KING 5 will be working all campaign season to fact-check political ads flooding your airwaves.
Earlier this week, we aired a report looking into an ad targeting 8th district Democratic candidate Kim Schrier and her medical practice.
Meanwhile, a new Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) ad targeting Republican Dino Rossi takes aim at his work as a chief budget negotiator in the state senate.
“The record shows Rossi tried to cut health coverage for 46,000 kids,” the ad says.
This is a claim we've fact-checked before since it appeared in a different version of a DCCC ad against Rossi.
It’s true that an early version of the 2003 budget included a proposal to eliminate coverage for 46,000 children in the state Medicaid program, but that proposal didn't pass. House Democrats pushed back and forced a compromise.
Budget negotiations proved particularly intense that year since the state faced a significant shortfall at the time. Reporting by the Seattle Times that year indicated the Senate Republican's plan actually had a lot in common with that of the then Democratic Governor, Gary Locke.
The new political ad also claims Rossi "raised bed taxes on nursing homes while making sure country club membership fees were exempt from taxes."
It's true that the budget did charge nursing homes a fee per bed, per day. But, the ad doesn't tell you the nursing homes asked the legislature for the tax as a way to increase the amount of federal dollars they received.
As for the country club claim, the DCCC says that comes from a 2003 Seattle Times Article that referenced House Democrats long list of tax ideas. The article says, in part, “leaders couldn't even muster enough support to repeal a corporate tax exemption on country-club membership dues."
The exemption in question comes from a broad state statute dating back to 1935 that addresses a B&O tax deduction for certain bona fides dues, according to the Washington Department of Revenue.
A records search reveals House Democrats did propose legislation that would have limited the tax deduction, in an effort to raise revenue during a difficult budget cycle, but the Democrats' bill to do that didn’t move forward.
