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AD WATCH: Dahlkemper sticks to the basics

When Congresswoman Kathy Dahlkemper (D-3) launched her first TV ad of the campaign, she got burned by fact-checkers for misleadingly suggesting she had opposed the financial bailout that happened before she was elected.

But in her second ad, the northwest Pennsylvania freshman sticks to the facts. The claims she makes are accurate. And she only barely misses out on our top score because she hasn’t yet had a chance to back up her immigration stance with a vote. We find that her ad merits a score of MOSTLY ACCURATE.

[Click here to read more about our AD WATCH fact-checking series and the different scores.]

Dahlkemper speaks for herself in the ad, opening:

As a small business owner, I know what it takes to create jobs. That’s why I’m determined to fight for new jobs in our district and to keep our good jobs here.

Dahlkemper, who does indeed own a small landscape architecture business, goes on to say she’s “working to bring high-speed Internet to our region, and high-speed rail connections to Erie.”

On high-speed Internet, Dahlkemper has been one of the members of Congress out front in supporting the administration’s plan to increase access to broadband Internet, specifically thanks to $4 billion in loans and grants that were part of the economic stimulus package (total funding for the initiative will exceed $7 billion). Vice President Joe Biden actually rolled out the program in Dahlkemper’s district.

“Access to high-speed Internet is no longer a luxury, but an essential tool to compete in this 21st-century economy,” Dahlkemper said in a statement at the time. “The availability of this technology is critical to attracting the business and development that will create the good paying jobs that stay in the United States.”

Dahlkemper has also written to cabinet secretaries and other government agency officials about various aspects of the push for more high-speed Internet access.

On high-speed rail, Dahlkemper has joined Pennsylvania’s two U.S. Senators in urging the Department of Transportation not to go forward with a rail project that would leave Erie, Dahlkemper’s home base, disconnected from the high-speed network. She has spoken out in support of a rail network that would link Cleveland, Erie and Buffalo.

Dahlkemper also says she supports “immigration reform that prevents illegal immigrants from unfairly competing with people who live and work here lawfully.”

That very well may be true, but since immigration reform hasn’t come before Congress during her first term, there’s no actual record on which to judge her.

See the ad below.

September 17, 2010 at 3:27 pm

--pa2010.com Staff

Tags: AD WATCH, Kathy Dahlkemper, PA-3

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