Pro-GOP groups ratchet up attacks on Shaheen, Hassan as election nears
Home » Politics » Pro-GOP groups ratchet up attacks on Shaheen, Hassan as election nears
Posted By John DiStaso on Oct 30, 2014 | 0 comments
Ending Spending Action Fund and the Republican Governors Association went on the air today with television ads attacking Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and Gov. Maggie Hassan.
Ending Spending continues its nearly year-long series of attacks on Shaheen with a new ad linking her to President Barack Obama, who, the ad says, plans to "give amnesty to 11 million illegal immigrants" after the election, "ignoring the Constitution and the law."
The buy is $1.25 million for the final five days of the campaign, and brings its total spending on the New Hampshire Senate race to $5.7 million, according to group president Brian Baker.
View the Ending Spending Action Fund ad below.
In response, the Shaheen campaign issued a statement:
"Jeanne Shaheen is the only candidate in this race with a record of making a difference for New Hampshire families. Scott Brown's out-of-state Wall Street allies are trying to buy him a Senate seat with more attack ads so he can get back to protecting special interests, just like he did when he lived in Massachusetts. This ad is just more proof that Scott Brown is for the big corporations and Wall Street, not New Hampshire."
RGA attacks Hassan
The RGA today began airing an ad attack Hassan's record as governor. It says the state's bond rating was "downgraded to negative," and "the Rainy Day fund? Depleted.
"Hassan's big idea – higher taxes and fees, on gas, boating, driving and more. She spends, you pay."
It also notes her support as a state senator for a tax on Limited Liability Corporations.
"New Hampshire can't afford another term of Maggie Hassan's reckless tax-and-spend ways," said RGA spokesman Gail Gitcho. "Under her misguided leadership, New Hampshire's credit rating outlook has been downgraded and the state's rainy day fund has been depleted. Worse yet, Hassan is leaving taxpayers with the bill. The more Hassan spends, the more New Hampshire pays."
View the RGA ad below:
Ninth Ending Spending ad vs Shaheen
For Ending Spending, the new anti-Shaheen ad is its ninth in the New Hampshire U.S. Senate race and group .
Among the ads was a piece in September accusing Shaheen of not holding traditional town halls.
It began its attacks late last year with an ad focused on the Shaheen Affordable Care Act-related promise, "You can keep your insurance if you like it."
A second Ending Spending ad, in April, praised Republican Brown as "right for New Hampshire."\
A third ad, in late August, charged the Shaheens' wealth increased while she was in office and reflected news reports that her husband received a stock option from a company that received about $70,000 from the stimulus program.
Shaheen's lawyers, demanding that the ad be pulled from the airwaves, said the Ending Spending ad falsely claimed her wealth surged since she has been in office because while her assets grew from between $3.4 million and $7.2 million in 2008 to between $3.7 million and $7.8 million in 2013, so did her liabilities.
They said that as a result of increasing liabilities – apparently due to 10 mortgages taken out during the period – her net wealth actually decreased, from between $2.4 million and $4.6 million in 2008 to between $1.7 million and $3.6 million in 2013.
The Shaheen campaign called the ad "false, misleading and deceptive." It aired its own ad saying that Scott Brown "ought to be ashamed" because "his out-of-state supporters are running ugly attack ads questioning the integrity of our Senator."
Ending Spending's lawyers, defending the accuracy of the charge in the ad, said increased liabilities should not be included in calculations of wealth. They accused the Shaheen camp of using "misleading math" and a definition of wealth not found in dictionaries or "one that certainly does not comport with the average New Hampshire voters' definition of the term."
Shaheen campaign Manager Mike Vlacich noted that FactCheck.org called the Ending Spending ad "scandalous" and Politico called it the "Whopper of the Week."
But no television stations pulled the ad; one station in Boston insisted that an additional citation be added — and Baker said it was.
Ending Spending followed that controversial ad with one portraying voters being dismayed by the reports on her wealth and Senate votes, and now has aired nine in all..
Author: John DiStaso