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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.
The election season is now in full post-Labor Day bloom in Georgia.
Last week PolitiFact Georgia checked claims from 10th Congressional District candidate Jody Hice and U.S. Senate candidate Michelle Nunn. And for variety, we looked at a social media claim that attempted to pour cold water on a popular fundraising gimmick to fight ALS.
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Abbreviated versions of our fact checks are below.
Full versions can be found at www.politifact.com/georgia/
GOP congressional candidate Jody Hice:
Thomas Jefferson said, “That government is best which governs the least, because its people discipline themselves.”
Pundits expect the heavily Republican swath of exurbs and rural land in the northeast corner of Georgia that comprise the 10th Congressional District to pick Hice over Democratic attorney Ken Dious come November.
Hice has showcased what he calls his constitutional conservatism via quotes from political idol Thomas Jefferson on Hice’s Facebook and Twitter pages.
“That government is best which governs the least, because its people discipline themselves,” reads the quote attributed to Jefferson, over the image of a waving American flag.
A reader asked PolitiFact Georgia to check out the quote. So we did.
The fake Jefferson quote posted by Hice is a common mistake that was first incorrectly attributed to Jefferson in 1853. Historians long attributed the quote to Henry David Thoreau, who used a variation of it in his 1849 essay “Civil Disobedience” to argue that individuals should not let governments make them agents of injustice.
We rated Hice’s claim False.
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Michelle Nunn ad:
In Georgia, (David) Perdue’s company closed plants and moved jobs to China.
Nunn took aim at Republican David Perdue in an attack ad, criticizing her opponent’s experience.
“In Georgia, Perdue’s company closed plants and moved jobs to China,” the ad says.
Given the winner of the Senate race will help decide which party will control the congressional chamber, PolitiFact Georgia decided to drill down on the claim.
Nunn’s claim is carefully worded to say Perdue’s company, not the candidate himself, was shutting Georgia textile plants at a time it was adding jobs in Asia.
News reports and company filings back up the claim.
We rated Nunn’s claim True.
Bloggers:
“Over 73% of all donations raised (from the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge) are going to fundraising, overhead, executive salaries, and external donations.”
By now, there are very few Americans who haven’t heard of the “ALS Ice Bucket Challenge” — this summer’s social media-driven campaign to dump ice water on your head as a way of raising awareness of the neuromuscular disease ALS and promoting donations to the ALS Association, which funds medical research and support programs for those who have the disease.
The effort has led to at least $94 million in donations to the ALS Association — a jolt of extra funding for a group that last year spent a comparatively modest $26 million.
A blog called politicalears.com posted an article stating that the Ice Bucket Challenge was a “fraud” because most of the money was being spent on administration and overhead.
A key excerpt from the Aug. 28 blog post: “Ice bucket fraud: ALS Foundation admits that 73% of donations are not used for ALS research.”
Whether purposely or by incompetence, the anonymous blogger misreported the ALS Association’s figures. In reality, nearly 79 percent of the ALS Association’s expenditures were for purposes that advance its stated mission. Fundraising, overhead and executive salaries account for no more than 21 percent.
We rated the claim Pants On Fire.
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