A look at the other “lies” alleged in Paulsen ad

Republican congressional candidate Erik Paulsen's latest ad accuses DFLer Ashwin Madia of telling three lies.

One of the alleged lies involved an interview with MPR news. I put that in context in a post last night. Today, I'll tackle the other two.

Strip club money

The first alleged lie the ad cites actually isn't Madia's. It's from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which accused Paulsen of accepting money raised in a strip club. Paulsen cites a KSTP fact check of those DCCC mailers, which found the strip club allegations so misleading it gave them an 'F.'

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While those mailers came from the DCCC, the Madia campaign has made similar charges in a press release, as we've noted on Polinaut in the past.

The PAC flap

The ad also accuses Madia of lying when he says he hasn't taken money from corporate political action committees.

In a conference call today (

) Paulsen and his researcher Michael Brodkorb said they consider that a "lie," because Madia did recieve a $500 check from a New Jersey-based law firm called Sterns & Weinroth.

Madia's campaign has said it doesn't consider law firms corporations. But since Sterns & Weinroth is technically organized as a "professional corporation," (instead of a partnership) the Madia campaign returned that $500 contribution in August. At the time, a Madia spokesman called that gesture "symbolic."

More background on the PAC spat is available in this earlier post.