PolitiFact: Roundup for past week

To fact-check the 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 a few hours or a few days, 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 three-member panel of editors who debate the statement and the reporter’s recommended Truth-O-Meter ruling. The panel votes on a final ruling; majority prevails.

This past week, PolitiFact Georgia and the AJC Truth-O-Meter tackled claims involving all three levels of government.

On the local level, we investigated raises for the mayor and city council members in a Gwinnett County city, to determine whether the pay was in line with other similarly sized cities. We reviewed a claim about the number of Democrats on the ballot running for statewide office over the past 100 years. We also examined a claim about the possible savings the federal government could achieve by replacing $1 bills with $1 coins.

Abbreviated versions of our fact checks are below, and full versions can be found at: www.politifact.com/georgia/.

To comment on our rulings or suggest one of your own, go to our Facebook page (

). You can also find us on Twitter (

).

—————-

Norcross City Council: The proposed raises for the Norcross City Council would put it in line with other like-sized communities.

Norcross City Council members recently voted to increase the pay for their positions from $5,400 a year to $8,100. The mayor’s pay will rise from $6,900 a year to $10,350. The increases will take effect in January, two months after the next municipal election.

In a television news report last month, the city’s mayor repeated this claim initially made by a council member in defense of the pay hikes.

We narrowed our search to cities with similar populations and then, with elected officials who are considered part-time workers.

If you consider the average salaries for 10 similarly sized cities, Norcross officials would still make less than their counterparts. If you examine each of those cities separately, the Norcross officials would make more in some cases and less in other instances.

From what we’ve reviewed, Norcross has a pretty good argument here. The council will be in the middle of other like-sized communities concerning pay.

We rated the council’s claim True.

————————

Better Georgia executive director Bryan Long: Fewer Democrats were on the Georgia general election ballot in 2012 than in more than 100 years.

The Democratic Party of Georgia is going through tough times right now, with its leader, Mike Berlon, involved in a tangle of professional problems, including having his law license suspended.

During a panel discussion in April about the party’s methods for selecting candidates, Long criticized Berlon’s recommendation of supporting a single candidate in some races to allow for uncontested primaries.

His claim about the number of Democrats on the 2012 ballot being the fewest in 100 years was correct for the data he provided going back seven elections to 2000. We reviewed secretary of state elections data for years prior to that and found his claim true through 1998. State historical data validated his claim through 1966. Data before that year was not available.

Long’s overall point that 2012 was a light year for Democrats was correct. But he did not provide enough data to support his claim, and that data that does exist does not extend back enough years. A lot of context — and years — are missing from his statement.

We rated his claim Half True.

———————-

Former Georgia Rep. Charlie Smith: The federal government could save $500 million annually by circulating $1 coins instead of $1 bills.

Smith, an attorney and former legislative floor leader for then-Gov. Roy Barnes, has been crusading to replace $1 bills with $1 coins for years. The move could save the government millions of dollars, he told a South Georgia newspaper last month.

Smith cited one federal study, published in 2000, that said the savings of the currency switch could reach the half billion dollar figure. But studies since then have estimated the savings at much lower amounts. The most recent information, published November 2012 by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, estimates the annual savings at about $150 million.

Supporters of the $1 coins disagree with the later studies and lower savings estimates. Still, one of the main hurdles to actually achieving the savings is getting people to use the coins. The Federal Reserve has $1.4 billion of them sitting in vaults.

Smith’s main point about the potential savings for the federal government was correct, but he cherry-picked the study with the largest amount of savings.

We rated Smith’s claim Half True.