Capitol View: October 8, 2008 Archive

New Paulsen ad accuses Madia of "lying"

Posted at 1:46 AM on October 8, 2008 by Curtis Gilbert (5 Comments)
Filed under: Campaign 2008: U.S. MN CD3

The same day Republican congressional candidate Erik Paulsen appeared at a press conference decrying the negative tone of Minnesota's 3rd District race, he also released a new television ad accusing his DFL opponent Ashwin Madia of repeatedly lying.

One of the three alleged "lies" is based on a story broken right here on Polinaut.

It dates back to Madia's DFL endorsement battle with state Sen. Terri Bonoff. Madia won that endorsement even though some DFL delegates were suspicious of his Republican past.

In talking about that issue, Madia often said he had supported John McCain during the Republican presidential primary in 2000. Two days before the DFL endorsing convention, I asked him about that:

MPR: 2000 election, of course, McCain wasn't the nominee. Did you actually vote for Bush in 2000?

Madia: Yes.

But Madia told another reporter that he had voted for Bush that year. When I saw that article, I asked the Madia campaign which statement was true.

"He flubbed it with you," Madia's then-spokesman Chris Truscott said, explaining that Madia had, in fact, voted for Bush. Truscott said Madia had been distracted during our interview and misspoke.

Comment on this post

A look at the other "lies" alleged in Paulsen ad

Posted at 3:57 PM on October 8, 2008 by Curtis Gilbert (1 Comments)
Filed under: Campaign 2008: U.S. MN CD3

Republican congressional candidate Erik Paulsen's latest ad accuses DFLer Ashwin Madia of telling three lies.

One of the alleged lies involved an interview with MPR news. I put that in context in a post last night. Today, I'll tackle the other two.

Strip club money

The first alleged lie the ad cites actually isn't Madia's. It's from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which accused Paulsen of accepting money raised in a strip club. Paulsen cites a KSTP fact check of those DCCC mailers, which found the strip club allegations so misleading it gave them an 'F.'

While those mailers came from the DCCC, the Madia campaign has made similar charges in a press release, as we've noted on Polinaut in the past.

The PAC flap

The ad also accuses Madia of lying when he says he hasn't taken money from corporate political action committees.

In a conference call today (Listen) Paulsen and his researcher Michael Brodkorb said they consider that a "lie," because Madia did recieve a $500 check from a New Jersey-based law firm called Sterns & Weinroth.

Madia's campaign has said it doesn't consider law firms corporations. But since Sterns & Weinroth is technically organized as a "professional corporation," (instead of a partnership) the Madia campaign returned that $500 contribution in August. At the time, a Madia spokesman called that gesture "symbolic."

More background on the PAC spat is available in this earlier post.

Comment on this post