Press Release: Top 5 Falsehoods You'll Likely Hear From Ed Martin At Debate

Press Release from Congressman Carnahan's office:

Top 5 Falsehoods You’ll Likely Hear From Ed Martin At First Debate

St. Louis – As voters of Missouri’s 3rd Congressional District prepare for the first debate tonight at Forest Park Community College, they might want to have some facts in hand to help them see through the haze of misinformation and lies coming from Ed Martin.

NOTE: All press inquiries regarding logistics will be handled by League of Women Voters. Press should contact Anna Mennerick, Executive Director of the League of Women Voters at 314-961-6869 for details.


#1: CLAIM: Ed Martin on Memogate - “I did nothing wrong!”

Although Ed Martin would like taxpayers to forget about the personal bailout they provided him for his Memogate Scandal, the record shows as Chief of Staff to Governor Matt Blunt he destroyed public documents, fired a whistle blower and cost taxpayers $2.4 million dollars of their hard earned money. For his involvement in the scandal, Ed Martin has been named as one of the eleven most crooked candidates in the entire country by the nonpartisan Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.


Learn more about Ed Martin working as a Hackman to Governor Matt Blunt for his own benefit at the expense of Missouri taxpayers here: Ed Martin Is Hackman.


#2: CLAIM Ed Martin launched "Save AB" to oppose the sale of Anheuser-Bush

Was that the real reason? Or did he create the group in order to exploit it for his own political ambitions?

Despite promising not to use the names and personal information of petition signers for anything other than non-profit purposes, Ed Martin illegally used the group as a springboard for his upcoming campaign for Congress. He republished the Save AB website after it was removed and directed the 40,000 members on the email list to his campaign website, which is illegal according to Missouri and Federal law.


#3: ATTACK: Russ Carnahan “Funneled” Recovery Act Dollars to Wind Capital Group

Carnahan voted for The American Recovery Act, whose incentives for renewable energy are helping more than 1,100 alternative energy companies across the country reduce America ’s dependence on foreign oil. Russ Carnahan had nothing to do with how the funding was distributed to any specific company.

Ed Martin, on the other hand, admitted that he has a direct financial interest in Big Oil when he reported hundreds of thousands of dollars of oil stock in his personal financial disclosure (which he filed 300 days late, a clear and serious violation of Federal Election laws).

Perhaps that is why Ed signed a pledge promising to protect the massive taxpayer subsidies Big Oil receives every year , or why news reports revealed that Martin “believes the oil rig disaster was the product of too much -- and not too little -- government regulation.”


#4: ATTACK: Russ Carnahan sent Fenton Jobs to Mexico

Before, during and after the Fenton Plant was scheduled to close , Russ Carnahan led a bipartisan group to fight to try to save the plant , find new jobs for the workers and identify new economic opportunities for the facility.

And Russ Carnahan has repeatedly pushed to close tax loopholes that reward corporations that ship jobs overseas.

Ed Martin, on the other hand, signed a pledge promising to protect big tax breaks for corporations that send American jobs overseas. And he celebrated this past Labor Day by cashing big campaign checks from Republican House Minority Leader John Boehner, who has repeatedly pushed to sign flawed agreements like the North American Free Trade Agreement, which was responsible for sending at least 18,000 Missouri jobs overseas .


#5: CLAIM: “I am a political outsider.”

Ed Martin is the consummate political hackman, a “lighning rod for partisanship” who is willing to say and do anything in order to advance his own personal and political ambitions. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Nov. 21, 2007)

As Chief of Staff to former Governor Matt Blunt, Ed Martin used his official state e-mail account to try to get his political allies – and even the state highway patrol -- to attack opponents.

 He defended his political advocacy in the governor's office - where he used a state computer on taxpayer time - as "appropriate." (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Nov. 16, 2008)
 He destroyed public documents in an attempt to cover up his inappropriate activity.

 And when a whistleblower tried to stop him, Martin fired him and smeared his reputation with vicious attacks that Governor Blunt later apologized for.

 Martin’s record as Blunt’s chief of staff was so abysmal he was named one of the eleven most crooked candidates in the entire country.

As the Republican Director of the St. Louis Board of Elections, Martin fired election workers because they were “not Republican enough.”

 In Jul. 2006, the former Republican assistant director of elections in St. Louis sued Ed Martin and the rest of the St. Louis Election board for firing her and others. The lawsuit was settled out of court in Nov. 2007. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Jul. 11, 2006)

As a candidate for Congress, Martin even claimed that Russ Carnahan and President Obama want to take away the right to find religious salvation .

 Martin’s willingness to exploit faith for political gain isn’t new. As President of the “American Issues Project” – a secretive political organization that used legal loopholes to avoid disclosing its donors – Martin ran TV ads using Jesus to attack the stimulus bill, an ad which even conservative Fox News personality Bill O’Reilly criticized .