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NEW TV AD: What “Asa Did” to Arkansas Families

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Jobs and Opportunity, an organization affiliated with the Democratic Governors Association, today launched a new television ad in Arkansas highlighting what Congressman Asa Hutchinson did during his time as a D.C. lobbyist and big-spending Washington bureaucrat.
“Asa Did” is the second spot in a new advertising campaign launched last week. The first, “Potential,” features an Arkansas teacher illustrating how Congressman Hutchinson lost touch with the priorities of Arkansas families during the time he worked in Washington and was registered to vote in Virginia.
Watch the ad HERE.
“Congressman Hutchinson left the people of Arkansas and the state’s values of commonsense and fiscal responsibility behind when he went to D.C. and started making backroom deals against the interests of middle-class families,” said Jobs and Opportunity spokesman Danny Kanner. “Throwing more than a million taxpayer dollars around for bonuses for bureaucrats and an extravagant birthday party just isn’t how things are done in Arkansas. Either Hutchinson forgot that simple fact or never understood it in the first place.”
Here’s the ad backup:

VISUAL AUDIO  
Voted Against Tax Relief
for Arkansas Families
-HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES VOTE 94, 2001
ANNCR: No Washington politician should ever forget who they work for.
 
ANNCR: But, Asa Hutchinson did.
Asa Hutchinson, on May 2, 2001, voted against the Neal amendment to H.R.10, which was an amendment to add provisions to H.R.10 to give “refundable tax credits up to $1,000 annually to low- and middle-income employees who contribute to IRAs and employer-sponsored retirement pension plans including 401(k) plans.”  The amendment also would have allowed “a three-year tax credit for small employers of 50 percent of the costs incurred in establishing such pension plans” and would have offered “them a 50 percent credit for
certain employer contributions to retirement plans on behalf of non-highly paid workers.”  (CQ Vote Summary of House of Representatives Vote 94, 2001)
     
 Bonuses Averaging $16,000
Associated Press 10/14/04
ANNCR: No DC insider should allow huge taxpayer funded bonuses to government bureaucrats, but Asa did. Under Asa Hutchinson, “the transportation agency gave management bonuses averaging $16,000, one-third higher than in any other federal agency.”  (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 01/15/06)
 
An “investigation by the Homeland Security Department’s inspector general…found the TSA gave its senior executives bonuses averaging $16,000, higher than at any other federal government agency.”  (Associated Press Online, 10/14/14)
     
“a $461,000 Birthday Party”
Chicago Tribune 4/20/05
 
Report Cites
“Waste and Abuse”
Chicago Tribune 4/20/05
ANNCR: And no political appointee should ever allow half a million in tax dollars to be spent just to throw a birthday party.  Well, you guessed it.  Asa did that, too. “In November 2003, the Transportation Security Administration, which was under [Asa] Hutchinson, spent nearly $500,000 on a banquet for employees, which included $1,500 for three cheese displays.”  (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 01/15/06)
 
According to an Associated Press story with the headline, “Report Finds Lavish Spending at TSA,” the agency “spent nearly a half-million dollars on an awards ceremony at a lavish hotel, including $81,000 for plaques and $500 for cheese displays.”  (Associated Press Online, 10/14/14)
 
The Washington Postcalled this event a “birthday party and awards banquet.”  (The Washington Post, 04/20/05)
 
It “threw itself a $461,000 birthday party and awards banquet.”
 
In the report, which was released in April 2005, “the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general blamed TSA management for allowing ‘waste and abuse.’”  (Chicago Tribune, 04/20/05)
Tell Asa Hutchinson
to Stop his
Wasteful Spending
 
PAID FOR BY JOBS AND OPPORTUNITY
ANNCR: Asa Hutchinson did all that in Washington, DC, but that’s not how we do things in Arkansas. Asa Hutchinson, on May 2, 2001, voted against the Neal amendment to H.R.10, which was an amendment to add provisions to H.R.10 to give “refundable tax credits up to $1,000 annually to low- and middle-income employees who contribute to IRAs and employer-sponsored retirement pension plans including 401(k) plans.”  The amendment also would have allowed “a three-year tax credit for small employers of 50 percent of the costs incurred in establishing such pension plans” and would have offered “them a 50 percent credit for
certain employer contributions to retirement plans on behalf of non-highly paid workers.”  (CQ Vote Summary of House of Representatives Vote 94, 2001)
 
Under Asa Hutchinson, “the transportation agency gave management bonuses averaging $16,000, one-third higher than in any other federal agency.”  (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 01/15/06)
 
An “investigation by the Homeland Security Department’s inspector general…found the TSA gave its senior executives bonuses averaging $16,000, higher than at any other federal government agency.”  (Associated Press Online, 10/14/14)
 
“In November 2003, the Transportation Security Administration, which was under [Asa] Hutchinson, spent nearly $500,000 on a banquet for employees, which included $1,500 for three cheese displays.”  (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 01/15/06)
 
According to an Associated Press story with the headline, “Report Finds Lavish Spending at TSA,” the agency “spent nearly a half-million dollars on an awards ceremony at a lavish hotel, including $81,000 for plaques and $500 for cheese displays.”  (Associated Press Online, 10/14/14)
 
The Washington Postcalled this event a “birthday party and awards banquet.”  (The Washington Post, 04/20/05)
 
It “threw itself a $461,000 birthday party and awards banquet.”
 
In the report, which was released in April 2005, “the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general blamed TSA management for allowing ‘waste and abuse.’”  (Chicago Tribune, 04/20/05)

 

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