11 months ago
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FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) - Democratic Congressman Jim Costa is asking his opponent, Republican businessman Michael Maher, to halt playing 1 of his run ads.
Costa's squad sent a cease-and-desist missive to Maher's campaign, claiming the advertisement was mendacious and misleading.
This letter, dated Oct. 11, was sent to Maher connected behalf of Costa and says his caller advertisement titled "10 Presidents" is some mendacious and misleading and they request to halt playing it immediately.
In response, Maher defended his advertisement during a property league successful Downtown Fresno connected Monday.
"I person 30 seconds to beryllium capable to get the connection out, which is what- he's a beingness politician," Maher said.
The advertisement starts with a narrator speechmaking the words "Ten presidents person travel and gone since Jim Costa archetypal went to Washington 50 years ago."
Costa said this is mendacious and erstwhile this word is up, helium would person served successful the House of Representatives for 20 years. He was archetypal elected to Congress successful 2004 and started his archetypal word successful 2005 erstwhile George W. Bush was president.
"It's an effort to mislead people, to effort to make an content that I've been determination excessively long. There is simply a batch of Republicans that person been determination longer than 20 years. So I don't deliberation that's a precise bully reason," Costa said.
But Maher's run said their advertisement is accurate, citing an nonfiction wherever Costa said helium was a Hill intern successful 1973.
"And the backup for that is helium went to Washington successful 1973. He has a large nonfiction talking astir precisely that time, the summertime of '73, moving successful Washington, D.C., attending Watergate hearings. So erstwhile helium went to Washington successful 1973, there's been 10 presidents since then," Maher said.
However, aft his internship ended, Costa moved backmost to California and yet served successful some the California State Assembly and the State Senate.
Costa's squad besides wrote successful their missive that the advertisement is misleading erstwhile the on-screen substance states- “after decades successful Congress, Costa authored 2 bills," accompanied by a narrator who said "two bills signed into law, 1 to rename a station office- the different astir a stamp."
"They're called springiness maine bills, bills erstwhile a subordinate can't get thing passed. One of those bills was a station bureau getting renamed successful Fowler and the 2nd measure was astir a stamp," Maher said, defending his ad.
The House website Maher cites does database the 2 bills Costa has sponsored arsenic the lone ones signed into law. However, Costa said, it's not just to assertion he's lone sponsored those 2 bills.
Costa said connected apical of the wealth he's helped bring to the territory for projects, he's sponsored galore other pieces of legislation, that oftentimes, marque it into instrumentality but conscionable not successful its archetypal form.
"Usually it becomes attached to portion of a larger portion of legislation. And the Bipartisan Infrastructure Transportation Act is an example, the workplace measure that we authorize each 5 years. And they cognize that they privation to mislead people," helium said.
As of Monday, Oct. 14, the advertisement is still posted online connected his run website. Costa's missive says they volition prosecute ineligible enactment if the advertisement stays up.
