With election season upon us, we see political ads and rhetoric that in my view are at least not truthful or are outright lies.
The campaign ads most prevalent are from Angie Craig and Tim Walz, both DFL politicians. At least in these two cases, I believe the DFL stands for Democrats, Frauds and Liars.
In one ad, Craig implies her opponent, Kistner, is driven by “special interest” but she is not. According to OpenSecrets data from the Federal Election Commission, Craig has certainly outraised Kistner, $2.8 million to $1 million.
Looking at Craig’s top six industry donors compared to these same industry donors for Kistner, she has received anywhere from two to six times what Kistner has received.
Craig has received six times as much from lawyers and law firms and nearly five times as much from the securities and investment industry than Kistner. These same levels of differences apply to the insurance and health industries.
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So who is really going to be driven by special interests?
Her second ad clearly implies she led the effort on the so-called “family fix” of the Affordable Care Act. Two points:
First, she enthusiastically supported the ACA when it was rushed through Congress. Remember Pelosi's "we have to pass it to see what’s in it" comment. Had it passed with more deliberation, this family fix issue would likely not have happened. So she wants credit for fixing a problem she helped create.
Second, the family fix was done by an executive order from Biden, no proposed bill by Craig. Clearly the White House was leading on this, and while it can’t be known how deeply Craig was involved, claims to have led the effort is, I believe, an overstatement at least.
I will cover Walz next time.
Dale Probasco,
Backus
The Trust Project
