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.
PolitiFact and the AJC Truth-O-Meter went into overdrive last week, checking claims in the closely watched races for Georgia governor and U.S. senator.
We looked at Republicans’ claim that Jason Carter, the Democratic nominee for governor, is out criticizing incumbent Nathan Deal on education when Carter voted for three of Deal’s budgets.
Democrats faced our truth-checkers with their latest claim about the corporate track record of David Perdue, the GOP candidate for the U.S. Senate.
Want to to comment on our rulings or suggest one of your own? Just go to our Facebook page (
). You can also follow us on Twitter (
).
Abbreviated versions of our fact checks are below.
Full versions can be found at www.politifact.com/georgia/.
—
Democratic Party of Georgia on Monday, July 28, 2014, in a press release: Says David Perdue made tens of millions of dollars piling a firm with billions in debt
Michael Smith, a spokesman for state Democrats, said separate SEC filings show Dollar General’s debt grew by $3.8 billion in Perdue’s four years as company CEO.
But the debt came from a leveraged buyout, when Perdue successfully persuaded the board of directors for Dollar General to be acquired by private equity firm KKR for $7.3 billion.
As with all leveraged buyouts, it was KKR as the buyer, not Dollar General as the seller, that financed the deal — and the debt.
Perdue acknowledges making $42 million over two years when KKR bought out his contract as part of the deal.
The claim mischaracterized how leveraged buyouts work, putting the buyer in debt instead of the seller. Perdue also could not act unilaterally to sell the firm but needed his board and shareholders to agree.
We rated the state Democratic Party’s claim Mostly False.
—
John Padgett on Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2014, in a press release: Jason Carter backed three of Nathan Deal’s budgets but accuses the governor of “underfunding education.”
Austerity cuts to education started in 2003 under Gov. Sonny Perdue and are dogging Republican incumbent Nathan Deal and Democratic challenger Jason Carter in this year’s governor’s race.
The cuts were more than $1 billion a year in Deal’s 2012, 2013 and 2014 budgets and $747 million in the spending plan he pushed through for the current fiscal year.
Carter has accused Deal of working to dismantle public education, in part, with the austerity cuts.
Carter voted for the three budgets that each had $1 billion-plus in austerity cuts and against the 2015 budget, which had the smallest austerity cut since 2009.
Carter said he couldn’t support the 2015 budget because of the education austerity cuts. He wouldn’t explain his votes in favor of the earlier Deal budgets with larger cuts in school funding.
We rated the statement by GOP Chairman John Padgett as True.
—
Democratic Party of Georgia press release, July 28, 2014: David Perdue led efforts to ship thousands of jobs overseas.
Michael Smith, a spokesman for the state Democratic Party, says he makes the claim based on David Perdue’s leadership roles at Sara Lee, Haggar Clothing Co. and Pillowtex.
“It’s how he spent his career, looking to manufacture goods abroad instead of in the United States,” Smith said. “That was his management style.”
In an interview with PolitiFact, Perdue acknowledges that some of his employers, and other firms, have developed a so-called “diversified matrix” that calls for shifting some operations overseas in a bid to save money – and American jobs.
It’s nearly impossible to prove, or disprove, the number of lost jobs at Perdue’s firms that went aboard. Undoubtedly, records and news coverage show some job shift did occur.
Perdue admits he would have sent jobs at Pillowtex — potentially thousands of them — overseas before a free fall pre-empted his plans and shut down that firm for good.
There is a lot of nuance to the accuracy of the general premise of jobs going overseas.
We rated the claim by the Georgia Democratic Party Half True.
About the Author
