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.
Pocketbook issues were put to the test last week by PolitiFact and PolitiFact Georgia.
We truth-tested a claim by a Republican congressional candidate from Rhode Island about the high cost of college tuition. And we looked at Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed’s statement about the city’s infrastructure needs.
We also fact-checked U.S. Senate candidate David Perdue’s claim that only about 10 of the nation’s 100 U.S. senators have real business experience.
And we looked at Reed’s record on campaign promises.
Full versions of our fact checks can be found at www.politifact.com/georgia/.
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Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed: “The minimum number of infrastructure (needs) in Atlanta is $900 million.”
Atlanta officials are making plans for a March referendum on using up to $25 million to begin whittling away at a long list of city infrastructure needs.
No specific project list has been finalized.
But Reed has said there’s plenty of work waiting. He told reporters at a July 29 press conference that there’s at least $900 million in work that needs to be done to roads, bridges and buildings.
We found that his estimate is accurate, if on the conservative side. Higher estimates exist.
We rated Reed’s statement as True.
Republican U.S. Senate candidate David Perdue: “There are only about 10 people in the United States Senate who have any real business experience.”
Perdue has been running as a successful businessman who knows how to balance a budget and create jobs. He claimed at a recent appearance in Middle Georgia that one of the problems with the Senate is its void of people with similar experience.
When members of the current U.S. Senate were asked their occupation, 27 out of 100 listed “business.” That’s a pretty generic term. And in survey by Roll Call, some said “business” was just one of their occupations.
Perdue spokesman Derrick Dickey said the campaign staff researched the background of all 100 senators and concluded “about 10” were business people. They set the bar high — only business people who run a corporation or have some responsibility for the profit/loss bottom line. His overarching point is true — at best, about one-fourth of members of the Senate are business people, and at worst it’s one in 10. Either way, business people make up a minority of the Senate.
We rated Perdue’s statement as True.
Facebook posts: “In 1978, a student who worked a minimum-wage summer job could afford to pay a year’s full tuition at the 4-year public university of their choice.”
Wonder why that wallet feels thin, that bank account small?
In 1978, the minimum wage was $2.65, and a summer job running 40 hours for 13 weeks would raise $1,378.
College tuition and fees (in that year’s dollars, not adjusted for inflation) was $688 for in-state residents attending a four-year, public university, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. That makes the meme posted Aug. 7 correct, except for a few caveats:
If you use the national average, the figure is correct. The only problem is the part of the meme mentions a university “of their choice.” The data are correct for in-state tuition — not for any university in the country, where out-of-state rates may well have kicked up the tuition amount beyond a summer’s minimum-wage haul.
On balance, we rated the Facebook posts Mostly True.
City of Atlanta press release: Mayor Kasim Reed has kept every promise he made as a candidate.
Reed claims to have kept every one of his 2009 campaign promises. There’s no official list of those promises, but the July 15 press release counts among them the reopening of the city’s recreation centers, a city pension overhaul, a commitment to a 2,000-member police force and a commitment to keep property taxes at the same level.
We checked those claims and found all were achieved or in progress. We also found employee overtime is down 88 percent since 2009.
In the absence of a firm list to check off, we found the pledges big and small at least in process, if not done.
We rated Reed’s statement Mostly True.
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