Governor Fallin's Latest Ad Gets Put To The Truth Test

Loren Cosby, News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY, Oklahoma - Voters go to the polls in little more than a week, and as election day approaches, the governor's race is heating up with the negative ads flying between Governor Mary Fallin and State Representative Joe Dorman.

We took a look at the latest ad from the Fallin campaign and put it to the Truth Test.

10/3/2014 Related Story: Truth Test: Governor Mary Fallin's Campaign Ad Paid For By Republican Governor's Association

Fallin's ad starts off trying to link the democrat contender as closely with the president as possible with an announcer posing the question, "Would you vote for Barack Obama today? Of course not. Then why would you ever vote for Joe Dorman?"

The ad continues saying, "Dorman supports expanding Obamacare."

That's true. Dorman says his first act as governor would be to expand Medicaid as part of the Affordable Care Act. He agrees with those who say it would cover more than 100,000 uninsured Oklahomans and have a positive impact on the economy.

Fallin rejected the expansion claiming the federal help would be temporary and the state would ultimately have to foot the bill for the increased cost.

"Dorman, a critic of commonsense conservative solutions, called cutting income taxes ‘a waste of time,'” the ad says.

That's technically true - at least the part about calling income tax cuts "a waste of time."

The quote is from last year when Dorman told a Chickasha newspaper that debating a bill to lower Oklahoma's income tax was "a waste of time." He believed the bill was written incorrectly and would be found unconstitutional.

Dorman did vote several times against changing the income tax rate and has said the cut does not give most people enough extra money to fill up their gas tank.

10/2/2014 Related Story: Truth Test: Do Oklahoma Governor Candidate Joe Dorman's Ads Pass Or Fail?

The ad continues with some more tax criticism, "Dorman even supported raising taxes on Oklahoma businesses."

You decide on this one.

The Fallin campaign points to Dorman being against a law reducing the tax on some oil and gas wells from seven to two percent. Opponents said the tax cut would cost the state hundreds of millions in revenue.

Dorman's website claims Oklahoma has had policies sugar-coated as tax cuts, but are actually tax giveaways to those who don't need a tax break.

We caught up with Fallin on the campaign trail in Coweta to ask about the ad. She admits some negative ads put out false information, but that it's fair to contrast the differences.

"We've tried to be very accurate in my ads, talking about his positions. He's been against a lot of policies I've put into place,” she said.

Our Truth Test continues Tuesday with the latest ads from the Dorman campaign.