This ad was paid for by a group called Campaign Money Watch. They call themselves a non-partisan national watchdog that works to hold elected officials accountable (source: www.campaignmoney.org).

RADIO AD: You get offered an all expense paid luxury trip paid for by someone you shouldn't give the time of day. And you take it

That’s opinion. We’ll explain in just a moment.

RADIO AD: That's what Bob Schaffer did, letting a front group for convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff pay for his trip to the Northern Mariana Islands was wrong.

Some of that’s true, some opinion, and it all needs to be put in context. According to the Associated Press, Schaffer staffers knew Abramoff was somehow involved in the trip (source: George Merritt, Associated Press, “Memo Links 1999 Schaffer trip to disgraced lobbyist’s firm”). The Northern Mariana Islands are a U.S. Commonwealth in the Pacific Ocean.   They're home to many clothing factories, but are exempt from U.S. labor laws. Schaffer went there in 1999 to investigate allegations of sweat shops, child labor and forced abortions (source: conversation with Schaffer’s spokesperson, Dick Wadhams).  Schaffer’s spokesperson, Dick Wadhams, said the trip was paid for by Traditional Values Coalition, a group that represents thousands of churches. He added Traditional Values Coalition may have ties to Abramoff, but they’re separate from Schaffer’s relationship with the group.

RADIO AD: You claim the trip is work, that you're doing an investigation, but you're investigation doesn't find a thing.

That's not entirely true. Schaffer told reporters he saw some unsafe factories (source: Rocky Mountain News, Lynn Bartels, April 11, 2008: “Schaffer says islands trip was fact-finding tour of sweatshops), but overall conditions weren't bad (source: Denver Post, Michael Riley, 4/10/08 “Abramoff ties could Schaffer’s ’99 fact-finding trip”)

RADIO AD: Was he wrong? The U.S. Department of Interior investigated too and found sweatshops where women workers were forced to have abortions.

That's true. The report was done a year before Schaffer's trip.(source: Babbitt statement on the Marianas Islands, March 31, 1998)

RADIO AD: But Bob Schaffer says I did not observe a forced abortion. Did he look the other way?

In an interview with the Denver Post, Schaffer said he found the Department of Interior reports ‘credible’, but never saw them ‘refuted.’ “In five days, I did not observe a forced abortion or meet anybody who had any knowledge of them,” he told the Post (source: Denver Post, Michael Riley, “Abramoff ties could Schaffer’s ’99 fact-finding trip”). But the way the question is posed in the ad is far-fetched. What are the chances he would happen to see a forced abortion?

RADIO AD: And then you take thousands of dollars in political contributions from the business owners who run the sweatshops.

That's misleading. After the trip, Schaffer received a thousand dollars from two textile companies on the islands. (source: www.open secrets.org). 

RADIO AD: How many wrongs does Bob Schaffer think it takes to make a right?