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Moving the goalposts

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Illinois

* Back in February, several Senate Democrats either tweeted out or otherwise posted a “fact check” of Gov. Rauner’s budget address. Click here to see one of them.

The governor made this claim…

Rauner Claim #4: “We know the challenges facing human services … that is why our proposal increases support for Child Care and other programs that assist children, senior citizens, and our other most vulnerable residents.”

The SDem retort…

FACT: Governor Rauner has called every year for eliminating funding for afterschool programs for at-risk youth, homeless prevention services and programs that help autistic children.

* Politifact Illinois decided to fact check the fact checkers…

In an email newsletter, state Sen. Jacqueline Collins accused Gov. Bruce Rauner of calling for the elimination of “funding for afterschool programs for at-risk youth, homeless prevention services and programs that help autistic children,” each year he’s been in office.

A Democratic staffer pointed to five instances where Rauner proposed cuts or freezes to these three programs. We verified these instances by looking at Rauner’s current and former budget proposals, a vetoed bill and news stories.

Rauner has proposed budgets that would eliminate funding in the areas Collins cites. But his 2015 veto of a bill that contained autism funding was in the context of rejecting 19 budget bills on the grounds that the entire package was unbalanced. His veto message did not specifically mention eliminating autism funding. Rather, he said he was vetoing several bills because he wanted structural reforms as part of a balanced budget which majority Democrats did not send him.

Collins’ statement is accurate, but needs clarification and additional information.

We rate Collins’ claim Mostly True.

Um, huh?

* They didn’t actually fact check the original claim by Sen. Collins. As mentioned above, they got a Senate Democratic staffer to send them a list of things Rauner supposedly did and then they fact checked that staff-supplied list. And they apparently only had a minor problem with one of those staffer claims.

But this is how they portrayed their analysis…

Collins’ claim: In April 2015, Rauner announced his plan to freeze funding for autism and homeless prevention.

Our findings: On April 3, 2015, Rauner did call for a $26 million suspension in social services and public health grants. The Chicago Tribune reported, “The Republican’s office released a list of targeted programs…that included funding to pay for…smoking cessation, teen programs, autism, and HIV and AIDS programs, among other things.”

That wasn’t “Collins’ claim,” that was a staffer’s claim. Instead of doing their own homework, they relied on a member of Senate staff to justify the original claim. OK, fine, it’s much easier that way. But if you’re gonna fact check what Collins said, then stick to what she said, not somebody else.

And what Collins and other Senate Democrats said is that Rauner “has called every year for eliminating funding for afterschool programs for at-risk youth, homeless prevention services and programs that help autistic children.” So, if the governor did that at least once in 2015, 2016 and 2017 - and he did, according to Politifact - then why the heck is Sen. Collins’ statement rated only “mostly” true?

posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Apr 3, 17 @ 11:32 am

Comments

are you sure his name isn’t trump?

Comment by red rider Monday, Apr 3, 17 @ 11:45 am
===Collins’ statement is accurate, but needs clarification and additional information.===

So here’s the rub(?)

A single-sentence statement, that is refuted by multiple examples when refuted, flatly, as untrue… in a single sentence, still even worthy of the truth the retort makes.

Charts and graphs next? It’s easily seen and explained, not “mostly” in “seen” or “explained”

So, you can say “mostly false” things, because the simplicity of actual facts, only make retorts “mostly true”?

Geez, Louise…

Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Apr 3, 17 @ 12:18 pm
Huh? People take Politifact seriously?

Comment by perry noya Monday, Apr 3, 17 @ 12:59 pm
A political-media entity that specializes in one-line summaries takes issue with an accurate one-line summary, saying it needs greater context.

what’s next? Politifact says more characters needed to evaluate Twitter?

Comment by Michelle Flaherty Monday, Apr 3, 17 @ 1:42 pm
One more point, Senator Collins studied journalism at Northwestern and worked at Chicago CBS. Her staffer has a master’s in statehouse reporting and worked in print for several years.
I’m pretty sure they can fact check better and faster than Politifact.

Comment by Michelle Flaherty Monday, Apr 3, 17 @ 4:10 pm