Martin Heinrich joins a growing list of Democrats that have tried to deceive voters this election cycle by purposely distorting the meaning of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge. The Heinrich campaign recently began running an attack ad against Jon Barela for signing the “No New Taxes” Pledge, which is a written promise to never raise income taxes on individuals and/or businesses.

The claims about outsourcing made by the Heinrich campaign have repeatedly been debunked by a number of non-partisan news sources. In Nevada, Jon Ralston of Face to Face reviewed a similar Democrat attack ad against the Pledge and found it to be “thoroughly misleading.” Earlier in the year, Factcheck.org found claims against the Pledge by the Democrat Congressional Committee to be “blatantly false.” King 5 TV, a news show in Washington state, called the attacks against the Pledge and Dino Rossi by Sen. Patty Murray’s campaign “a stretch.”

By joining with these other campaigns in attempting to mislead voters about the Pledge, Heinrich’s campaign shows just how desperate they are to get voters to focus on anything other than jobs and the economy.

To read ATR’s official statement on Heinrich’s misleading attacks, click “read more.”

Martin Heinrich Campaign Caught Telling Lies about the “No New Taxes” Pledge
Heinrich campaign desperate to distort Barela’s “no new taxes” promise

WASHINGTON, DCThe Martin Heinrich Campaign recently launched a new line of attack on Jon Barela by attempting to mislead voters about the actual meaning of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge. The goal of the Pledge is to protect taxpayers and businesses from tax increases. The Heinrich campaign’s charges follow the patently false claims made by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) earlier in the year – claims that the non-partisan FactCheck.org agrees are “blatantly false.”

The “No New Taxes” Pledge commits a signer to “oppose any and all efforts to increase the marginal income tax rates for individuals and/or businesses and oppose any net reduction or elimination of deductions and credits, unless matched dollar for dollar by further reducing tax rates.” By making this promise, Barela has taken tax hikes off the table for all taxpayers in New Mexico- something Martin Heinrich has not done.

This is not the first time Democrats have tried to misrepresent the meaning of the Pledge. During the special election in HI-01, the DCCC ran misleading attack ads against the Pledge. FactCheck.org, a non-partisan "consumer advocate" for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics, responded by condemning the DCCC and agreeing that the ads were “blatantly false.”

Similar claims about the Pledge were made recently in Michigan, Nevada, and Washington. In Michigan, the Jackson Citizen-Patriot, a Jackson, Michigan newspaper, deemed Rep. Mark Schauer’s claims about the Taxpayer Protection Pledge and Tim Walberg to be “not true.”  In Nevada, Jon Ralston of Face to Face “reality checked” the Dina Titus campaign ad and found the claims made against the “no new taxes” Pledge to be “thoroughly misleading.” King 5 TV in Washington called the accusations against the Pledge and senate candidate Dino Rossi to be a “stretch.”

“Why is Martin Heinrich going out of his way to shamelessly distort Jon Barela’s position on taxes? The Pledge signed by Barela is a promise to constituents and businesses to never raise taxes. Heinrich has yet to make the same promise and should explain to voters how tax hikes revive a struggling economy and promote job growth in New Mexico,” said ATR President Grover Norquist.

“Jon Barela has committed to never raising taxes on his constituents while his Democrat opponent has left the door for tax hikes wide open,” continued Norquist.

Click here for a printable pdf.