The Texas Democrat Party’s most recent attack against Republican Randy Weber is both proven-false and absurd. A mailer being sent to voters in Texas’s 14th Congressional District recycles a line of attack made against Republicans in 2010 which was rated as “blatantly false” by numerous independent organizations.

The claim is made on the mailer's front and back pages, and suggests that Weber has pledged to “protect” tax breaks for corporations that ship jobs overseas.” With the Texas Democrat party’s stamp of approval on the piece, it is clear that out of desperation lying is the only path left in attempting to defeat Weber.

When the same claim was levied against Taxpayer Protection Pledge signers in 2010, the Associated Press labeled the attack as “one of the wildest claims of the 2010 campaign.” Adding insult to injury, the non-partisan FactCheck.org rated the attacks against the Pledge as “blatantly false.”

 The Taxpayer Protection Pledge that Randy Weber signed reads as follows:

 I, Randy Weber, pledge to the taxpayers of the 14th District of the state of Texas, and to the American People that I will:

 ONE, oppose any and all efforts to increase the marginal income tax rates for individuals and/or businesses; and

TWO, oppose any net reduction or elimination of deductions and credits, unless matched dollar for dollar by further reducing taxes.

As FactCheck.org has noted, “[The Pledge] leaves ample room for the elimination of any number of special tax breaks so long as the overall level of taxation is not increased. To claim that this ‘protects’ a particular provision is simply untrue.” The overall goal of Pledge signers is to reduce the size of the government by focusing on spending alone.

In 2010, another independent fact-checking organization weighed in. To the accusation that the Pledge “protects” companies who ship jobs overseas, Politifact noted that the claim about the Pledge included a “spurious connection” that requires a “huge leap of logic,” concluding that the DCCC’s claim was “False.”

The claim is not new in this competitive Congressional race. Weber’s Democrat opponent, Nick Lampson used the same claim in a television ad his campaign paid for last month.

As a result of the false attacks, Texas’s 14th District is part of Americans for Tax Reform’s targeted multi-million dollar campaign. We have sent direct mail and are currently running online ads to combat the false-claims. Additionally, in the coming days we will be running live calls to voters to inform them that the Democrat claims are false.

“The Texas Democrat Party should be ashamed. Recycling a proven-false narrative about Randy Webber’s personal written commitment to Texans to oppose higher taxes is not only sadly dishonest but indicative of panic,” said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform. “This is the same idiotic claim that Democrat Nick Lampson put in a TV ad last month. The Party’s use of the claim demonstrates coordinated stupidity. Then again, telling the truth about their plan for higher taxes and more government spending probably didn’t poll very well,” continued Norquist.

[PDF of Press Release]

Posted by Paul Blair on Thursday, November 1, 2012 3:48 PM EDT

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