…Here’s Trump’s running mate, Indiana Governor Mike Pence

 

The Fact Checkers really had their work cut out for them at the Republican National Convention.

 

Well, this is going to be a very long article because as usual, to explain and Fact Check what was said on the third night of the GOP National Convention, they have once again took their falsehoods to a new level.

 

I'm sure the Fact Checkers were very busy afterwards, and it’s hard to find a lot of truth in what was being offered the public.

 

Let’s look directly at what was offered, especially by Indiana Governor, Mike Pence, at his acceptance speech for his nomination as the vice presidential nominee.

 

First, here’s something that Governor Pence offered about Hilary Clinton:

 

“It was Hillary Clinton who helped to undo all the gains of the troop surge, a staggering failure of judgment that set ISIS on the loose.”

 

This was carefully phrased, but basically it is false.

 

The Islamic State of today is agreed is simply an outgrowth of al-Qaeda of Iraq. It was established in April 2004 by longtime Sunni extremist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, according to the National Counterterrorism Center.  Zarqawi was killed by a US airstrike in 2006, and his successor announced the formation of the Islamic State (ISIS).  That was two years before George W. Bush left office.

 

The Islamic State certainly gained strength and territory from the civil war in Syria, but Clinton as Secretary of State had pressed to send arms to the rebels.  It was President Obama that stopped that from happening.

 

The reality is that President Obama did pull troops from Iraq at the end of the 2011, which weakened the security situation in Iraq. But it was the Bush administration, not President Obama, that signed the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) with Iraq in 2008,  That agreement established the deadline for the withdrawal of all US forces from Iraq by Dec. 31, 2011.

 

And then the Governor added,

 

“It was Hillary Clinton who instigated the president’s disastrous agreement with the radical mullahs in Iran.”

 

Again, Pence said “instigated” which is probably true in that she was the Secretary of State that dispatched two top aides to launch a secret effort to test the waters with the Islamic Republic.  However, virtually all of the agreement was eventually negotiated by her successor, John Kerry.

 

Pence also stated,

 

“It was Hillary Clinton who left Americans in harm’s way in Benghazi and after four Americans fell, said, ‘What difference at this point does it make?’ ”

 

On this one Pence is deceivingly flat wrong.

 

Numerous investigations into the September 2012 Benghazi attacks have found that security was inadequate at the Benghazi diplomatic facility, but no evidence has emerged that security requests ever reached Clinton’s level. Lower-level officials dealt with these issues, particularly the security experts, and they often had to balance other needs and interests.  In addition, it was the Republicans in the House that cut the embassy security budgets.

 

Then, Pence again took out of context, from a Clinton’s 2013 exchange during the congressional hearing about the attacks.  Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) had pressed Clinton repeatedly for why she did not directly speak to survivors of the attacks to find out if it had been prompted by a protest, as initial media reports indicated.

 

Her answer was that an FBI investigation into the attacks had been launched and that it would have been inappropriate to speak to people who were being interviewed by the professionals. Johnson just called that “a good excuse” and asserted the administration misled Americans about whether the attacks were preceded by a protest.

 

Clinton replied: “With all due respect, the fact is we had four dead Americans. Was it because of a protest or was it because of guys out for a walk one night who decided that they’d go kill some Americans? What difference at this point does it make? It is our job to figure out what happened and do everything we can to prevent it from ever happening again, Senator.”

 

Her statement on "what difference" obviously referred to Johnson’s questions, not to the incident itself.

 

Then Pence really pushed the envelope with this line.

 

“It’s union members, who don’t want a president who promises ‘to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business.’ They want American energy and they know Donald Trump digs coal.”

 

Clinton had given a lengthy response, which included the line, “We’re going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business.” But that line has been spun way out of context since then, and it has been used as a Republican soundbite. It was part of her longer answer about helping coal mine workers adjust after they lose their factory jobs. Coal mining jobs have declined in recent years, including in West Virginia. Many reasons have contributed to this decline, including efficiency improvements and the Obama administration’s decision to reduce coal plant emissions.

 

Her lengthy answer in March 2016 was consistent with themes in her November 2015 policy proposal for revitalizing coal communities. The proposal says that transitioning away from coal-powered plants has already affected mining communities like in Appalachia. Clinton supports the Obama administration’s clean energy plan, and proposed ideas to help improve coal workers’ health and retirement security, and to help with economic development in coal communities.

