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AD WATCH: LEE AND ALLIES DISTORT KRYZAN'S RECORD
Lee Proxy Ad Breaks Promise on Love Canal

October 24, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Anne Wadsworth
(716) 803-4463

Amherst, NY — This week, both Chris Lee and the National Republican Campaign Committee have released new negative and inflammatory advertisements that distort Alice Kryzan's record and smear her supporters.

Lee has consistently avoided talking about the issues important to the hardworking families of New York's 26^th District and instead persists in lying to voters and engaging in baseless attacks.

"Lee refuses to take a stand on any of the important issues facing the families of the 26^th Congressional District," said Anne Wadsworth, Kryzan Campaign Spokesperson. "Instead of spending millions of dollars lying to voters, he needs to spend some time offering solutions to the challenges people are facing here everyday. Lee should apologize to the teachers, bus drivers, and steelworkers he called 'extremists.' We need someone in Washington who will fight for hardworking people, not insult them."

FACT CHECK - CHRIS LEE

Lee claim: "Negative ads from Alice Kryzan, the press say fiction."

FACT: Alice Kryzan has kept this campaign about the issues with positive communication to voters.

• "Lee is bristling at spots produced by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the Washington panel charged with electing more Democrats to the House of Representatives. So far that group has dominated the airwaves on behalf of Kryzan, even though she has nothing to do with the group and is not particularly fond of it." [Buffalo News, 10/19/2008]
  
  
• "Kryzan spokeswoman Anne Wadsworth … says Kryzan cannot legally ask the committee to remove them because it would open both groups to charges of illegal coordination." [Buffalo News, 10/19/2008]

Lee claim: "Chris Lee never shipped a job to China."

FACT: Chris Lee's own website said he employed workers in China and around the world.

• Lee's family company IMC employed over 1,200 people worldwide, including China, and had a global distribution network of over 300 independent distributors. [Chris Lee for Congress Website, accessed: 9/3/08]

FACT: Lee has since scrubbed his website of any mention of China.

• After September 3, 2008, Chris Lee's campaign website eliminated any reference to his former company having plants in China. Currently, the website instead says "Asia" when referring to its multinational operations. Mention of Chinese plants is only available on Google's cache of the site. [Chris Lee for Congress Website, accessed: 9/3/08]

Lee claim: "Kryzan has trouble with the truth. 'I am the only candidate in this race who has taken no money from special interests in Washington.' The truth? Records prove Alice Kryzan has taken more than $80,000 from extremist special interests."

FACT: Lee has a problem truthfully representing Alice's words, purposefully taking the quote out of context.

• Alice made that statement at a primary debate on Sept. 2. At that time, she had not accepted any contributions from organizations outside of New York. Chris Lee misleadingly cites fundraising statistics from over a month later to give the wrong impression.
  
  
• Alice has always acknowledged who supports her. In the rest of the sentence Lee incorrectly cites in his ad, she said that she had taken money from an interest group that supports her views, saying that she had received "one $1,000 check from a PAC, the New York League of Conservation Voters."
  
  
• Alice has a strong commitment to reforming the electoral process, and is the only candidate in the race to sign the Voter's First Pledge to support a system of public financing for federal candidates.

FACT: Kryzan has always accepted the support of those who share her priorities on the issues important to the people of the 26th District.

• As stated explicitly in her ethics plan released August 27th, Alice 'welcome[s] support from groups who share [her] priorities and interest in serving the people of this District: changing our energy policy and protecting our environment, bringing good-paying jobs to Western New York, providing healthcare to all, improving our education system, and ending the war in Iraq.'

FACT: Lee's idea of "extremist special interests" says something about his priorities

• Alice has received support from NYSUT, the United Steel Workers Political Action Fund, and the United Transportation Union PAC. She does not consider teachers, steel workers and bus drivers to be extremists. Apparently, Chris Lee does.

FACT: Lee's special interest support reflects his priorities too.

• According to his third quarter filings, Lee has taken $110,450 from PACs including bankers and Wall Street, energy and oil, cigarettes and guns. Specifically, he took money from Sallie Mae and PricewaterhouseCoopers, one of the world's largest financial services firms. [FEC.gov]

FACT CHECK - NRCC

NRCC claim: "As a corporate lawyer, she defended the polluters of Love Canal, one of America's worst environmental tragedies."

FACT: Alice Kryzan is dedicated to protecting our environment.

• As a young lawyer, Alice's firm represented the defendants in the Love Canal incident and she worked to ensured that each victim was compensated.
  
  
• She has been endorsed by the Love Canal victims' lawyers, the New York League of Conservation Voters, the Sierra Club, and Environmentalists for Alice.

NRCC claim: "Now she wants to bring her dangerously liberal views to Congress and put us all at risk, raising taxes that will kill jobs by the thousands."

FACT: From the earliest stage of her campaign, Alice Kryzan has focused on lowering taxes and creating jobs.

• She has released comprehensive plans to cut taxes for the middle class and create jobs for New Yorkers.
  
  
• She encourages research and production of alternative-energy sources to spur job creation.
  
  
• Her business plans include, "boosting the region's sluggish economy by attracting alternative energy development." [Democrat and Chronicle, 10/19/2008]

NRCC claim: "Alice Kryzan doesn't deserve to represent us. Don't reward her with a seat in Congress."

FACT: Lee promised not to run these types of negative ads; he should condemn these ads run on his behalf.

• At the 10/9 debate, Lee said that he was asked by the press if "I would get into the mud slinging specifically in the case of Occidental. I have kept my word. We haven't done commercials trying to go after Ms. Kryzan for that event that she participated in many years ago…"

FACT: Chris Lee would rather attack than lead. He continues to avoid talking about the issues.

• When the financial crisis hit, Lee said and did nothing.
  
  
• "Lee, too, said he'd make economic development and alternative energy priorities, but failed to offer enough new ideas… This, from someone who proudly points out that he has strong credentials in both economics and finance, doesn't jibe." [Democrat and Chronicle, 10/19/2008]

FACT: Alice Kryzan is a capable and compassionate fighter for the families of the 26th Congressional District.

• The Democrat & Chronicle, in its endorsement of Alice, said, "Kryzan not only persuaded us she has good ideas worth trying, but that she possesses the kind of personal decorum that seems to be in short supply in the public arena." [Democrat and Chronicle, 10/19/2008]

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Paid for and Authorized by Kryzan for Congress