UPDATE 9/17/16: AFSCME ad “Behind” recycles debunked attack against Joe Heck that Politifact labeled “highly misleading” and rated “Mostly False”

It seems Catherine Cortez Masto’s D.C. allies like to recycle, and not in the good way. In its new attack ad, AFSCME repeated already debunked attacks made by Harry Reid’s super PAC in a dishonest attempt to mislead Nevadans about Joe Heck’s record on the housing crisis.

AFCME, Reid’s Super PAC, and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) have all run ads discredited by independent fact checkers to falsely attack Joe Heck.

FACT: Dr. Heck hired a realtor for his district office to help Nevada families navigate through the housing crisis and stay in their homes. In five years, Heck’s office handled 705 housing cases, successfully closing 631 to help families keep their homes — an 89.5% success rate.

“Hundreds of families in Nevada were able to stay in their homes during the housing crisis thanks to Joe Heck’s efforts,” said Heck spokesperson Paulo Sibaja. “After a career spent in government and politics, it is Cortez Masto, who the Las Vegas Sun called ‘as close as it comes to political royalty here,’ that is out of touch with the struggles of our state. That is why she lies and contradicts herself about her role in the national mortgage settlement. The credibility of Cortez Masto and her big money D.C.-backers on this issue is non-existent.”

 

**UPDATE - Politifact calls the ad “highly misleading” and rates it “Mostly False”

Harry Reid’s DC special interests are all-in for his handpicked candidate. They know that they can rely on “loyal Democratic foot soldier” (Las Vegas Review-Journal, 10/20/10) Catherine Cortez Masto to do what she has done throughout her career — put her party bosses before Nevada.

“The only people Joe Heck owes anything to are his family and Nevadans, for whom he put his life on the line as a search and rescue team member, a SWAT physician, and Iraq veteran. Contrast that with Ms. Cortez Masto, who for more than two decades has traded political connections and favors for six-figure government jobs and elected office. As attorney general, she failed to put Nevada first because she was too busy taking special interest-paid vacations, prosecuting political opponents, and letting criminals and cronies off with slaps on their wrists. Left with no accomplishments on which to run, Ms. Cortez Masto and her partisan allies now lie about Joe Heck’s record and her involvement in the national mortgage settlement – something she strongly disavowed only four years ago,” said Heck spokesperson Brian Baluta.

FACT: Nevada Senate Bill 233, which Senate Majority PAC has twice portrayed with the U.S. Capitol in the background, was not some Washington quid pro quo, but legislation Dr. Heck introduced in 2007 as Nevada State Senator to provide tax relief for more than 55,000 businesses across the state.

At a time when Nevada was moving to diversify its economy, SB 233 would have ensured that the modified business tax remained at .63 percent, and would have repealed the bank branch excise tax. Singling out specific industries with additional taxes was seen as damaging to efforts to attract new businesses and grow the economy. Without legislative action, the modified business tax was scheduled to increase to .65 percent on July 1, 2007. SB 233 would have provided tax relief for over 55,000 businesses across the state. It did not become law. (Votesmart.org, 4/13/07)

FACT: Dr. Heck wants to protect Social Security for current beneficiaries and those approaching retirement and to preserve it for future generations.

He has never said Social Security should be privatized. Dr. Heck has said that individuals should have the option to voluntarily take a portion of their Social Security withholding and invest it as they deem appropriate, which could include government-issued bonds or T-bills, not risking it on Wall Street. This does not constitute “privatizing” Social Security, nor would it be “risking our retirement in the stock market,” as Senate Majority PAC contends.

Dr. Heck is the only candidate in the race for U.S. Senate who is willing to heed the warnings being issued by the Medicare and Social Security trustees. Those warnings are clear: Medicare and Social Security, upon which thousands of Nevada seniors rely, are not on sound financial footing and need to be strengthened if they are to provide the health and income security our seniors deserve. Ignoring those challenges, which would be Ms. Cortez Masto’s approach, will result in benefit cuts and uncertainty for those near retirement age.

Dr. Joe Heck is the only candidate in the race who has actually taken action to strengthen Social Security. After hearing from seniors frustrated by the lack of a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) increase for Social Security this year and in years past, he introduced a bill called the SENIORS COLA Guarantee Act to ensure seniors on Social Security receive a guaranteed minimum COLA increase.

Harry Reid super PAC, super hypocritical

Senate Majority PAC’s treasurer and co-chair is Rebecca Lambe, a top political strategist for Reid. The other co-chair is Susan McCue, Reid’s former chief of staff. For years, their boss Reid has railed on his favorite boogeymen, Charles and David Koch, but he has no problem taking millions from liberal billionaires.

Among the largest contributors to Senate Majority PAC are billionaire hedge-fund manager James Simons and San Francisco billionaire and climate-change activist Tom Steyer, who was for coal before he was against it. (Politico, 9/24/14)

The Senate Majority PAC also makes the head-scratching suggestion that there is a connection between a narrow Nevada State Senate bill from 2007 that did not pass and campaign contributions to a U.S. Senate race a decade later.

Yet Reid and Cortez Masto enthusiastically support Hillary Clinton for president who received $9,680,000 for speaking engagements in 2013, including 14 paid by Wall Street firms such as Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank, Fidelity Investments UBS and Bank of America. Her benefactors also include hedge funds and private equity firms like Apollo Management and Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts. (Huffington Post, 2/8/16)

$225,000 was Clinton’s minimum fee, which you may remember is what she infamously charged UNLV for a keynote, along with a list of “lavish travel requirements…” RON CLAIBORNE: “More details about Hillary Clinton’s lavish travel requirements for a speaking engagement at a college in Nevada. A document obtained by the Las Vegas Review Journal show that Clinton received $225,000 to speak at a fundraiser in October – this coming October at the University Of Nevada, Las Vegas. Her contract also requires that she gets a private jet to travel and a presidential suite the hotel of her choice. Clinton also requires that there be no recording of her speech and that the only permitted record of what she says made by a stenographer whose transcription will be given only to Hillary Clinton.” (Good Morning America, 8/18/14)

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