Shocker: U.S. Chamber of Commerce Ad False, Pulled from Stations

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has pledged to spend an ungodly amount of money in an attempt to finish the GOP’s efforts to wreck the national economy, upped the lies in its typical campaign ads.

Tough luck though for the Chamber of Economic Horrors in Pennsylvania, though, as false ads running against U.S. Senate candidate Joe Sestak were yanked.

It’s a typical distortion from the Chamber — whether it’s the national gaggle of rich corporatists, or their lackeys here at Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce.

We have endured their sleaze before and as we’ve documented at One Wisconsin Now’s WMC Watch, they can’t even tell the truth when they are trying tout their own corporate servants, such as disgraceful Supreme Court Justice Mike Gableman.

In 2008, WMC claimed in its ads Gableman had gone “toe to toe” with criminals and prosecuted “crimes like arson, sexual assault, domestic violence and white collar crimes.”

Turns out, as the Ashland County District Attorney, Gableman was the lead prosecutor on just six cases and four of them he lost. Gableman only prosecuted one arson case in his entire career and the result was an Order of Acquittal. According to WISC-TV, only one of the 19 felony child abuse cases he had was actually sentenced to prison time.

That wasn’t nearly enough for WMC, which ran negative ads attacking the record and credentials of then-incumbent Justice Louis Butler. WMC’s twisting a number of cases in which Butler was involved were roundly criticized. The ads were blasted by non-partisan watchdogs and media from across the state and even made national news.

The ads were described as “false” and “misleading” and even a “deceptive attack upon Wisconsin’s tradition of fair and impartial courts.” One watchdog suggested WMC’s lawyers may have violated the Wisconsin Rules of Professional Conduct and the Attorney’s Oath for “epithets” directed at Butler.

Now with the November elections approaching, WMC’s partner at the American Justice Partnership, a group whose mission is to reduce public accountability for harms caused by corporations, has already spent hundreds of thousands of dollars touting Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker.

Walker, of course, has offered a $2 billion tax cut plan for corporations and the wealthy that he refuses to tell us how he’ll pay for — and what from education, health care, police and fire protection would be slashed as result of his pro-corporate tax scheme.