 

But the Pence false shots didn’t stop there:

 

“The national debt has nearly doubled in these eight years, and her only answer is to keep borrowing and spending.”

 

Since Obama became president, the total national debt (including money owed to Social Security and other trust funds) has increased from $10.6 trillion to $19.4 trillion, so “nearly doubled” is correct. Pence could have said it has doubled if he focused on the debt held to the public, as it has increased from $6.3 trillion to $14 trillion under Obama.

 

But he misfires when he criticizes Clinton’s proposals. Clinton proposes $1.45 trillion in new spending, but it would be mostly offset by new revenues.

 

The nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, which pushes for reducing the national debt, concluded that Donald Trump’s tax and budget proposals would send the national debt soaring over the next 10 years — by another $11.5 trillion — while Clinton’s proposals would have a negligible effect. Neither candidate has offered a plan to reduce the national debt, but Trump’s plans would add significantly more debt than Clinton’s.

 

This same group says that under Clinton’s plans, the national debt — now 75% of the gross domestic product — would reach 87% of the gross domestic product by 2026. By contrast, the national debt would reach 127% of GDP under Trump’s proposals.

 

Pence then got very personal in his convention speech

 

Republican vice presidential candidate Mike Pence spoke about his upbringing and his family.

 

“Yet, there I was a few days ago in New York City with the man who won 37 states … faced 16 talented opponents and outlasted every one of them … and along the way brought millions of new voters into the Republican Party.”

 

Trump often claims that he has brought “millions of new voters” into the GOP, but that has been disputed by The Washington Post and Politico.

 

As Politico put it, “early statistics show that the vast majority of those voters aren’t actually new to voting or to the Republican Party, but rather they are reliable past voters in general elections. They are only casting ballots in a Republican primary for the first time.”

 

Then Pence said about him being the Governor of Indiana:

 

“Today, while the nation suffers under the weight of $19 trillion in national debt, we in Indiana have a $2 billion surplus and the highest credit rating in the nation even though we’ve cut taxes every year since I became governor. Today we have fewer state employees than when I took office and businesses, large and small, have created nearly 150,000 net new jobs, and we have more Hoosiers going to work than ever before.”

It is true that since Pence became governor, he has cut corporate tax and individual income tax, and repealed the inheritance tax earlier than scheduled. Indiana does have a $2 billion surplus, according to its budget. Indiana has the highest credit rating possible — triple-A — but Indiana is not the only state with that rating.

 

However, Pence has been criticized for cutting spending and building up the reserve while there are unmet budget needs across the state.

 

Pence mentioned roads during his speech. But he began improving the state’s roads only after an emergency repair of the Interstate 65 bridge led to a month-long traffic problem and caused a political liability.  Political ads have attacked Pence for saving money in the state’s reserves at the expense of underfunding the state’s infrastructure.

 

Pence proposed a plan to improve roads “that relied on borrowing, drawing down state reserves and using accounting gimmicks to reach an advertised $1 billion sticker price”.  In the end, Pence got just a fraction of that revenue after Indiana’s Republican-controlled Legislature balked. And much of the money set aside for local governments came from local taxes held in state reserves that were instead supposed to be returned. 

 

It is true that Indiana has added just fewer than 150,000 new jobs since 2013.

 

But everyone should be skeptical when a state executive highlights employment trends during his or her short tenure. Especially a governor who’s only been in office for a year and half. Moreover, Indiana’s unemployment rate from January 2013 to May 2016 only mirrored the national trends. 

 

Are there more Hoosiers going to work under Pence than ever before?  Well, this statement is about half true.

 

There were ~3 million jobs in Indiana in May 2016, that is the largest number of people working in the state in the past three decades. However, Indiana’s population has grown substantially during that time as well. PolitiFact says that as a share of the state’s population, the percentage of Hoosiers going to work was much higher in 2000 than it is in 2016.

 

Basically, Mike Pence is probably very glad that he was chosen to be Trump’s running mate.  Pence has not been that popular in his state and he was going to be in a tough re-election race that the polls have said he probably would have lost.

 

But it wasn’t just Governor Pence that was playing with the truth.

 

House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-WI) said the following: “As governor of Indiana [Mike Pence] made the largest income tax cut in state history.”

 

Pence did make the largest income tax cut in Indiana’s history, since becoming governor in January 2013.  However, there was only one time in Indiana history that the income tax was cut without an offsetting increase since state tax was established nearly 50 years ago.  In addition, the Pence tax cut was to go from a whopping 3.4% to 3.2%.

