Congressman Toomey: Politics as Usual, the Old Way of Washington, DC

By SESTAK FOR SENATE

MEDIA, PA – Since the May primary, Congressman Toomey has spent nearly $1.4 million (over $900,000 in July alone) primarily on negative, misleading ads, and his outside special interest friends have spent nearly $200,000, as they engage in a negative, deceptive campaign. This is too bad following Congressman Toomey’s previous commitment to run a positive campaign against Admiral Joe Sestak based on ideas, the issues and the facts.

“I believe voters want to know how we’re going to turn this economy around for jobs and where we stand on the issues that matter in their everyday lives,” said Joe. “So, I’m going to stick to my commitment to talk about those issues and the policies outlined in my Plan for Pennsylvania Families, which includes over 21 pages of substantive proposals covering issues ranging from quality job creation to educational opportunity to retirement security. Congressman Toomey and I have differences on significant and important issues. I look forward to making sure those choices are clear for voters, but I don’t think this is the year for petty, negative politics as usual — it’s what’s wrong with Washington, DC.”

Like a typical Washington, DC politician, Congressman Toomey talks about running one kind of campaign:

Congressman Toomey: “I’m looking forward to having a very vigorous, open and candid and substantive conversation about policies with Joe Sestak.”
Congressman Toomey: “Pennsylvanians can rightly expect that [Joe and I] would continue in that manner [of debate], which is not only respectful to each other, but more importantly, respectful to voters.”
Toomey for Senate: “This will be a race about ideas.”
But in the end, Congressman Toomey is running on the same old negative Washington political attacks:

PIttsburgh Post-Gazette – “Toomey goes on TV, and goes negative ”
Delaware County Daily Times – “Editorial: Toomey turns to attack tactics”
“…the fact that they are attacking an opponent instead of promoting a candidate’s platform makes them all the more aggravating…”
Morning Call – “Toomey’s ads are negative spots ”
PoliticsPA – “Sestak’s post-primary momentum might help explain why Toomey has already hit the airwaves with a set of negative ads.”
Rather than present a viable alternative, all Congressman Toomey can do is distort the facts with negative, misleading ads, rather than debate the issues; for example:

Congressman Toomey’s deceptive, negative attack ad says “Sestak voted to permit banning all private health insurance.”

The reality is that Joe explicitly voted AGAINST Congressman Kucinich’s amendment to allow individual states to institute a single-payer health care system. The majority of Democrats voted against it. However, Republicans on the House Education and Labor Committee employed a cynical partisan tactic of supporting Congressman Kucinich’s amendment to add a poison pill to the legislation. Joe refused to allow partisan politics to prevent the bill from getting to the floor. He voted with the vast majority of Democrats on the Committee to support the entire health care reform legislation, once he had worked to ensure it would be removed from the legislation before the entire House of Representatives would vote.

Where is Congressman Toomey’s substance? If he wants to discuss the different positions on health care between him and Joe Sestak, let’s have that discussion, but not deceptive rhetoric.

“The Washington politics of Congressman Toomey are broken,” said Joe. “It’s time for a change, not just in policy, but in politics, so that people can regain the lost faith in their elected officials.”

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