The recent attacks by the Joe Manchin campaign against John Raese and the Taxpayer Protection Pledge smack of desperation. The claims made by the Manchin campaign about “outsourcing” have repeatedly been discredited by a number of news sources.

Earlier in the year, Factcheck.org condemned the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s similar claims as “blatantly false” and King 5 TV in Washington State found the claims made by the campaign of Democrat Sen. Patty Murray against the Pledge to be “a stretch.” Jon Ralston of Face to Face in Nevada also reviewed similar charges made by Democrats against the Pledge and found them to be “thoroughly misleading.”

It’s time for Manchin to eschew the talking points coming out of the DSCC playbook in Washington, D.C. and start discussing real issues like economic growth and job creation. Raese has made a serious commitment to West Virginians by signing the Pledge and shouldn’t be attacked for promising to protect taxpayers.

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

 

Joe Manchin Campaign Caught Telling Lies about the “No New Taxes” Pledge
Manchin campaign desperate to distort Raese’s “no new taxes” promise

WASHINGTON, DCThe Joe Manchin Campaign recently launched a new line of attack on John Raese 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 Manchin 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, Raese has taken tax hikes off the table for all taxpayers in West Virginia – something Joe Manchin 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 a “stretch.”

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

“John Raese 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 of the press release