BEHIND THE HEADLINES
TV ads in the Davis-Kryzan-Powers race have little use for the facts
Truth seems of little concern to the three Democrats seeking to run for Tom Reynolds’ congressional seat.
If you fall for Jack Davis’ television ads, you may think Jon Powers is a special-interest fat cat who’s taking money from corporations like General Electric when he’s not hanging out at Rick’s Tally-Ho.
But none of that is true. And if you believe what Powers says about Davis, you’d think that Davis would go to Washington hellbent on cutting Social Security benefits.
And that’s not true, either. In other words, truth has often been on holiday during the battle involving Davis, Powers and local attorney Alice Kryzan for the Democratic nomination for Congress in the 26th District, which stretches from Amherst and Wheatfield east to the Rochester suburbs.
No candidate in the race has taken the truth to more undisclosed locations than Davis, who has run three attack ads against Powers that dramatically distort his record.
In contrast, Powers has one grossly misleading television ad attacking Davis, while Kryzan has run one attack ad that views Powers’ charitable activity in the worst possible light.
Those are the results of a fact check of the television ads and some of the radio ads in the contest, which will culminate in Tuesday’s primary.
Davis, a Newstead industrialist who vowed to spend $3 million of his money to win a seat in Congress, has spent plenty of that money taking aim at Powers, the Iraq War veteran who’s backed by the party establishment and organized labor.
Yet to hear Davis tell it, you would think that corporate America is Powers’ best friend.
Take, for example, the Davis ad called “Bad Medicine.”
"The health care system is broken because special interests give millions in campaign contributions to politicians like Jon Powers,” the ad says, as the words “Pfizer,” “GE,” “Wyeth” and “Johnson & Johnson” appear on the screen.
The problems start right there.
Powers took no money directly from the Pfizer, GE or Wyeth political action committees, federal records show. He did get $175 from the Johnson & Johnson PAC — but that was the only health care industry donation he received.
Yes, Powers has received far more PAC money — $220,614 — than anyone else in the race. But an analysis of PAC contributions shows that two-thirds of it came from organized labor, politicians or single-issue groups like VoteVets.
Davis’ exaggerations continue in an ad called “Think Again,” which tells voters that “Powers made headlines with a local strip club owner” — and shows a picture of Powers in a Bills jersey and funny hat, as if he were at the strip club.
In reality, Powers received $2,300 from Rick Snowden, owner of Rick’s Tally Ho. But John Gerken, Powers’ campaign manager, said the picture in the ad was taken at a bar in Washington during a Bills game, not at Rick’s Tally Ho.
Powers has also not exactly been “taking money from big oil,” as the Davis ad called “Low Octane” says.
Asked for verification of that statement, the Davis campaign said Powers has received money from lobbyists for the American Petroleum Institute, BP Amoco, Chevron and other energy companies.
The Center for Responsive Politics studied Powers’ campaign donations through June 30 and found that big oil did not rank in the top 20 industries that contributed to Powers.
“Low Octane” also makes dubious claims about Davis himself.
The ad says, “The Davis plan: increase domestic oil production and jump-start clean energy like solar, wind and nuclear power. The choice? Jon Powers and petro politics as usual, or clean, safe, natural Jack.”
But “clean, safe, natural Jack” owns energy stocks in major oil, gas and coal producers whose worth can range up to $50 million, his financial disclosure form shows. The stocks include Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Hess and Conoco Philips.
And Davis said in an interview last week: “You want the cheapest energy possible. That’s oil.”
Advocating drilling both offshore and in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Davis said in the interview that solar and wind energy “only work half the time” and added: “I would like it to work, but all of these other sources of energy are expensive.”
Don’t get the impression, though, that Davis is alone in misleading voters.
One Powers ad in particular is just as misleading.
An ad called “Promise” is a direct reprise of an ad Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds, R-Clarence, used against Davis in 2006.
The Powers ad quotes Davis as saying, “I think we should raise the retirement age.” But it leaves out two important facts: Davis was talking about addressing a future “serious problem” in Social Security and said the change should not affect people who are already retired or close to retirement.
The distortion was so out of line that it outraged Scott Leffler, the radio host who conducted the original 2004 interview with Davis.
“That comment is taken completely out of context, and the Powers camp use of it is misleading at best . . . a blatant lie at worst,” Leffler said on his blog last week.
Powers didn’t stop there. He also quoted Davis as saying in a 2006 interview that Social Security benefits “may have to be adjusted down.” But the ad again left out the part of the interview where Davis said any cuts shouldn’t affect current retirees or anyone retiring soon.
Powers also takes a shot at Kryzan in a recent radio ad, in which a voter supposedly calls her “the corporate lawyer who defended corporate polluters at Love Canal.”
Kryzan represented Occidental Chemical Corp. — but she’s an environmental lawyer, not a corporate lawyer, and her endorsers include the lawyers for the citizens who sued Occidental.
The Powers ad also criticizes Kryzan for a $250 donation she made to Reynolds several years ago. Kryzan has described that as a “business accommodation” to a law firm partner.
Kryzan has long been the underfunded and low-key candidate in the race, but she dived deep into the mud in her latest ad, called “Same Old.”
The ad says Davis “is accused of offering bribes for campaign endorsements.” That refers to his campaign’s decision to hire the wives of the Independence Party chairmen in Erie and Monroe counties in an effort to court that party’s endorsement.
Then the ad says Powers “used his kids’ charity to line his own pockets.” The accuracy of that statement is debatable.
Powers did take $15,000 for three months’ work at a charity that raised $41,738 last year. That means 36 percent of the funding at War Kids Relief, Powers’ charity, went to its founder, and Anne Wadsworth, the Kryzan campaign manager, said that’s way high.
Powers, however, did work at War Kids Relief, traveling to Iraq and meeting with government ministers, even though the effort never came close to meeting his expectations of building youth centers throughout the country.
