PolitiFact Georgia and the AJC Truth-O-Meter last week checked out claims about crime, the federal budget and employee pay.
We ventured a little outside our jurisdiction to review a statement by South Carolina congressional candidate Elizabeth Colbert Busch and the pay gap between men and women in her state. We also examined a claim by frequent commenter and U.S. Rep Paul Broun about his U.S. House colleague-turned-U.S. Senate seat challenger Phil Gingrey.
And because all work and no play makes the AJC Truth-O-Meter a dull fact checker, we watched a little old-time TV to research whether a small Georgia town could best fictional Mayberry’s low crime rate.
Abbreviated versions of our fact checks are below, and full versions can be found at: www.politifact.com/georgia/.
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B. Heath Mitchell: The city of Nelson, Ga., is “quieter than Mayberry.”
In discussing Nelson and his support of the new law that requires the head of every household to own a gun and bullets, Mitchell, the city’s police chief, noted that it was a place full of good, law-abiding folks.
Both small towns have limited crime and a limited police presence. Nelson is such a small town (its population is about 1,300, less than Mayberry’s 5,300) that its crime statistics are not reported by the FBI or GBI. “The Andy Griffith Show” didn’t detail crime stats, but the town was noted in one episode for having the lowest crime rate in the state for three years running.
One major difference in the towns: Mayberry’s officers made a point of fighting crime with words, not guns. Andy didn’t even carry one. Nelson’s leaders opted for an entirely different style of governance by requiring each head of household to own a firearm and bullets.
Many small cities with low crime, such as Nelson, liken themselves to Mayberry. But living up to the extremely high standards set by that fictitious town is almost impossible.
We rated Mitchell’s claim Half True.
U.S. Rep. Paul Broun: “In the last two years, I have supported and proposed $155 billion worth of targeting cuts. Dr. Gingrey has presented zero.”
Broun, an Athens-area Republican, made this claim last month against U.S. Rep. Phil Gingrey of Marietta, who is challenging him for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Republican Saxby Chambliss. Broun made the statement to the University of Georgia College Republicans on the same day Gingrey announced his run for the Senate seat.
We believe the first part of Broun’s claim about his own legislative budget-cutting record was on the money. But the second part about Gingrey’s record needs more context to be fully understood.
Broun was referring to the House appropriations and re-authorization processes, but the House Appropriations Committee only accepts legislation on federal discretionary spending from committee members. Although Gingrey is not a member of the committee, he has proposed legislation aimed at cutting discretionary spending.
We rated Broun’s claim Half True.
Elizabeth Colbert Busch: In South Carolina, women earn 76 cents on the dollar to men’s earnings.
Colbert Busch, the Democratic candidate in South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District, made this claim in a news release last week on Equal Pay Day to push for pay equality and an end to gender discrimination in the workplace. (She also used the release to call out her challenger, former Gov. Mark Sanford, for his poor reputation with women.)
PolitiFact has examined similar wage gap claims several times over the past couple of years. Each time, we have noted that some studies reporting the larger wage gaps do not take into account several variables that have an impact on pay, including types of occupations, the age of the employee, education and training, hours worked, and duration on the job.
That is the case with the claim made by Colbert Busch. She is correct about the wage gap, but making such a blanket statement without the context of the qualifiers is disingenuous.
And most studies indicate the gap tends to diminish when other factors are considered. The statement is accurate, but it leaves out substantial context that would give the reader a different impression.
We rated Colbert Busch’s claim Half True.
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