 

Then we go to Trump’s family members that were speaking at the convention.  This was from Eric Trump:

 

“Back in 1986 the city of New York tried to refurbish a simple ice skating rink in Central Park. The project ran up over six years and ballooned to over $13 million — $5 million over an already inflated budget. That’s when my father overlooked this disastrous construction site from his office window each and every day, deciding he had to step in. Disgusted by government incompetence and ineptitude, he invested $2 million of his own money in order to complete the project. What had taken the city over half a decade to botch, my father completed in less than six months — two months ahead of schedule and over $1 million under budget.”

 

The truth is that New York City ended up paying Trump back for this project, but the project ended up being a nice publicity stunt for Trump.

 

The city officials had realized Trump could build the rink much faster than the city could because as a private businessman, Trump would not be subject to government bidding procedures that slow down the process to find contractors. So they let him do it.  In the final deal, the city paid for all of the renovation and donated all profits to charity.

 

What is interesting is that when the New York Times asked Trump why he decided to take on the rink reconstruction, he actually told the Times it was the ”last thing I wanted to do, actually.” The “project was complex, he added, and he wanted to see the people have an ice rink.  I don’t want to be a wise guy and admit that I want to see my son skate there before he grows up,” he told the Times.

 

But as usual, once the rink opened, Trump held multiple news conferences, took many photo opportunities, and sponsored a gala and several grand opening events.

 

Then we heard from Wisconsin Governor, Scott Walker:

 

“If conservative reforms can work in a blue state like mine, they can work anywhere in the country.”

 

This one got Two Pinocchio’s from the Fact Checkers.

 

While Walker says he fought and won in a blue state, it’s difficult to call Wisconsin a blue state. Color-coding states usually depends on the state’s record in electing presidents.  If we use that measure, Walker was elected in a state that voted for a Democratic president in both 2008 and 2012, before and after he became governor. But even though the state does lean blue in presidential years, it was not reliably blue in the elections that Walker won.

 

By other measures within the state, Wisconsin is a mix of blue and red.  In calling Wisconsin a blue state based on its choice for president and touting his victories in said blue state, Walker is making a big leap in boasting about his record.

 

One of Trump’s business associates, Phil Ruffin, seriously misspoke at the convention when he said: “Donald always paid his bills promptly, with no discounts.”

 

Ruffin had helped develop the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, and on behalf of Trump, he made this questionable statement.

 

News reports have documented the numerous instances where small business owners have claimed that Trump reneged on deals and shortchanged them.

 

USA TODAY found that Trump “has been involved in more than 3,500 lawsuits over the past three decades — and a large number of those involve ordinary Americans … who say Trump or his companies have refused to pay them. … At least 60 lawsuits, along with hundreds of liens, judgments, and other government filings reviewed by the USA TODAY NETWORK, document people who have accused Trump and his businesses of failing to pay them for their work.”

 

The Wall Street Journal even highlighted a case involving Ruffin: “A review of court filings from jurisdictions in 33 states, along with interviews with business people, real-estate executives and others, shows a pattern over Mr. Trump’s 40-year career of his sometimes refusing to pay what some business owners said Trump companies owed them.”

 

A chandelier shop, a curtain maker, a lawyer and others have said Mr. Trump’s companies agreed to buy goods and services, then reneged when some or all were delivered.

 

Larry Walters, whose Las Vegas drapery factory supplied Mr. Trump’s hotel there eight years ago, said the developer, Trump-Ruffin, wouldn’t pay for additional work it demanded beyond the original contract. When Mr. Walters then refused to turn over some fabric, sheriff’s deputies burst into his factory after Trump-Ruffin sued him. Trucks took the fabric away.

 

Mr. Walters said he never had payment problems with other casino or hotel clients. A review of Las Vegas court records showed no other legal disputes over payments involving him. Mr. Walters agreed to a settlement with Trump-Ruffin that was about $380,000 short of what was owed, court records show.  Walter’s settled, he said, because “they were going to drag it on for many, many years.”

 

Now this isn’t all the nonsense  and misstatements that came from the RNC’s National Convention, but the rest would probably just bore you even more.

 

However, if this is what the Republicans have to offer America, if they win, we will be in a serious world of hurt.

 

Copyright G.Ater  2016