Tag: Paulsen lies
Truth Test: Paulsen Attack on Phillips Gets D-
A new television ad by Republican 3rd District Congressional candidate Erik Paulsen exaggerates and misleads in an attempt to tie Democratic opponent Dean Phillips to another candidate accused of domestic abuse.
“Sleazy Keith Ellison and Shady Dean Phillips both caught up in another sexual harassment scandal,” says the new ad, making it sound like the two are caught up in the same sexual harassment scandal.
“Ellison accused of physical abuse,” the ad continues. “Phillips charged with ignoring sexual harassment and discrimination at his companies.”
Subjects Of Erik Paulsen’s Allina Harassment Ad Dispute Accuracy
Minneapolis (WCCO) — An ad paid for by Friends of Erik Paulsen accuses opponent Dean Phillips of covering up sexual harassment allegations while he was on the board at Allina Health.
The ad, approved by incumbent and candidate for Congress Erik Paulsen, throws the 2007 sexual harassment allegations of seven women into the spotlight.
“I was in shock, disbelief, and then angry,” Chelsea said.
View the complete October 18 article by Jennifer Mayerle on the WCCO website here.
After Erik Paulsen charges CEOs with sex harassment cover up, the blowtorch comes out
The ad opens with foreboding tones and black-and-white photos, telegraphing to the viewer that great fiendishness is at hand.
It goes on to explain his term as board chairman of Allina Heath, where, 11 years ago, seven nurses sued the nonprofit for “lewd comments, groping, and even assault.” (Message: Is Dean Phillips a pervert?)
But “Phillips and the board did nothing,” the ad concludes. (Message: Why isn’t “Shady Dean Phillips” on the sex offender registry yet?)
View the complete October 18 article by Kete Kotz on the CityPages website here.
Erik Paulsen Needs to Take His Own Advice
Paulsen’s campaign should show the civility, discourse, and restraint he called for last year
Erik Paulsen needs to start taking his own advice. Last year, the Third District Republican called for “civility, discourse, restraint, whether it’s in the political system or society as a whole.” Yet over the course of his campaign against DFLer Dean Phillips, Congressman Paulsen has run a campaign devoid of civility, discourse, or restraint.
As a member of the bipartisan Congressional Civility Caucus, Erik Paulsen has joined other representatives from both parties who have said they are “taking action to restore civility and respect in our political discourse.” But Paulsen’s campaign tactics are anything but civil and are probably enough to warrant his ejection from that club. As recently as this week Paulsen has been condemned by constituents, business and community leaders for the incivility with which he continues to launch misleading attacks against his opponent Dean Phillips.
A closer look at Paulsen’s behavior during the campaign shows a stark contradiction between his words and actions. Continue reading “Erik Paulsen Needs to Take His Own Advice”
With Three Weeks to Election Day, Desperate GOP Attacks Continue to Backfire
With no positive message to run on, Republican candidates continue to resort to misleading and flat-out false attack ads.
As Minnesota Republican Congressional candidates and their Washington allies get increasingly desperate, their attacks on DFL candidates continue to backfire. With no positive message to run on, Republicans continue to resort to misleading and flat-out false attack ads.
“The outrageous falsehoods that the Republican party continues to peddle are pathetic,” said DFL Chair Ken Martin. “From accusing decorated combat veteran Dan Feehan of being hostile to our Armed Forces, to suggesting that well-regarded civic leaders took part in a sexual harassment cover-up, the GOP has stooped to new lows in a last-ditch attempt to hold on to their fleeting Congressional majority. Republicans are refusing to talk about their policy positions because they know that DFLers are on the winning side of the issues voters care about, like ensuring access to quality affordable health care, getting dark money and special interests out of politics, and creating an economy that works for all Minnesotans.”
Yesterday, The Star Tribune published an op-ed penned by several respected Twin Cities civic leaders condemning Third District Rep. Erik Paulsen for the “unprecedented” and “outrageous” lies in his latest attack on DFL candidate Dean Phillips. Unlike other attack ads this year from outside groups, the spot in question is paid for an authorized directly by the Paulsen campaign. Continue reading “With Three Weeks to Election Day, Desperate GOP Attacks Continue to Backfire”
Have dishonest political ads become the norm?
