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October 9, 2006

I'm Bob Corker, And I Approve This Lie

I must admit that I never intended this to become a political blog. But when a corrupt ex-mayor of my town starts lying through his teeth in an attempt to secure a seat in the US Senate, well, it makes me very upset. Upset enough to blog about.

Two of Bob Corker's latest TV commercials really have me peeved.

COMMERCIAL #1

In this commercial a large group of people "from Chattanooga" talk about what a great mayor Corker was. Trouble is, many of the people in this commercial claiming to be from Chattanooga are from other cities and towns.

Some of the people praising Republican Senate candidate Bob Corker for the job he did as mayor of Chattanooga in TV ads don't live in that city.

"We're from Chattanooga," one woman says in the commercial, as the camera pans across a group of about 60 people.

The Corker campaign confirmed Wednesday that not all those people live in Chattanooga or voted for Corker when he was elected mayor in 2001.

The most recent ad, which began airing Friday, praises Corker for lowering the city's property taxes and crime rate. A similar ad, featuring the same people, ran before the Republican primary in August.

"Bob was a great mayor, the best Chattanooga ever had. We live in Chattanooga -- we know," several people say in the earlier ad.

The Corker campaign, which paid for the ads, would not confirm the exact number of people in the commercial who were not from Chattanooga.

"All of the speakers in the ad are from the Chattanooga metropolitan area and are actively involved in the civic life in Chattanooga," Corker spokesman Todd Womack told The Associated Press.

Patti Frierson lives in Lookout Mountain, Tenn., a small but separate town near Chattanooga with its own mayor and town council.

"Bob was a great mayor," Frierson says in the advertisement.

Frierson, who has lived in Lookout Mountain since 1995, said she was involved in Chattanooga's civic life during Corker's term in office, even though she didn't pay city property taxes.

She served as chairwoman of the Creative Discovery Museum in downtown Chattanooga and worked on the city's waterfront development campaign, which was coordinated by Corker as mayor.

"To say people who live right outside of Chattanooga don't benefit from what he did while he was mayor is really parsing words to me," she said. "I never even thought twice about saying I live in Chattanooga."

Ann Weeks, whose current address is also in Lookout Mountain, speaks in the TV ad. Her business is located in Chattanooga, and she has been the head of redevelopment efforts in Chattanooga's southside. Weeks did not return a phone message left at her listed phone number.

The ad also features Carol Downs, who lives in Signal Mountain, another small, independent town near Chattanooga. Downs did not return a message left at her listed phone number.
[WSMV]

No. Saying you "Are from Chattanooga" when you are not is not "Parsing words," it's lying. Plus this ad credits Corker for a 51% decrease in violent crime, a figure that seems to have no foundation or evidence to support it (we'll get to this in the next commercial).


COMMERCIAL #2

This commercial features Bob Corker flat-out lying to his mother about reducing violent crime in Chattanooga during his term as mayor.

First off... If your candidate is barely 5 feet tall and has the voice of an pre-adolescent cartoon character, maybe showing him snuggling up on the porch with his mommy isn't your best option. Especially right after his opponent just made headlines statewide by calling him a "wimp." This ad screams "momma's boy."

Plus... The script makes no sense. Mom says, "Is there any politician who thinks we need to be weak on crime?" And Bob says, "50%."

These are Corker's first words in the commercial I guess I'm supposed to be intrigued by this non sequitor so I'll pay attention to what he says next. Instead I'm busy wondering:

1) Why Mom is defending Harold Ford, Jr., by demanding her own son acknowledge that every politician thinks we need to be tough on crime?

2) Why, right after we hear the words "weak on crime," is our attention immediately directed to Corker?

3) How viciously is factcheck.org is going smack Corker's ass for this totally bogus lie? And are the local newspaper/TV stations going to smack him around as well?

Here's the thing: "50%" is how much Corker claims he slashed violent crime while mayor of Chattanooga. There is nothing to back this up. He pulled this number out of his ass. Here are the facts:

1. The FBI, the TBI, and the Chattanooga Police Department all keep statistics on violent crime. None of them indicate a 50% drop in violent crime during Corker's term, so where do Corker's numbers come from? Only his proctologist knows for sure.

2. Violent crime in Chattanooga was 2.11 times the national average during Corker's term. In other words, the people of Chattanooga were twice as likely to be victims of violent crime as the average American.

3. In 2004 (Corker's last full year in office), the U.S. Justice Department called Chattanooga "one of the hottest zones of criminal activity" in the country. ATF agents compiled a list of the "worst of the worst" violent offenders in Chattanooga, but the city failed to arrest even half of them.

4. Rapes, sex crimes, and drug crimes all rose more than 20 percent during Mayor Corker's tenure, according to the TBI.

5. Bob Corker froze the pay of Chattanooga police and firefighters, even while he took three pay raises himself.

6. Although there was a significant (but not anywhere near 50%) drop in violent crime in Chattanooga under Bob Corker, the numbers were climbing back up again by 2004, his last full year in office.
[Daily Kos]

If Corker really was serious about reducing violent crime, why did 14.9% of 911 calls in Chattanooga in 2004 go unanswered? One out of every seven 911 calls went unanswered in 2004 under Corker's leadership. The Chattanooga Times Free Press quoted the city's former police chief Jimmie Dotson as saying, "I asked for communications officers in every budget, especially under the Corker administration, and each time it was denied. . . . (We) spent many, many, many hours battling the Corker administration asking for communications officers." [Factcheck.org] If Corker really wanted to do something about violent crime in Chattanooga, then why not do something simple...like hire more communication officers and make them answer the phone when someone calls to report a burglary, or an assault, or a rape, or a murder, or a drug deal, or a shooting?

| By Joshua Daniels | 2:32 PM