Fact Checker Round Up

To help Eastern Iowa voters sort facts from fiction in politics, The Gazette and KCRG-TV9 launched the Fact Checker in January. With two days until the election, we offer this sampling from select races.

U.S. SENATE

When it comes to political claims the race for Iowa Senate between Democratic candidate, U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley, of Waterloo, and Republican candidate, state Sen. Joni Ernst, of Red Oak, may have been the most prolific in the state.

The Fact Checker team reviewed at least 25 claims by the two candidates since July 1.

Ernst was charged with wanting to end federal agencies or programs, including the federal minimum wage and the renewable fuels subsidy, and having an extreme position on abortion.

Claims Ernst opposes a federal minimum wage are true, but she's said several times she believes individual states, not the federal government, should set wage standards based on the local economy.

One very misleading claim suggested Ernst would eliminate support for Iowa renewables, a key subsidy for many Iowa farmers. Ernst philosophically opposes federal subsidies, but until all are ended she'd fight to support the Renewable Fuels Standard.

Ernst has taken heat for supporting a personhood amendment that could have effects such as outlawing abortions in cases of incest and rape or banning some forms of contraception. Ernst didn't specifically advocate those positions but she supported the amendment and, therefore, everything that comes with it.

Braley has been criticized for missing committee hearings and votes, partisanship and Medicare cuts.

Braley missed 78 percent of veterans affair full committee hearings and 68 percent of government oversight hearings. Both claims are accurate, even if some absences are due to double scheduled hearings.

It's true 'Braley has voted lockstep with his party 96 percent of the time,” although not unusual. It's also less partisan than Iowa's GOP congressmen, when it comes to voting with the majority of one's party.

We dispelled a frequent claim that Braley voted to cut Medicare by $700 billion because he supported the Affordable Care Act, which slashed Medicare by $700 billion.

A budget cut does not necessarily mean cuts to services for seniors. An August report showed Medicare spending was expected to increase 2 percent this year, and the ACA should reduce overhead costs in Medicare by reducing reimbursements to hospitals for uncompensated care.

Iowa Governor

Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds have claimed Iowa has had record employment since 2011. Indeed, the 1,556,200 Iowans employed in September 2014 is an all-time high, as have been the previous months. But the Iowa GOP's claim the state has added 150,000 jobs is deceptive because it doesn't factor in jobs lost. Iowa's net job growth of 63,000 in the last three years is more accurate.

Iowa Sen. Jack Hatch, Branstad's Democratic opponent, claimed in September Branstad tried to abolish preschool funding. While the governor did call for reducing state money for universal preschool, he did not propose eliminating the funding.

The Iowa GOP bashed Hatch in late September for supporting '$1.7 billion in new debt on a failed I-JOBS plan.”

Hatch did vote for I-JOBS, but it cost $875 million, not $1.7 billion. The program failed to meet former Gov. Chet Culver's estimate of 30,000 jobs, but that wasn't the primary purpose of the infrastructure renewal program launched after the 2008 floods.

SECOND DISTRICT

U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack, a Democrat, criticized Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks for favoring 'tax breaks to outsourcing corporations.”

Miller-Meeks told KCRG-TV9 she would have opposed the Education Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act of 2010 because the measures were funded, in part, with $9.8 billion saved by restricting ways multinational companies could claim the foreign tax credit. Closing a loophole to Democrats was considered raising taxes to Republicans, but we scored Loebsack's claim mostly true.

Miller-Meeks claimed Loebsack's broke his 2009 promise Iowans could keep their health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. The ACA has coverage standards for existing plans. If a plan didn't meet those standards it was discontinued and people had to choose new plans. Loebsack's prediction hasn't borne out.

FIRST DISTRICT

The American Action Network questioned Iowa Rep. Pat Murphy's spending decisions, including a vote in favor of $100,000 for flower pots outside the Statehouse. Murphy, a Democrat, supported a 2007 bill that included $120,000 for the purchase an installation of decorative planters. That line was later vetoed.

Murphy claimed Republican Blum 'cheated his workers out of overtime pay.” Former Eagle Point software employees filed a complaint with the U.S. Labor Department in 1997 about inadequate overtime pay. Eagle Point, which Blum led at the time, reached a settlement for $235,000.