To the Editor:
For several months I’ve watched as Erik Paulsen’s campaign, PACs, shadow groups, and even the Congressman himself resort to lie after lie about Dean Phillips and wonder why he resorts to such dishonest attack ads to win reelection.
After all, the facts are clear and verifiable:
- Phillips has always provided health insurance to his full-time workers. And he pays a $15 minimum wage to help part-timers buy their own coverage.
- As Allina Board Chairman, he was never involved in either negotiations or strategies for dealing with the nurses’ union. That’s not a board chair’s role or responsibility.
- The Paulsen ads try to tie him to sexual-harassment complaints filed against Talenti Gelato, a company he once owned. Those complaints were from July 2015, more than a year after he’d sold the company.
- Phillips was gone two years from Phillips Distillery when someone filed complaint about a marketing strategy that seemed to target youth, a campaign the company ended shortly after the complaint.
- The Phillips Family Foundation, which Paulsen says “stashes money in offshore accounts” is a charitable organization that doesn’t pay taxes other than small federal excise taxes, so it has no reason to “stash” anything offshore.
- The taxes they allege he avoided paying was actually an $89 fee assessed against and paid by his former company (Talenti Gelato) for filing a tax form late in 2013.
Continue reading “Have dishonest political ads become the norm?”
‘Working mom’ in Erik Paulsen ad is actually a Pennsylvania politician
The scene is straight from Campaign Cinema 101. Natalie Mihalek, self-proclaimed “working mom,” appears in a nice-but-not-too-nice living room, making her seem just like you.
She never says where she’s from. But since this is an ad for suburban Minneapolis Congressman Erik Paulsen, the implication is she’s just an everyday mom from, say, Plymouth or Osseo. The kind who brings lemon bars to science fairs and cheers supportively at her daughter’s T-ball games.
She’s here to talk about how “thrilled” she is with Erik Paulsen’s “middle-class tax cut.”
View the complete October 16 article by Pete Kotz on the CityPages website here.
TV ads draw fire in hard-fought Twin Cities congressional races
Accuracy of allegations called into question.
A national Republican political group attacks Democratic candidate for Congress Angie Craig in a TV ad for supporting repeal of the federal medical device tax, even though her Republican opponent also supports repealing that tax.
U.S. Rep. Erik Paulsen’s latest ad hitting his opponent, Democrat Dean Phillips, over a sexual harassment scandal draws a public rebuke from an attorney in the case who says Phillips had nothing to do with it.
As Election Day draws closer, the TV ad wars in these two suburban Twin Cities districts are growing more intense. Paulsen and Rep. Jason Lewis, the Republican in the neighboring congressional district, are facing Phillips and Craig in two expensive, hard-fought races that are among a handful likely to help determine which party controls the U.S. House next year.
On Friday, attorney Lori Peterson — who represented a group of women who sued Allina Health for sexual harassment in 2007 — blasted Paulsen for making it a campaign issue against Phillips.
Lawyer in Allina sexual harassment case blasts Erik Paulsen ad
The new TV ad from GOP’s Paulsen hits DFL challenger Dean Phillips over harassment lawsuit, but lawyer for claimants says Phillips had ‘no involvement.’
A lawyer for the women who sued Allina Health for sexual harassment blasted U.S. Rep. Erik Paulsen on Friday for making it a campaign issue against his Democratic opponent, Dean Phillips.
Phillips served on the Allina board of directors from 2005-11. A new Paulsen TV ad calls Phillips “shady” and charges that he “did nothing” to combat the harassment.
Lori Peterson, a lawyer who specializes in civil rights and represented seven women who filed the lawsuit against Allina in 2007, released a statement Friday saying Phillips had nothing to do with the litigation.
View the complete October 12 article by J. Patrick Coolican on the StarTribune website here.