Claims Dept: Dellinger ready to fight

bkrueger — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 10:53:13 -0400

Hampton Dellinger, a Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor, has a tv ad that casts him as a fighter for voters, reports David Ingram.

What the ad says: Announcer: “Meet Hampton Dellinger - husband, father, public servant. In the Attorney General’s Office, Hampton took on insurance companies and corporate polluters — and won. In the governor’s office, he helped win a patients’ bill of rights.”

Dellinger: “I’m Hampton Dellinger. Too many politicians in Raleigh have been looking out for the special interests, not you. As lieutenant governor, I’ll be your voice. We’ll find real solutions for families in poverty, help seniors — and students with special needs — and bring good jobs to every part of the state.”

What the ad looks like: The first half shows Dellinger with his family and with voters, on a porch and at a construction site. The second half shows him in an office, wearing a suit and talking to the camera. Throughout the ad, endorsements and other praise appear at the bottom of the screen.

The background: Dellinger was a deputy attorney general and special counsel when Gov. Mike Easley was attorney general and, beginning in 2001, he was the governor’s chief legal counsel. In 2003, he left for private practice. It is true that Dellinger’s duties included work on insurance and pollution issues, often as part of teams of lawyers whose actions forced companies to change their practices. Measuring his accomplishments with hard numbers is impossible. Likewise, he was part of a team of Easley advisers that worked on legislation favoring medical patients that became law in 2001.

Is the ad accurate? Yes. The claims in the ad are sufficiently qualified.

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Claims Dept: Dellinger ready to fight