You've Got False Mail

FactCheck.org

March 2, 2010

If you live in Connecticut and are a registered Republican, you may have received a mailer or two from former World Wrestling Entertainment CEO Linda McMahon attacking her opponent in the state's GOP Senate primary, former U.S. Rep. Robert Simmons. But some of the mailers' claims are false.

In one mailer, McMahon claims Simmons cosponsored cap-and-trade legislation that will "cost the average American family more than $1,700 a year."

First, Simmons did not, as the mailer implies, cosponsor the American Clean Energy and Security Act, which Democratic Reps. Henry Waxman of California and Edward Markey of Massachusetts introduced in May 2009, and which passed the House a month later. That bill aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by capping regulated industries' emissions. ...

A separate McMahon mailer portrays Simmons as a supporter of the controversial community activist group ACORN.

The mailer claims that in his last term in office, Simmons voted with ACORN "more often than Senator Chris Dodd." But that's false. ... 

The mailer is an attempt to link Simmons with the embattled activist group whose employees have been accused of voter fraud among other things. Simmons wasn't in Congress at the time the allegations of voter fraud surfaced in 2008, though. His campaign says he opposes ACORN, and would vote against funding for the group if he is elected.

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