PA-12: WPGH Pittsburgh Pulls False DCCC ad about Tim Burns

Update: (12:05 Pacific Time) Early Returns writes:

The Tim Burns camp sends word this afternoon that Pittsburgh’s WPGH-TV has stopped airing an ad from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, saying it spreads false claims about taxes. We’ll try to reach the station for comment, but it bears mentioning that owners Sinclair Broadcasting have gotten involved in partisan political fights before– most notably when it ordered its stations to broadcast a documentary critical of John Kerry the month before the 2004 presidential election. FactCheck.org called claims in a similiar DCCC ad “quite misleading”:It’s true that Burns has voiced support for the so-called “FairTax” proposal, which would impose a national sales tax that proponents say would be 23 percent. He did that in an interview with a conservative blogger in 2009.

But this ad is quite misleading because it fails to mention that the FairTax proposal would also repeal the federal income tax entirely and do away with the Internal Revenue Service. It would also eliminate gift, estate, capital gains, alternative minimum, Social Security, Medicare and self-employment taxes. But anyone viewing the DCCC’s ad could easily conclude that Burns favored slapping a 23 percent sales tax on top of all existing taxes, which is not true.

And this from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review today: Rivals Tussle In Murtha’s Shadow:“Despite an apparent apology by Critz during an April 28 debate in Johnstown over a controversial ad that misstates Burns’ position on taxes, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee continued to saturate television markets with the ad. ‘I want to take this opportunity, that if I’ve misstated Mr. Burn’s position on something, that I apologize. I didn’t mean to do that,” Critz said during the debate. ‘It was my understanding that (Burns) did support the Fair Tax, and if that’s wrong, I apologize.’ The commercial claims that Burns supports putting a 23 percent sales tax “on everything we buy.’ FactCheck.org, a nonpartisan, nonprofit group that aims to reduce the level of deception in politics, criticized the Critz ad. ‘But this ad is quite misleading because it fails to mention that the Fair Tax proposal would also repeal the federal income tax entirely and do away with the Internal Revenue Service. It would also eliminate gift, estate, capital gains, alternative minimum, Social Security, Medicare and self-employment taxes. But anyone viewing the DCCC’s ad could easily conclude that Burns favored slapping a 23 percent sales tax on top of all existing taxes, which is not true,’ said the FactCheck organization, a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. ‘Burns isn’t really pushing the Fair Tax proposal very hard, either. In his 2009 interview (with a blogger), he said it would be impractical to implement it quickly,’ FactCheck states on its website.” (Jennifer Reeger, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, 5/14/2010)

–End Update–

I just got a call from my good friend Robert Stacy McCain, who’s on the ground in PA-12 covering the race, who informs me that WPGH, Pittsburgh’s Fox affiliate , has pulled the latest DCCC ad due to it containing false information and lying about Tim Burns postions.

We believe, though not yet confirmed that the ad in question is an ad released by the DCCC about a week ago entitled Tim Burns’ 23% Sales Tax:

Isn’t just like the DCCC to resort to these type of false attacks when the truth isn’t on their side!

More on this story as it develops…