MADISON, Wis.—Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tom Barrett’s record on creating jobs is being criticized in a television ad released Tuesday by the Republican Governors Association, even though the same group highlighted his efforts in a spot against a Colorado candidate.
The RGA ad in Colorado attacked Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, a Democratic hopeful for governor, for Frontier Airlines’ decision to move hundreds of jobs to Milwaukee. That ad, launched three weeks ago on the Internet, actually included a few seconds taken directly from a spot run by Barrett referencing the addition of the airline jobs.
“One candidate for governor has a record for bringing jobs to Wisconsin,” said the narrator in Barrett’s ad, which was also included verbatim in the RGA spot in Colorado.
But in its ad attacking Barrett, the RGA says electing the Milwaukee mayor as governor would mean “less jobs.”
Barrett spokesman Phil Walzak called it a baseless, desperate assault.
“Only by deploying cynical politics-as-usual can these D.C. political hacks trumpet Tom’s successful record of job creation in an ad airing hundreds of miles away, then with a straight face turn around and attack Tom’s pro-jobs record here in Wisconsin,” Walzak said in a statement.
A spokesman for the RGA, Tim Murtaugh, said it wasn’t hypocritical for the group to run one ad touting Barrett’s job creation and another saying he’s a job killer. The Wisconsin ad is about his entire record as mayor, Murtaugh said, “not one transaction.”
“Tom Barrett is not a job creator,” Murtaugh said. “He has lost thousands of jobs in Milwaukee. … I think his record on job creation is abysmal.”
Unemployment in Milwaukee was 11.1 percent in April, roughly the same as a year ago but up from 9 percent when Barrett took office six years ago. Over the past year, as Wisconsin and the nation struggled to rebound from recession, the Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis metropolitan area has lost nearly 18,000 jobs.
Republic Airways, which owns Milwaukee-based Midwest and Denver-based Frontier airlines, announced last year that it would remain in Milwaukee to take advantage of state tax credits tied to job creation and investment.
It is expected to add up to 800 jobs in Milwaukee. Last year, Frontier announced it was moving about 300 jobs from Denver to Milwaukee. Hickenlooper said then that the city offered Republic many incentives but couldn’t match Milwaukee’s offer of free hangar space.
Barrett capitalized on the ads, launching a video on his website contrasting the two RGA spots and ending with a statement on the screen saying, “Thanks for agreeing that Tom Barrett has brought jobs to Milwaukee.” Barrett also used it as the basis for campaign donation plea.
The RGA ad is the first attack ad against Barrett in the Wisconsin governor’s race. The Greater Wisconsin Committee, an independent liberal group, has run ads critical of the two main Republicans in the race, Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker and former U.S. Rep. Mark Neumann.
So far, the three main candidates have not gone after one another in television ads, leaving it up to outside groups.
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Online: RGA Barrett ad:
RGA Hickenlooper ad:
