U.S. Chamber’s Truth in Advertising Troubles Continue

U.S. Chamber’s Truth in Advertising Troubles Continue
Secret undisclosed money used to fabricate claims in TV ad for Republican candidate in NY-26

May 20, 2011
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The U.S. Chamber is at it again. In their new ad urging western New Yorkers to vote for Republican congressional candidate Jane Corwin in Tuesday’s special election, the Chamber uses text from a supposed article in a local newspaper to tout Corwin’s record. The problem? The article doesn’t exist. 

“Unfortunately, this is just the latest in a string of ‘truth in advertising’ problems for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce,” said U.S. Chamber Watch spokeswoman Christy Setzer. “But the larger problem is one that simply pulling the ad won’t address: The Chamber’s ability to buy our elections with unlimited amounts of secret corporate money. False ads like this one are yet another reason why we need checks and balances—not just checks—on the Chamber’s ability to spend corporate money without divulging who’s really behind it.”

Tonawanda News Managing Editor Eric DuVall said he was “surprised” when he saw the ad on Wednesday, because “I can’t imagine what (the ad) was referencing… There was nothing ever written by the Tonawanda News that would have supported those claims.” As the Niagara Gazette reported yesterday, “DuVall felt the Chamber of Commerce was giving people the impression that his newspaper was agreeing with Corwin’s campaign themes.” 

The Tonowanda News had strong words for the Chamber, noting that its article "being misappropriated for a political profit is shameful," and pointing out it had requested that the US Chamber "stop airing this misleading advertisement."

This certainly isn’t the first time that the Chamber has been caught lying. Here are just a few of the many examples:

• A Chamber ad was deemed “False” by the St. Petersburg Times when it claimed, the Democratic health care law crushes small businesses "with billions in penalties.”  They wrote, “The chamber's ad is sweeping, and doesn't account for any of the positive provisions that don't "crush" small business but actually help them.” 
• The Washington Post wrote that cookie-cutter Chamber ads running against multiple districts against House Democrats contained claims that were “demonstrable distortions or have been repeatedly debunked as false by independent fact-checkers,” like the assertion that the health care reform law would “gut Medicare by $500 billion”
• A Chamber ad attacking Democratic Senate candidate Joe Sestak for voting “100% of the time with Nancy Pelosi” was actually pulled off the air because it was so inaccurate, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
• FactCheck.org said of Chamber ads against Senator Barbara Boxer claiming she voted to “cut water” and kill jobs in favor of fish, “Strictly speaking, both ads are untrue.

The ad currently running in NY-26 was paid for directly by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which – unlike candidate committees or political parties – does not have to disclose their donors and let the public know who’s actually paying for the attack ads. Because of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, groups like the Chamber can spend unlimited amounts of secret corporate money to influence our democratic electoral process. In 2010, the U.S. Chamber spent $32 million airing more than 25,000 political ads, 93 percent of which went to attacking Democrats or advocating for Republicans.