A pile of presents surround an image of U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey in the latest attack ad against the incumbent Republican.
Service Employees International Union launched the $1.1 million ad buy Tuesday as part of its effort to support Democratic challenger Katie McGinty. It is airing in television markets covering Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, Lancaster, Lenaon, York, Wilkes-Barre, Scranton and Hazleton.
“Pat Toomey’s been busy handing out presents in Washington: $24 billion in tax breaks to big oil. A $286,000 tax cut to millionaires,” the ads narrator says. “And to pay for it? Toomey voted for a budget that raised taxes on average Pennsylvanians.”
The ad refers to:
- Mr. Toomey’s vote for Paul Ryan’s 2013 budget plan. The Joint Economic Commission said that it would have reduced millionaires’ tax burden by more than $286,000. The Ryan budget failed.
- Votes in 2011 and 2012 on bills that would end tax breaks for oil companies. Both bills failed.
SEIU’s ad also resurrects an old television clip of Mr. Toomey saying he wants to “eliminate corporate taxes altogether.
”SEIU isn’t the first liberal group to make use of that comment, which Mr. Toomey later said was never a serious policy proposal.
First Published: October 5, 2016, 5:17 p.m.
