The 30-second ad, called “That’s Rich,” began airing on Albany broadcast markets last week. It asserts that Faso “supported a $175 million cut to college tuition assistance for middle-class families.” The claim is flatly incorrect. A cease-and-desist letter prepared by legal representation for Faso’s campaign was sent today to providers airing the commercial. That letter is attached to this release.
“Professor Teachout keeps telling voters she wants to treat them like adults. Here’s her chance — call on your well-heeled allies in the DCCC to remove this demonstrably false attack ad and run on your own merits,” said Faso.
The tuition-assistance “cut” in question appeared in Governor George Pataki’s 1997-98 proposed Executive Budget but was removed at the time Faso and others in the state Legislature voted on it in August 1997. Faso approved the budget.
In fact, the state comptroller’s Fiscal Review and Analysis of the enacted 1997-98 budget stated the following: “This year’s $175 million cut proposed by the Governor in the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) was completely removed.” Faso was joined by 139 other members in approving the budget bill.
The ad also misleadingly claims that Faso “repeatedly voted to raise taxes on middle-class families.” In fact, Faso crafted a budget that, according to the official state Tax and Finance Department report analyzing the personal income tax cut of 1995, is responsible for saving middle-class families across New York billions of dollars since it passed: for instance, a family of four with an income of $75,000 saw a tax cut of approximately $650 a year for the last 20 years. The ad goes on to claim that Faso supported “privatizing Social Security” based on a 2004 op-ed in the New York Times that expressed some support for the findings of former President Bush’s bipartisan Commission to Strengthen Social Security, in particular individual savings accounts for young workers in order to preserve the earned benefit and ensure its future solvency.
Teachout has also been called out for repeatedly lying about Faso’s voting attendance record while serving in the state Assembly as well as asserting that he opposed equal pay for equal work. Both claims have been debunked.
“If Zephyr Teachout takes no action to remove a transparently dishonest ad airing in her name, voters should take notice. This pattern of exaggerations, lies and false attacks will be remembered on November 8th for what it is: the desperate tactics of a politician with no connection to the district and no ideas for reducing the sky-high taxes driving too many families and businesses out of Upstate New York,” said Faso.
John Faso (R-Kinderhook) is former Republican leader of the state Assembly and candidate for Congress in the 19th Congressional district. To learn more about Faso, visit johnfaso.com.