Posted on 10/26/2006 1:05:01 PM PDT by SmithL
Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, has demanded a Sacramento area cable company pull a campaign ad placed by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
The television spot said Pombo voted to hike his congressional salary eight times while voting against a $1,500 bonus for troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"The ad is entirely false," wrote Pombo campaign consultant Wayne Johnson in a letter to Comcast, which broadcasts in the San Joaquin County portion of District 11.
"The advertisement contains patently false and deliberately deceptive information that is little more than a smear and should not be allowed to air."
The Democratic committee spokeswoman Kate Bedingfield said the party stands fully behind the ad, which also promotes the challenger as a "better choice."
Pombo is running against Democratic nominee Jerry McNerney, a wind energy consultant from Pleasanton. District 11 stretches from Danville to Morgan Hill and encompasses much of San Joaquin County.
Comcast spokesman Andrew Johnson said the cable company's attorney is reviewing the candidate's request.
The ad represents the national committee's first big cash investment in the district as the race tightens. Federal election filings show the committee has spent $117,552 on production and airtime.
The dispute over the allegations in the ad offer a glimpse into the world of political spin and congressional machinations that would make Machiavelli blush.
On the pay-raise issue, the argument centers on whether or not procedural battles over the automatic cost-of-living increase for members of Congress constitutes a direct vote on salaries.
According to a Congressional Research Service report updated in April, the annual increase goes into effect unless lawmakers vote to stop it.
The salary of a member of the House of Representatives has risen 11 times and been denied five times since 1990. Today, members earn $165,200 annually, a $40,100 increase since 1991. The pay is scheduled to bump up 2 percent in January 2007.
Pombo said he has voted to block the increase four times since he took office in 1993.
The congressman also voted in for a 1996 spending bill, which included the automatic pay increase.
The eight votes referenced in the Democratic committee's ad involve the annual attempt of Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, to deny the pay hike through an unrelated bill, a violation of House rules.
Members are technically voting on whether to allow the amendment to come to the floor for a vote rather than a direct vote on their pay. House leaders say chaos would reign if members were allowed to attach non-germane legislation.
But Bedingfield said that journalists have for years reported this procedural vote as de facto pay hike.
"The bottom line is that when the votes came up, Richard Pombo voted to give himself a raise," Bedingfield said.
The Democrats appear on solid ground with the troop bonus claim, however.
Pombo voted against a failed 2003 bill that author Rep. Bart Stupack, D-Michigan, had said would direct $265 million from an Iraq reconstruction account to fund the bonus.
Pombo's staff letter to Comcast calls the assertion false because its text did not specify that funds would go to the bonus.
But Pombo said he voted no, along with war hero Jack Murtha, D-Penn., because he opposed the diversion of money intended to help secure Iraq and end the war.
"A $1,500 check doesn't do you much good if means you are away from your family another year," Pombo said.
Pombo also objected to the ad's portrayal of him as anti-military because several weeks before the bonus legislation he voted for a 4.1 percent raise for all military personnel.
dems / liberals never let those pesky facts get in the way of a good spin.
Democrats. If they're talkin' they're lyin'.
so now democrats pump money into areas where an underfunded republican can not defend against a lie.
The exact same ad was used against Chris Chocola here in Indiana. They must copy & paste these things. I wish they would just outlaw political ads. You can't believe any of them anyway.
They're running it against Tom Reynolds and Randy Kuhl too
Can't speak to the merits, but isn't it interesting:
Left-liberal Dems can't be honest with voters and hope to win, in most competitive districts. No; instead, they "feint right," suggesting that THEY, not the GOP candidate, is more conservative. Like how PelosiReid are out there touting Dems' plan to "cut middle-class taxes." They conveniently fail to mention their plan to hike taxes on EVERY income level high enough to PAY any net income taxes.
Of course, it's almost never true.
yeh, then we can just rely on the fair and balanced news coverage of candidates.
Verrrry interesting...I wonder if the DNC is cool with Diana Irey suggesting Murtha is guilty of the same misdeed they say Pombo is.
Sounds like a sure thing that McNerney is an algore global warming fellow traveler.
I don't think this is a competitive district. But the McNeary folks are trying; a couple of his volunteers knocked on my door today asking if I knew who he was and if I would support him--and this was in Tracy. They left even more discouraged then they must have already been.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.