Fact-Checking the Attack Ads
…from Bill Foster’s campaign over the weekend:
Dear Steve,
Bill asked me to send you information to set the facts straight about the lies in the TV attack ads that Congresswoman Biggert and her allies have been broadcasting against him. Unfortunately these false attack ads have become a standard part of the Republican playbook: when you don’t have the facts on your side, make up new facts and broadcast them on TV.
This strategy started with the “Swift Boat” attacks on John Kerry. Republicans knew that John Kerry was a war hero and that George Bush had avoided combat. So to defend against this vulnerability, they put millions of dollars of outside spending onto TV attack ads that were outright lies. They won this way, so they kept it up.
In our race, Congresswoman Biggert and her allies know that Bill Foster started a manufacturing company with his brother that employs more than 600 people with good jobs, with good pay and benefits – and that they kept those jobs in the Midwest. And they know that Congresswoman Biggert voted for policies that decimated U.S. manufacturing and created the worst business conditions since the Great Depression. So to defend against this vulnerability, they are on TV lying again.
They also know Bill cast one of his first votes in Congress for the strongest ethics reform in a generation – and they know that Congresswoman Biggert voted against it. They know that Bill maintained the highest ethical standards in Congress, including selling the vast majority of his assets before entering Congress, precisely to avoid the sort of ethical concerns that have plagued long-term members of Congress like Judy Biggert. They also know that Congresswoman Biggert has serious ethical concerns that have been highlighted by the Sunlight Foundation and others, and that she cast votes supporting a federal project with a company she owned stock in. So to defend against Biggert’s vulnerability on ethics issues, they ran an ad attacking Bill that was so false that some TV stations won’t even air it.
The facts are simple. After 30 years in politics, Congresswoman Biggert is so desperate to hold onto her position in Washington that she no longer cares about either her reputation as a public servant or the people she is supposed to represent.
Congresswoman Biggert is on the wrong side of many issues with the people of the Illinois 11th district, and she knows it. She voted against the DREAM Act and she voted to privatize Social Security. She voted for a budget that raises taxes on the middle class in order to increase military spending and to provide new tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy. She voted to raise her congressional pay 9 times while still collecting her taxpayer funded pension from Springfield. When she retires, she will get taxpayer-subsidized healthcare for life – yet she voted against Obamacare and voted to end Medicare’s guaranteed benefit.
One thing is clear. The facts don’t work for Congresswoman Biggert – so she is making up her own. Check out our new Fact Check site about Biggert’s false attack ads and help spread the word to your friends and family.
There is too much at stake this year to sit back.
Thanks,
-p-
—
Patrick Brown
Campaign Manager
Bill Foster for Congress (IL-11)
