Paulsen’s unprecedented negative attacks have been condemned by sexual harassment survivors, local business leaders and area voters alike
EXCELSIOR, MN – Yesterday, Erik Paulsen released two more ads funded largely by special interest contributions to his campaign. The first was released online by his campaign and touted as Paulsen’s closing argument, representing just the second positive ad from Paulsen this cycle. True to form, however, Paulsen also released yet another dishonest and negative attack ad at the same time, which is the one currently airing widely on broadcast TV.
Paulsen has taken the fourth most special interest money of anyone in Congress, and used the money to run a dishonest and shockingly negative campaign that has been called inappropriate, reckless, false, distorted, not even in the same time zone as truth, extremely misleading, just plain false, and wildly out of context by independent journalists, community leaders, sexual harassment survivors, and Democrats, independents, and Republicans alike.
“Now that he is in the race of his life, voters are getting to know the real Erik Paulsen — and they don’t like what they’re seeing,” said Zach Rodvold, campaign manager for Phillips for Congress. “A last-ditch Hail Mary to try to convince voters he’s still the nice guy won’t be enough to cover up Erik Paulsen’s brazenly dishonest and shockingly negative campaign. The fact is that Congressman Paulsen has voted with Trump 98% of the time, wrote a tax bill that will give 83% of its benefits to the top 1%, and has taken the fourth most special interest money of anyone in Congress. No amount of personal attacks or objectively false claims can cover up a record like that.”
In recent days, Paulsen has been singled out by the Washington Post for lying about his votes to gut protections for pre-existing conditions — which he refused to correct even after being provided with the facts — and by PolitiFact, the latest independent fact-checker to find one of Paulsen’s special interest-funded ads to be FALSE. And in response to one of his new ads naming Sen. Amy Klobuchar, she corrected the record, saying in a tweet yesterday, “I saw an Erik Paulsen paid political ad that once again uses my name. To be clear: I support Dean Phillips for Congress in the Third District!”
In addition to being personally responsible for a tsunami of objectively false and negative advertising, Congressman Paulsen has been called out for lying in debates and exploiting sexual harassment survivors for his own political gain.
Meanwhile, Dean Phillips announced endorsements from former Republican Senator Durenberger and former Republican Governor Arne Carlson this week. They join the thousands of Paulsen’s constituents who have voted for him in the past but are now supporting Dean Phillips this year. A recent KSTP SurveyUSA Poll showed that 17% of people who voted for Erik Paulsen in 2016 plan to vote for Dean Phillips in 2018.