Murphy Releases First Ad of 5th District Campaign

U.S. Congressman Chris Murphy (CT-5) has released the first ad in the race for Connecticut's 5th District, touting his credentials as a deficit hawk and involved politician. The campaign of State Sen. Sam Caligiuri (R-16), the Republican challenger, responded, calling out Murphy for his votes on the bailout, stimulus package and health care.

In his ad, Murphy claims to have voted against the budget due to high spending and to be working with Republicans to pass a bill requiring all tax dollars be spent on American products and contractors using American labor.

"Chris' first ad reflects the positive energy that this campaign is running on," Murphy's campaign manager Kenny Curran said. The ad "highlights Chris' work to create jobs in Connecticut and reduce spending in Washington."

"Murphy's ad is a blatant attempt to mislead voters about his record and the failed fiscally irresponsible policies he has supported in Congress," Caligiuri countered. "The ad says that he voted against 'the budget,' when he has voted for every federal budget that has come before him. The only thing he voted against was a procedural budget vote, after this Congress became the first in 35 years to fail to pass a budget resolution."

In 2010, according to Congressional records, Murphy voted 'yes' to 19 appropriations bills (17 of which passed) and 'no' to eight (two of which passed). The vote referenced in the ad is H.R. 4899, a multi-part appropriations bill that passed the House in late July.

Murphy voted against the resolution in March (which passed the House 239 to 175) and then again against two amendments in July, both of which failed. Murphy also voted for two amendments during the same session in July, one of which passed and the other failed. Murphy ultimately voted against the reconciliation bill (the final bill that is agreed upon by both the House and Senate), which passed the House 308 to 114 with the required two-third majority.

"He threw in this election year 'no' vote because he knows that his record of being a tax-and-spend Pelosi loyalist means that he is out of step with that voters in Connecticut's 5th District want," Caligiuri said. "He has an utter lack of credibility as a fiscal conservative."

"The difference between Chris and Caligiuri is that Chris has new ideas about how to get the state's economy back on track," Curran said, "Not Caligiuri's tried and failed policies of the Bush Administration that got us into this mess."

Along with registering a 'no' vote against the budget, Murphy and Republican Walter Jones (NC-3) have created the Buy American Caucus in Congress and the Buy American Act, which "governs federal procurement," according to the campaign. The legislation includes two bills: the first to require that all purchases using taxpayer dollars come from American manufacturers and a second requiring all federal contract bids to include information about the number of American jobs that would be retained or created.

The Buy American initiative "came straight from the businesses [Murphy's] visited" during a 41 Towns in 41 Days tour that began on August 1, Curran said.

After the culmination of his tour, Caligiuri extended an offer for 41 debates "in each of our 41 towns" in the 5th District. "This election year is too important to voters to keep them in the dark on the most important issues we are facing as a state and a nation," Caligiuri said. "Murphy has touted his token stops in each town, but visiting a handful of doors does not bring the real discussion to each of the 41 towns in our district — debates do."