Sinclair rejects Dem ad in PA12

The Tim Burns camp sends word this afternoon that Pittsburgh's WPGH-TV has stopped airing an ad from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, saying it spreads false claims about taxes.

We'll try to reach the station for comment, but it bears mentioning that owners Sinclair Broadcasting have gotten involved in partisan political fights before-- most notably when it ordered its stations to broadcast a documentary critical of John Kerry the month before the 2004 presidential election.

FactCheck.org called claims in a similiar DCCC ad "quite misleading":

It’s true that Burns has voiced support for the so-called "FairTax" proposal, which would impose a national sales tax that proponents say would be 23 percent. He did that in an interview with a conservative blogger in 2009.

But this ad is quite misleading because it fails to mention that the FairTax proposal would also repeal the federal income tax entirely and do away with the Internal Revenue Service. It would also eliminate gift, estate, capital gains, alternative minimum, Social Security, Medicare and self-employment taxes. But anyone viewing the DCCC’s ad could easily conclude that Burns favored slapping a 23 percent sales tax on top of all existing taxes, which is not true.