O’Brien whines about “liberals at Nashua Telegraph”

The fact checkers at PolitiFact New Hampshire, a joint venture between the Nashua Telegraph and PolitiFact.com, ruled the claims in a campaign mailer from state House Speaker Bill O’Brien were “half true.”

O’Brien said that when Republicans took over the state Legislature in 2010, the state’s tax rate for employers was last in the nation and unemployment had more than doubled under Democrats.

We find he generalized a 2010 tax study, zeroing in on New Hampshire’s corporate tax rate, when several other factors contribute to the Tax Foundation’s corporate tax index for New Hampshire. And he failed to mention that New Hampshire’s corporate tax rank is in the same ballpark in 2012.

O’Brien used accurate unemployment figures in comparing 2006 to 2010, but the numbers have more to do with the Great Recession than with the people – or the party – running the state.

O’Brien was on target with the rank and rates he cited, but there is context missing and misplaced blame. We rate his claim Half True.

O’Brien was quick to respond in a snarky Facebook post that mischaracterized Politifact’s objections. In O’Brien’s retelling, “context missing and misplaced blame” became ”not the right tone:”

I made the mistake of not having the liberals over at the Nashua Telegraph write the content for one of my campaign mailers. So they have a front page story today claiming the mailer is “half true” because it only has correct facts and not the right tone.