With over 65,000 individual contributors and more than 1,500 volunteers, Phillips’s campaign is powered with the help of Democrats, independents and Republicans coming together to spark conversations and elect Dean Phillips this November.
Dallas is as Third District as you can get, having lived here his entire life. So he has been able to see the stark difference between Erik Paulsen’s quotes, and Erik Paulsen’s votes. He’s excited to help elect Dean to bring frank, responsive representation back to the Third District.
Republicans left middle-class families behind with a tax scam aimed at making the rich richer.
Credit: Greg Nash
Mountains of evidence continue to expose the the Republican tax scam as terrible deal for working-class families but a boon for rich corporations.
Case in point: Some 99 percent of companies said the tax scam was not prompting them to increase minimum wages for employees, according to Aon, a human resources consulting firm.
Aon’s survey of 1,000 companies was reported by the Wall Street Journal, and is consistent with other surveys of how companies are using the massive giveaway orchestrated by Trump and Republicans in Congress.
“Wall” is a metaphor for Paulsen’s record of serving party leaders over constituents
Excelsior, MN – Dean Phillips released a new TV ad today, highlighting Congressman Erik Paulsen’s highly partisan voting record and refusal to listen to the people he was elected to represent. In the ad, entitled “Wall,” Phillips is seen sitting in front of a larger than life concrete mural of Paulsen, a striking metaphor for the Congressman’s inaccessibility and partisanship.
Erik Paulsen has sought to paint himself as a bipartisan moderate who will break from party leadership when his district demands it, but the facts show otherwise. “Wall” notes the Congressman’s votes against common sense gun reforms, which recently earned an “A” rating from the NRA (up from an A- in 2016), and the fact that he has voted with the Trump Agenda 98% of the time in Congress, despite President Trump receiving just 41% of the vote in this district two years ago.
“As countless voters are now recognizing, Erik Paulsen’s quotes do not match his votes,” said Zach Rodvold, campaign manager for Phillips for Congress. “Congressman Paulsen talks about standing up to President Trump yet he votes with him 98% of the time. He says he’s seeking ‘solutions’ to our gun violence epidemic yet he’s consistently voted against common sense gun violence prevention measures, earning him the NRA’s highest grade. And while he claims to be an independent voice, Erik Paulsen is the fifth largest recipient of special interest money out of 435 members of Congress. At a minimum, Minnesotans deserve honesty, and they’re not getting that from Erik Paulsen.”
Phillips is committed to being an independent voice for Minnesota, and refuses all campaign contributions from special interests, PACs, federal lobbyists, and members of Congress. Instead, he is running a people-powered race with more than 120 public events and over 65,000 individual contributors to date.
Phillips offers mechanism to protect voters in similar way to how we protect consumers
Excelsior, MN – Congressman Erik Paulsen and the special interest groups supporting his campaign are spending at least $8 million on a coordinated disinformation campaign targeting voters in Minnesota’s 3rd District. Paulsen for Congress, the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), and the Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF) have all been called out by local news organizations for spreading false and misleading claims. Today, Politifact confirmed that the ads are distorted, out of context, and mostly false. Still, Paulsen for Congress, NRCC and CLF continue to fill the airwaves with little regard for the truth.
In response, Dean Phillips’s campaign for Congress today formally challenged the false NRCC and CLF ads, issued a letter to Congressman Paulsen correcting his false claims so that he can correct his ads accordingly, and offered a new idea to protect voters from the kind of lies and political distortions that are pervasive on the airwaves right now.
Because the Supreme Court has determined that First Amendment protections of free speech extend to political speech regardless of whether it is true or not, Phillips announced his proposal to establish a national Truth in Political Advertising program whereby political campaigns could voluntarily submit advertisements to an independent, nonpartisan fact-checking organization for verification of claims made. If verified, the advertisement would receive a Truth in Political Advertising Seal of Approval, which could be displayed in the ad. Continue reading “Phillips Calls for New “Truth in Political Advertising” Effort, Challenges False Ads”
Erik Paulsen has repeatedly maintained, “I do what’s right for my constituents regardless of who donates to me.”
And, receive donations, he does: Paulsen ranks sixth of 435 U.S. representatives for the amount of money he receives from PACs: over $2 million. Is it really possible that Paulsen is unaffected by this money?
As a nurse practitioner who prescribes drugs, Minnesota law prohibits me from taking more than $50 annually from any pharmaceutical or other such company. Why? Because research consistently shows that I would likely be influenced by any gift provided me. A 2017 study found that professionals who received gifts from pharmaceutical companies not only prescribe more drugs, but more costly ones, compared to those who did not receive gifts. A big difference in my case: Any company who might gift me with a meal, an education credit, a book a pen or other, is not able to track if I am actually prescribing the drug they are promoting. Continue reading “Big Pharma has hand in election”
Paulsen repeats already-debunked lies and comes up with new ones, too
EXCELSIOR, MN – Throughout the course of today’s Third District Congressional debate between businessman Dean Phillips and Congressman Erik Paulsen, Paulsen doubled-down on claims that are verifiably false, repeatedly standing by the negativity and dishonest attacks that have defined his campaign – and even adding new false claims to the mix.
Phillips, by contrast, offered voters a new way forward, pointing to his more than 65,000 individual contributors, 1,500 volunteers and supporters from across the political spectrum, all working together to end the culture of corruption in Washington and restore decency and truth to our political discourse.
Here are just some of the falsehoods uttered by Erik Paulsen in the hour-long debate:
Q. What difference does it make whether or not Phillips provided healthcare to his employees?
PAULSEN: “It’s an area where Dean has been a hypocrite. It’s been fact-checked by WCCO and Kare 11. He said healthcare is a moral right but didn’t provide it. It was a lie. That was fact checked. We’re pointing that out.”
THE TRUTH: KARE11 and WCCO did fact-check Paulsen’s claims that Phillips doesn’t provide healthcare to his full-time employees. And both networks said those claims were FALSE.
WCCO TV and KARE 11 both called Paulsen claims on healthcare FALSE
Credit: Pedro J. Perez via Morguefile.com
Excelsior, MN – In the third debate of the campaign for Congress in Minnesota’s third district, Congressman Erik Paulsen continued to promote claims called false and misleading by local independent fact checkers, saying instead that those fact checks backed up his claims.
WCCO TV noted that Congressman Paulsen’s campaign took their own assessment out of context in an effort to mislead voters. Pat Kessler: “Paulsen is trying to make it seem like Phillips doesn’t give his workers healthcare. That’s FALSE.”
WCCO TV included the following facts to clear up Congressman Paulsen’s lie:
