GOP television ad against Owens broken down, examined

The National Republican Congressional Committee has released a new television ad, "From Pelosi with Love," portraying Democratic candidate William L. Owens as a "present" from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Mr. Owens is running against Republican Dierdre K. Scozzafava and Conservative candidate Douglas L. Hoffman for the 23rd Congressional District seat recently vacated by current Army Secretary John M. McHugh. A special election is scheduled for Nov. 3.

Here is how the committee's claims in the ad stack up.

CLAIM:"Bill Owens: approved by Nancy Pelosi"

Likely true, although Mrs. Pelosi has never made a public statement regarding her opinion of Mr. Owens, a Plattsburgh attorney. However, the House speaker did attend a Sept. 16 fundraiser for Mr. Owens, according to PolitckerNY.com.

The Republican committee linked this claim to a New York Daily News blog entry, "Team Hoffman," in which Mrs. Pelosi is never named. The blog said Mr. Owens has hired a "DCCC-approved campaign manager."

Mrs. Pelosi, as the highest ranking Democrat in the house, does appoint the leader of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. The Daily News is the only entity to suggest that Bradley D. Katz, Mr. Owens's campaign manager, was "approved" by the committee.

CLAIM:"Owens is ready to back higher taxes ... and Pelosi's big spending."

It's impossible to determine the veracity of forward-looking statements.

The Republican committee linked this claim to two articles: an Aug. 13 WWNY-TV7 interview with Mr. Owens and a Sept. 1 report from the Watertown Daily Times.

Mr. Owens, through a spokesman, told the Times he would not take a pledge in which he promised never to raise taxes because it was "not responsible." Incidentally, Ms. Scozzafava also did not sign the pledge.

"Bill opposes any new spending unless it is offset by an equal amount of cuts in other spending," Mr. Katz said at the time.

Mr. Owens didn't mention Mrs. Pelosi in his interview with the television station. But the candidate said he wanted "to make sure that the kinds of actions that the government takes in passing legislation and implementing programs is fiscally responsible."

When asked, Paul Lindsay, the Republican committee's spokesman, did not identify one statement in the WWNY-TV 7 interview that directly backed the ad's claim that Mr. Owens was ready to support "Pelosi's big spending."

Instead, he said: "At the end of the day, Owens supports a massive health care takeover — spearheaded by Nancy Pelosi — that would balloon the deficit and further burden New York families who will be forced to pay for it."

Mr. Owens has said he supports President Obama's effort to reform health insurance, but said "the plans needs to be fiscally responsible." His Web site said he also is opposed to "increasing taxes on the middle class in any way."

CLAIM:"Dede opposed Gov. Paterson's wasteful spending in Albany."

The truth of this statement largely depends on a person's definition of "wasteful."

Ms. Scozzafava voted against the 2009-10 state budget when it came to a vote in the Assembly. The budget is proposed annually by the governor, but always modified by the Legislature.

The Republican committee linked its claim to an Aug. 30 Times story in which Ms. Scozzafava said that some federal stimulus funds, which are controlled by Mr. Paterson, were allocated to the wrong types of projects.

CLAIM:"Dede is against Pelosi's energy tax."

True.

In an Aug. 16 letter, the district's 11 county chairmen said Ms. Scozzafava "is on record that she would not have supported 'cap and trade' legislation."

The Republican's opposition to "Pelosi's energy tax" actually puts her in disagreement with the man she is trying to replace. Former Rep. McHugh was one of eight Republicans who supported the climate change bill.