Tag: video

One of the popular lines that the Republicans come out with every time they campaign against Democrats is the old “they are going to raise your taxes” schtick. Sometimes it works, other times it doesn’t. Quite frankly, it’s getting old. Lately, it hardly ever works (as evidenced by their losses in 2006 and 2008).

So when they claimed in a recent ad targeting NY-23 Democratic candidate Bill Owens that he was for raising taxes, it caught FactCheck.org’s attention.

Here is the ad:

Factcheck.org set the record straight regarding this claim:

The announcer misleads, however, when he says: “Now, Bill Owens wants to help Nancy Pelosi raise your income taxes.”

As support, the NRCC cites Owens’ Web site, where he says that he supports “allowing the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy to expire.” The NRCC also cites a brief from the National Center for Policy Analysis, a group whose stated goal “is to develop and promote private alternatives to government regulation and control.” The paper describes the effect on small businesses if they faced three simultaneous tax hikes.

We know of no one who has called for enacting all three of the proposals laid out in the paper, but we needn’t venture further into that tangle. Suffice to say that the only tax increase Owens has said he supports is the one above, allowing the expiration of the tax cuts for the “wealthy,” which is scheduled to happen in 2010. (Under Bush, the top marginal tax rate was cut from 39.6 percent to 35 percent.)

What’s “wealthy”? Owens’ Web site doesn’t specify. During his presidential campaign, though, Barack Obama used a threshold of individuals making $200,000 or more, and households making at least $250,000. Under those limits, how many constituents of the NY-23 would be affected by Owens’ proposal?

Not a whole lot. According to the most recent Census data, 2,728 households in the district had a total income of more than $200,000 in 2007. That’s just 1.1 percent of all the district’s households. Average household income was $52,801.

We’re not minimizing the fact that those relatively few households might be unhappy about the prospect of seeing their income taxes go up. We’re just saying it would affect, well, relatively few. Which is a lot less than the ad would have you believe.

Amazing what lengths the Republicans will go just to make this claim.  

I was surfing blogs this morning and stumbled upon this great ad for Senator John Boccieri(D).

We have lost major employers and suffered through “Kirk Schuring’s Gas Tax” increase while he gave himself a $9000 pay raise.

Senator Major John Boccieri(D) has served us in Iraq, Afghanastan, and 40 countries around the world. He has committed to stand up against Big Oil and help to bring down sky-rocketing gas prices. He stands with the middle class and organized labor. John Boccieri is the clear choice for Ohio’s Fighting 16th District!

From the DCCC:

John Boccieri: A Fighter. For Us. (OH-16)

A veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, John Boccieri is the right candidate to represent Ohio’s 16th Congressional District in Washington.

Somedays the Campaign Team at John Boccieri for U.S. Congress make this job a true pleasure. Check out “our” new video!

Visit John Boccieri for U.S. Congress or call 330-754-0534 to volunteer for Team Boccieri!

Schuring Follows Boccieri’s Lead on Energy

Canton, OH – Months after U.S. Congressional Candidate John Boccieri first announced his energy plan, opponent Kirk Schuring has finally offered an energy proposal that endorses many of Boccieri’s policies.

Senator Major John Boccieri said in a statement, today:

“I’m flattered that Sen. Schuring has finally embraced energy ideas I’ve been talking about for months, but I’m disappointed it took him this long to realize people are concerned about high gas prices. Unfortunately, his plan still doesn’t provide enough short-term solutions to our high gas prices, and I think voters will wonder whether someone who raised their gas taxes and has taken $20,000 from oil executives is really serious about making the big energy policy changes we need.”

Today Schuring adopted Boccieri’s proposals to crack down on Wall Street speculation, build new refineries, encourage fuel conservation and fuel-efficient vehicle research, and invest in U.S.-based alternative energy technologies like clean coal, nuclear, wind, solar, and biofuels.

I wonder how that will play with the “independent swing-voters”?

However, Schuring’s plan still does not include many measures Boccieri has proposed to provide short-term relief at the pump, such as releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve or pushing oil companies to drill first on the untapped U.S. leases they already hold, including 33.5 million acres off America’s coasts.

Instead, Schuring continues to claim that opening up ANWR and more U.S. coastline to drilling is a “short-term solution” to high gas prices. This notion has been refuted by experts across the political spectrum, including George W. Bush’s own Energy Department, which found that these steps would not have an impact for roughly 20 years.

Boccieri added:

“We need a lot more than drilling to get us out of this mess. We need to do what it takes to lower gas prices quickly and transition to home-grown alternative energy sources as soon as possible.”

Boccieri recently released a new radio spot about his energy plan, which can be heard here.

You can read Boccieri’s complete energy plan is available on his website.

One fact just isn’t going away: