Mitch Perry
(UPDATE)
That investigative report by CBS Miami’s Jim DeFede on Democratic Senate candidate Patrick Murphy’s business background continues to enjoy added life in the form of a new television commercial produced by the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
The ad, entitled, “A Career Built on Lies,” relies heavily on DeFede’s report, which reported Murphy has never been a licensed CPA in Florida, nor a small business owner, contrary to his proclamations since he began serving in politics. The ad will be shown only in Washington, D.C., a fact picked up by the Murphy campaign later on Tuesday.
“It’s no surprise that the NRSC would choose to campaign for Marco Rubio in Washington instead of Florida, since D.C. may as well be Rubio’s home state,” said Murphy Campaign Manager Josh Wolf. “Marco Rubio completely abandoned Florida to run for president and it was D.C. special interests, not Floridians, who decided Rubio should run for re-election. But this election will not be decided by residents of Washington. It will be decided by the Florida families who are desperate for leadership and a senator who will actually show up for work. The NRSC is welcome to waste their money in D.C., because Patrick is fighting for Florida.”
The Murphy campaign had previously pushed back strongly in refuting parts of DeFede’s report last week. And later on Tuesday, they released another detailed critique of that story by criticizing the NRSC ad.
They said Murphy worked at Deloitte & Touche for over half a year, “during which his training and skills were called upon.”
They also disputed the allegation that neither Murphy or his company, Coastal Environmental Studies, had been awarded a single contract to clean up oil in the Gulf of Mexico during the BP oil spill. They said Coastal Environmental had bought another company that had both oil-skimming boats and clean-up contracts.
The ad also shows grainy footage of Murphy denying a report in the Miami Herald he had embellished his college academic record. His campaign said his listing of earning two degrees at the University of Miami was “unintentional.”
The NRSC is not the first group to air segments of DeFede’s report in a campaign ad; Last week, Florida First Project, a super PAC formed to help Marco Rubio’s Senate bid, also used similar parts of the CBS Miami story in a digital ad to disparage the Jupiter Congressman and hurt his chances of a general election victory against Rubio.
The NRSC says the ad will air the next two weeks in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
