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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 buzz in political circles last week was still the presidential race and the first GOP debate.
PolitiFact looked at Mike Huckabee’s statement on Social Security and John Kasich’s suggestion that he’s one of the chief architects of balancing the federal budget. Our fact-checkers also took a long look at Georgia House Speaker David Ralston’s claim that legal scholars are divided over whether the First Amendment to the Constitution will continue to protect pastors who, based on their religious beliefs, refuse to perform same sex marriages.
Abbreviated versions of our fact checks are below.
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Full versions can be found at www.politifact.com/georgia/.
David Ralston on Monday, July 13th, 2015 in an interview
There is debate among constitutional scholars about whether the First Amendment will continue to protect faith leaders from being forced to perform marriages against their religious beliefs.
Within weeks of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling legalizing same sex marriage, Georgia House Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, announced he’ll be pursuing passage next year of a “pastor protection” bill.
The bill will spell out that faith leaders cannot be required to perform a marriage that goes against their religious beliefs, Ralston said.
Since the high court ruling, faith leaders have been uneasy, he said. The wonder: Will they still be protected under the religious freedoms provisions in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution?
“In Georgia, we’re going to come down clearly on the side of the separation of church and state, and as long as you have constitutional scholars debating among themselves whether this is covered, then I think we need to remove all uncertainty and all doubt.” Ralston said.
PolitiFact decided to check. Was there such a debate among scholars.
We talked to constitutional law experts across the country, all of whom said, “No.”
“The Supreme Court has never said otherwise, and nothing in the same-sex marriage decision is to the contrary,” said Georgia State University School law professor Eric Segall.
We rated Ralston’s statement Mostly False.
Mike Huckabee on Thursday, August 6th, 2015 in a Republican presidential debate
“One of the reasons that Social Security is in so much trouble is that the only funding stream comes from people who get a wage. The people who get wages is declining dramatically.”
During the Aug. 6 Republican debate, Mike Huckabee and Chris Christie engaged in one of the calmer exchanges of the evening, discussing how best to reform Social Security and Medicare.
Huckabee laid out a vision of a “fair tax” on consumption, which, he memorably claimed, would apply to everyone, “including illegals, prostitutes, pimps, drug dealers, all the people that are freeloading off the system now.”
As part of his follow-up, Huckabee said, “One of the reasons that Social Security is in so much trouble is that the only funding stream comes from people who get a wage. The people who get wages is declining dramatically. Most of the income in this country is made by people at the top who get dividends and capital gains.”
Several aspects of his claim are problematic, starting with the inaccuracy that only wages support Social Security. In addition, Baby Boomer retirements are shifting the ratio of recipients to workers in the wrong direction. But it’s not as simple as there being a dramatic decline in the number of people who get their income from wages.
In fact, Huckabee overstates the impact of non-wage income on Social Security’s fiscal health. The shift from wage income to non-wage income is happening among the richest Americans, but this group still accounts for a fraction of all income earned in the country.
We rated Huckabee’s claim Mostly False.
John Kasich on Sunday, August 9th, 2015 in an interview with “This Week” host George Stephanopoulos
Says he was “one of the chief architects” of balancing the federal budget.
Ohio governor and GOP presidential hopeful John Kasich aimed to steer clear of Planet Trump on the Sunday news shows. When ABC’s George Stephanopoulos asked Kasich if he thought Donald Trump is a problem for his party, Kasich said he doesn’t think of things that way.
“What happened on Thursday is I was relaxed and I was able to talk about my record, balancing the federal budget, one of the chief architects, national security experience — turning Ohio around.”
Research shows Kasich has a long track record of pushing for a balanced budget, and contemporary accounts from 1997 place him very much at the center of the action. His description of being “one of” the chief architects, instead of the sole mastermind, also puts him on safer ground.
His statement was accurate but needed additional information.
We rated Kasich’s statement Mostly True.
Harry Reid on Wednesday, July 29th, 2015 in a Senate floor speech
Planned Parenthood is “the only health care that a significant number of women get. About 30 percent of women, that’s their health care.”
An anti-abortion group recently released several secretly recorded videos of Planned Parenthood employees discussing fetal tissue, and that has given opponents of the abortion-providing health organization new momentum to shut off federal funding.
During a Senate floor debate on July 30, 2015, Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., urged lawmakers to focus on consequences for women who rely on Planned Parenthood for health care beyond abortions if the federal funding is cut off.
Planned Parenthood “is the health care backbone for American women during their lives,” Reid said. “In fact, it’s the only health care that a significant number of women get. About 30 percent of women, that’s their health care.”
A reader thought that number sounded high and asked us to check it out.
That’s just not the case.
Planned Parenthood saw 2.7 million patients in 2013, not the 39 million it would have needed to see for Reid’s claim to be accurate. Even if every Planned Parenthood patient had no other health care options, the group would have seen about 2 percent of women, not 30 percent. His office acknowledged that Reid, making off-the-cuff remarks, got the talking point wrong. In this case, he really got it wrong.
We rated Reid’s statement Pants on Fire.
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