Brown camp says ad got the facts wrong

Dayton Daily News

U.S. Rep. Sherrod Brown's lawyers are asking TV stations to pull an ad that accuses Brown of not paying unemployment taxes for 13 years, saying he paid the bill and the ad is "demonstrably false."

To back up their claim, Brown's lawyers attached paperwork indicating the debt was paid and the lien released on April 20, 1994.

The ad by the Republican National Committee and its backup Web site, browncourtdocuments.com, alleges that the $1,776.23 debt remained unpaid until June 2005. The ad calls it a "scandal" that Brown didn't pay for 13 years.

"We stand by the ad," said Aaron McLear of the RNC.

But Carmen Stewart of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services said Brown paid his unemployment taxes after receiving a notice of lien against his congressional campaign committee on Dec. 2, 1993. He was released from that lien on April 20, 1994. At that point, Stewart said, he was supposed to file the document with the Lorain County Recorder. But the paperwork was either never received or never filed.

Read the full article. 

10/19/2006 / Permalink / (all tags)