With the June 8 Nevada primary nearing, there was one TV ad in the Republican Senate race that caught our attention. It’s so outlandish that we thought it couldn’t possibly be true. Did former Nevada Assemblywoman Sharron Angle – a Republican backed by the Tea Party Express and the fiscally conservative Club for Growth — sponsor legislation to create a drug rehab program for state prisoners that included saunas and massage therapy? And was that program developed by the Church of Scientology?
Sunday Replay
Did someone in the White House commit a federal misdemeanor by getting involved in the Pennsylvania Democratic primary? A leading Republican House member says yes, but he’s contradicted by a former U.S. attorney general from the Bush administration.
That’s our first subject in this holiday-delayed issue of "Sunday Replay," where we regularly dissect factual claims made on weekend public affairs shows. We also fact-checked a few statements about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
FactCheck Mailbag, Week of May 25-May 31
This week, readers sent us comments about VA benefits, endangered jobs and partial immigrants.
In the FactCheck Mailbag, we feature some of the e-mail we receive. Readers can send comments to editor@factcheck.org. Letters may be edited for length.
Phony ‘Big Oil Bailout’ Claims
In a highly competitive race for an open U.S. Senate seat in Missouri, Secretary of State Robin Carnahan accuses Republican Rep. Roy Blunt of supporting a “Big Oil bailout” and sticking the taxpayers with the cleanup costs. We find the charges to be false.
More Census Nonsense
Here are a couple of new falsehoods being circulated about the Census, to add to the bogus claims we told you about back in March:
It’s not true that Census workers can demand that your landlord let Census workers into your apartment when you are absent, as claimed by a conservative former House member.
And it’s also not true that the Census Bureau is artificially inflating official employment figures by causing temporary hires to be counted multiple times,
New Mexico and Arkansas Races
In episode 13 of FactCheck Radio, we look at a Republican ad that was condemned by the head of the GOP in New Mexico. Plus, we debunk labor union ads attacking Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, and we update listeners on claims about Muslims and the health care law.
(Click the play button below to listen to the podcast. Or subscribe to the podcast on iTunes.)
For more on the stories discussed in this episode,
Obama Says Gulf Beaches ‘Clean.’ Really?
In his May 27 press conference on the oil spill, President Barack Obama declared Gulf Coast beaches safe and encouraged Americans to visit them. “Except for three beaches in Louisiana, all of the Gulf’s beaches are open, they are safe and they are clean,” he said. But it depends on your definition of “safe” and “clean,” and you had better hurry up, because the coast states are bracing for more closures.
Alabama hasn’t closed any beaches,
Labor Falsely Attacks Lincoln. Again.
New TV spots from two labor unions try to paint Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas as a slick politician who has done the bidding of big-business donors, such as oil companies. But the claims just don’t stick. One ad claims Lincoln “helped George Bush and Dick Cheney give oil and gas companies …
Health Care Law and W-2 Forms
Q: Does the new health care law require workers to pay income tax on the value of employer-provided health insurance?
A: No. The value will appear on employees’ W-2 forms for information purposes, but will not be considered taxable income.
‘Dishonesty’ in New Mexico
We can’t recall a time when a candidate’s ad was denounced as misleading and dishonest by the head of his own party. But that’s what has happened in New Mexico. Harvey E. Yates Jr., New Mexico’s Republican state party chairman, stepped in to referee a dispute between the gubernatorial campaigns of …