Indianapolis—
In part two of our fact check on political ads for the Congressional race in Indiana's 9th District, Fox59 News continues to examine the contest between Republican Todd Young and incumbent Democrat, Baron Hill.Wednesday night, we put an ad under the microscope that was critical of Todd Young (R). That ad was sponsored by a labor union. Now, we look at a spot paid for by the Republican party that accuses Baron Hill (D) of supporting an effort to send jobs to China.
Here's the major message in this ad, in transcript form: "Is Baron Hill running for Congress in Indiana or China? Baron Hill supported the $800 billion failed stimulus package that created renewable energy jobs in China.
It's a clone of Republican ads in races all over the country.
Here's one from Georgia (also a transcription):
"...But Congressman Marshall voted for Obama's failed stimulus bill that's done little for American jobs and sent nearly $2 bilion overseas to build wind turbines and create jobs mostly in China."
And there's another ad running in Wisconsin against Democratic incumbent Russ Feingold: "...Feingold voted the party line for the stimulus bill that allowed U.S. tax dollars to go to foreign conmpanies to create manufacturing jobs overseas. Democrat senators said the bill will create 3,000 jobs in China alone."
The ads all declare the stimulus package a failure and that it resulted in jobs in China. First part first, experts disagree about the stimulus plan's overall effectiveness, but many, including nobel prize winning economist Paul Krugman say the stimulus kept us out of a second great depression. In fact, he thinks we should have spent more. So Fox59 News says calling the stimulus "failed", at least for now, is misleading.
Point #2: Back in February, former Governor of Alaska Sarah Palin claimed 80% of the $2 billion in stimulus dollars spent on alternative energy ended up paying for wind turbines built in China. Multiple news organizations analyzed these claims and concluded that while the stimulus did include tax credits and grants of $2 billion for wind power, all the projects were located in the U.S.
While a lot of that money went to overseas turbine manufacturers, primarily in Europe, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California says that was unavoidable, because, "the U.S. does not have the capability to manufacture enough wind turbines" to satisfy current demand.
Politifact summarizes that "some of the stimulus money supports jobs abroad because turbines are often made overseas. Many are made by U.S. companies or made by foreign companies in the U.S. not a single recipient of program money is owned by a Chinese company."
Our rating of this ad aimed at Rep. Baron Hill and the others is baloney!
On Monday, the New York Times published an article addressing these same charges. Denise Bode, president and CEO of the American Wind Energy Association, was quoted, saying, "this program is a great example of 'insourcing' jobs to the United States by leveraging both foreign and domestic investment. It is the opposite of outsourcing."
Their organization is asking Republicans to pull the ads they say give the false impression that wind energy stimulus funds went to China.
