2016 FL Senate race: on Government Reform


David Jolly: OpEd AdWatch: Worked for lobbyists associated with Pakistan

Jolly's years as a lobbyist fed attacks during the 2014 special election. In a campaign ad, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee accused his former firm, Van Scoyoc Associates Inc., of lobbying `for hundreds of millions (of dollars) for a dictator in Pakistan.`

The dictator in the ad was former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, and experts we talked to agreed with describing him as a dictator. The ad used guilt by association, but was careful not to claim Jolly himself lobbied for the country, which he never did.

The commercial veered close to the line, implying that Jolly's firm did something unethical when, so far as we know, it acted lawfully and as other lobbying firms regularly do. We rated the claim Half True.

Source: PolitiFact AdWatch on 2016 Florida Senate race Jul 20, 2015

  • The above quotations are from 2016 Florida Senate race: debates and news coverage.
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