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How does PolitiFact Georgia’s Truth-O-Meter work?
Our goal is to help you find the truth in American politics. Reporters from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution fact-check statements by local, state and national political leaders, including lobbyists and interest groups. We then rate them on the AJC Truth-O-Meter.
To fact-check a claim, reporters first contact the speaker to verify the statement. Next, the research begins. Reporters consult a variety of sources, including industry and academic experts. This research can take hours or a few days or even longer, depending on the claim. Reporters then compile the research into story form and include a recommended Truth-O-Meter ruling.
The fact check then moves on to a panel of veteran editors who debate the statement and the reporter’s recommended Truth-O-Meter ruling. The panel votes on a final ruling; majority prevails.
Prime-time Republicans Rand Paul and Rick Santorum took spins on the AJC Truth-O-Meter last week.
Paul landed there with claims he made about the national debt while announcing as a 2016 presidential candidate. Santorum, who is also eyeing a bid for the presidency, hit the meter with a claim that the GOP needs to focus on the 90 percent of Americans who don’t own their own businesses.
Fact-checkers also looked at statements by Gov. Nathan Deal that K-12 education was receiving a $1 billion infusion of additional money in two budget cycles. And we checked claims by a Savannah leader that a $5-a-night hotel/motel fee to help fund transportation would hurt the state’s tourism industry.
Abbreviated versions of our fact checks are below. Full versions can be found at www.politifact.com/georgia/.
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Michael Owens in news reports on April 1, 2015
A $5 a night hotel-motel tax that’s part of the transportation bill will hurt Georgia’s convention business by adding extra costs for large groups coming to the state.
As part of the proposed transportation bill, there’s a plan to add a $5-a-night fee on hotel and motel stays in Georgia, starting July 1.
The hospitality industry opposed that last-minute provision in the bill, which would raise part of the $900 million for needed transportation projects.
Michael T. Owens, President and CEO of the Tourism Leadership Council in Savannah, told GPB that the charge would have a “serious effect” in that tourist hot-spot and statewide.
“We absolutely expect to see cancellations of major, major groups,” he said.
PolitiFact Georgia can’t predict the future. But we did fact-check claims that the fee would add tens of thousands of dollars in costs for large groups.
Hotels could absorb the new tax. But new costs generally get passed along to customers. Owens’ overall point is legitimate.
The $5 per-night fee is an increase that most likely will add extra costs for large groups coming to the state.
We rated Owens’ statement Mostly True.
Nathan Deal on Wednesday, January 14th, 2015 in his State of the State address
This year’s state budget and my spending proposal for Fiscal Year 2016 represent an infusion of more than $1 billion in additional money for K-12 education.
Gov. Nathan Deal has promised financially strapped local school districts that better days are ahead.
He started down that road last year. When running for re-election, he won legislative approval of a 2015 state budget that reduced the education austerity cut to $747 million, the lowest since 2009.
In his latest State of the State address, Deal said public education remains a budget priority.
“This year’s budget, coupled with my proposal for next year’s budget, represents an infusion of over one billion additional dollars for K-12 education,” he told a joint session of the state House and Senate on Jan. 14.
The budget to K-12 education did grow by $1 billion in two budget cycles. But the majority of the additional money is going to reduce austerity cuts from $1 billion down to about $460 million and to cover routine student enrollment growth.
That was important context the reader needed to know.
We rated Deal’s statement as Half True.
Rick Santorum on Sunday, April 5th, 2015 in an interview on “Face the Nation.”
“Ninety percent of American workers don’t own their own business.”
Rick Santorum, a potential candidate for president in 2016, argues that the Republicans should focus more on people working for businesses than people who own businesses, if only because of simple math.
“I’ve made the central focus of what I’ve been out talking about the fact that 90 percent of American workers don’t own their own business,” Santorum said on CBS’s Face the Nation on April 5, 2015.
We wanted to know whether Santorum was correct. Do 90 percent of working Americans not own their own business.
Santorum’s organization, Patriot Voices, sent us a link to a policy brief, “The Causes of Racial Disparities in Business Performance,” from the National Poverty Center. This 2008 article mentions in its introduction, “Roughly 1 in 10 workers owns a business.” which are “13 million business owners.”
The most recent census U.S. Census report, Survey of Business Owners, estimated the number of business owners as 20.4 million in 2007. According to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics the labor force in 2007 was about 153 million people. So there were around 13.3 percent business owners, a little higher than Santorum’s source.
Several sources show that Santorum’s number is close. However, there are different ways to count whether someone owns a business or not, and so the percentages are approximate.
We rated Santorum’s statement Mostly True.
Rand Paul on Tuesday, April 7th, 2015 in announcing his presidential campaign
“Debt doubled” under Bush “and now it’s tripling under Barack Obama’s watch.”
Both Republicans and Democrats share the blame for America’s increasing debt, said Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., in a speech announcing his presidential campaign April 7.
“Big government and debt doubled under a Republican administration,” Paul said. “And it’s now tripling under Barack Obama’s watch.”
Quite a few readers asked us if the debt has tripled since Obama took office in January 2009. We took a look at the numbers, and it hasn’t. It’s increased about 1.7 times.
This statement is confusing. A person could easily interpret it to mean that debt has tripled since Obama took office — which would be incorrect. Paul, on the other hand, said that it means debt today, under Obama, is triple what it was when Bush’s term started.
Indeed, today’s national debt is about triple what it was in January 2001, when Bush took office. It’s also worth noting that many factors other than a particular president’s policies affect the national debt.
From one not-so-obvious angle, Paul’s numbers are correct. But the statement could so easily be interpreted in another, less accurate way.
We rated it Half True.
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