How does PolitiFact Georgia’s Truth-O-Meter work?
Our goal is to help you find the truth in American politics. Reporters from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution fact-check statements by local, state and national political leaders, including lobbyists and interest groups. We then rate them on the AJC Truth-O-Meter.
To fact-check a claim, reporters first contact the speaker to verify the statement. Next, the research begins. Reporters consult a variety of sources, including industry and academic experts. This research can take hours or a few days or even longer, depending on the claim. Reporters then compile the research into story form and include a recommended Truth-O-Meter ruling.
The fact check then moves on to a panel of veteran editors who debate the statement and the reporter’s recommended Truth-O-Meter ruling. The panel votes on a final ruling; majority prevails.
The Truth-O-Meter was smoking last week, spitting out a Pants on Fire ruling on a Democratic claim that Ted Cruz, U.S. senator from Texas and Republican presidential hopeful, “technically, is not even an American.”
Shades of the so-called birther claims about President Barack Obama. Only this time, it was a Democrat attacking a Republican.
We also checked out a fish story — yes, really — from President Barack Obama.
Locally, we looked at a statement by Charlotte Nash, chair of the Gwinnett County Commission, that Gwinnett government had increased staffing by only 1 percent since 2008, while population had risen 15 percent.
Want to comment on our rulings or suggest one of your own? Just go to our Facebook page (
). You can also follow us on Twitter (
).
Full versions can be found at www.politifact.com/georgia/.
Alan Grayson on Wednesday, November 25th, 2015 in an interview on the “Alan Colmes Show” on Fox News
“Technically, (Ted Cruz is) not even an American.”
Florida Democratic Congressman Alan Grayson, a U.S. Senate candidate, has threatened to file a lawsuit the minute Cruz’s nomination is confirmed.
“Technically, he’s not even an American,” Grayson said about Cruz in an exchange on Nov. 25, 2015 with Fox Radio host Alan Colmes.
Cruz is an American by any definition. He travels on a U.S. passport. He’s a member of the U.S. Senate, which requires him to be a citizen for nine years. There is no gray area on whether he is an American.
Cruz was born in Calgary, Alberta, on Dec. 22, 1970, to his Delaware-born mother Eleanor Darragh and Cuban-born father. If Darragh was an American, then under American law, Cruz was an American at birth.
Not so fast, warns Grayson. He challenges the premise that Darragh was an American when Cruz was born.
We pressed Grayson on whether he actually meant that Cruz is not an American and he raised the idea that his very citizenship, gained through his mother, is flawed.
Grayson provided no proof that Cruz’s mother had become a Canadian citizen. Even if she had, under current law and policy she would still be an American. And so, too, would Cruz.
We rated this statement Pants on Fire.
Charlotte Nash on November 17th, 2015
Since 2008, Gwinnett County’s population has grown 15 percent, while the county government staff has increased only 1 percent.
Some local governments, including Gwinnett County, are still dealing with the effects of the Great Recession.
They’re planning to set aside money in their 2016 budgets to continue restoring programs and jobs that were slashed or frozen when the economic bottom fell out.
Gwinnett’s tax digest grew steadily until 2009 but lost 21 percent of its value by 2013, Gwinnett Commission Chair Charlotte Nash said Nov. 17.
The digest is rebounding but isn’t expected to be back to its 2008 level until 2018, she said.
So while Gwinnett’s population has grown 15 percent since 2008, the county government staff has only increased by 1 percent, Nash said.
PolitiFact confirmed that the number of authorized positions in county government increased by 42, from 4,893 to 4,935, between 2008 and 2015, while the county population grew from an estimated 780,721 to 898,450.
Governments across the nation cut or froze jobs during the Great Recession, and some, including Fulton and DeKalb counties have smaller staffing today than they did in 2008.
We rated Nash’s statement True.
Barack Obama on Tuesday, December 1st, 2015 in a press conference
“You go down to Miami and when it’s flooding at high tide on a sunny day, fish are swimming through the middle of the streets.”
As the world watched President Barack Obama’s news conference about climate change, he drew on South Florida to illustrate a point about the impact — and he zeroed in on fish.
“As the science around climate change is more accepted, as people start realizing that even today you can put a price on the damage that climate change is doing — you go down to Miami and when it’s flooding at high tide on a sunny day, fish are swimming through the middle of the streets, you know, that — there’s a cost to that,” Obama said at the climate change conference in Paris Dec. 1.
Fish have been seen (and videotaped) on the streets. But that’s been in the low-lying areas that surround Miami, not on the streets in the city proper.
And the sightings were rare, occurring during dramatic” king tides,” when high tides are at their highest, not during average daily high tides.
Overall, we rated Obama’s statement Half True.
Hillary Clinton on Tuesday, December 1st, 2015 in a post on her campaign website
“Ted Cruz tried to ban contraception” five times.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called out Republican rival Ted Cruz for a contradiction on contraception after Cruz made a widely aired comment about condoms on his college campus.
It started when Cruz mocked a consistent charge from Democrats that Republicans are against birth control during a Nov. 30, 2015, campaign stop in Iowa.
“Last I checked,” Cruz said, “we don’t have a rubber shortage in America. Look, when I was in college, we had a machine in the bathroom, you put 50 cents in and voila. So, yes, anyone who wants contraceptives can access them, but it’s an utter made-up nonsense issue.”
The Clinton campaign didn’t think much of his comment, challenging Cruz with a post on its website headlined, “Ted Cruz says no one’s trying to ban contraception. Here are 5 times Ted Cruz tried to ban contraception.” It added, “Cruz has personally tried to make it harder for women to get birth control.”
There’s little doubt that Cruz is a strong opponent of abortion. As such, he and other anti-abortion advocates find certain types of contraception objectionable.
But the Clinton campaign’s examples don’t exactly show Cruz trying to push across-the-board bans on contraception.
We rated Clinton’s statement Mostly False.
