Let’s have the truth, all the truth about false political ads

Today I applaud Inquirer reporter Fallon Roth for a comprehensive report on an attack ad run by Republican Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick’s supporters against his Democratic opponent, Bob Harvie, who is challenging him for the 1st Congressional District seat centered in Bucks County. 

In her 48-inch story, Roth quotes both Fitzpatrick and Harvie (the latter more than the former) plus at least three legal experts who expressed doubt about Fitzpatrick’s claim.

That claim — made in a TV commercial — is that Harvie is under FBI investigation. That is untrue.

It comes as a surprise to no one that political ads lie, distort, mislead, fabricate, fib, and treat honesty like the avian flu.

The Fitzpatrick claim is based on events in 2022, when Harvie was a Bucks County commissioner. He and other officials testified in an FBI probe into political donations and union contracts related to the Pennsbury School District.

The FBI probe ran for years before the grand jury was empaneled and no indictments ever came from it, the Inquirer reports. In other words, a nothingburger.

Fitzpatrick is demanding Harvie “release the files,” while the legal experts quoted by the Inquirer doubted there were any files, and that Harvie would not have access to them in any case. 

The Inquirer reports that Fitzpatrick is refusing to debate Harvie until the perhaps imaginary files are released. I contacted the Fitzpatrick campaign to check this out, but received no reply by deadline. If true, using that excuse to duck debate is cheesy and cowardly.

As a news reporter, Roth does not have an opinion, but the legal experts do. 

The Harvie team has sued Defending America PAC for sponsoring material that ties Harvie to the FBI investigation. The PAC’s attorney, George Bochetto, said the information is “relevant” and "rhetorical hyperbole about a public figure.”

Roth’s reporting was balanced, with both sides quoted, something the Inky does not always do.

And yet, something bothered me about this story. It came off a little like a hit job because it focused only on one candidate’s questionable ads, when both sides have been hurling cow pies at each other.

So my question is, will the Inquirer do a story on ads from Harvie’s side that put Fitzpatrick in a false light? Speaking of files, here I am thinking of an ad that claims Fitzpatrick voted against the release of the Epstein files three times. The truth was furnished to me by AI when I asked if Fitzpatrick voted against release of the files three times:

If you don’t believe that, maybe you will believe Democratic Congresswoman Madeleine Dean, no friend of Fitzpatrick:

I emailed Roth, asking if the Inky was planning such a story for balance. I received no comment before my deadline.