Corker's New Ad

I'm a little surprised by U.S. Senate candidate Bob Corker's most recent ad slamming his two opponents over immigration, skyrocketing federal spending, congressional payraises and being registered lobbyists.
Corker's tv ads have, to date, been more about his accomplishments and not about the job his opponents had done. And with early voting underway and the election just two weeks away, many are surprised to see Corker go negative.
I spoke to Ben Mitchell, Corker's campaign manager, today. He says after 18 months of being pummelled by his opponents, Corker wanted to make sure voters understood the differences between him and them; and this ad, Mitchell's says, spells it out clearly.
I also spoke with the Van Hilleary and Ed Bryant campaigns today. Both demanded the ad be "taken down."
Hilleary's people called it a "blatant" lie. "Political campaigns, when they get desperate, twist the truth," said Hilleary's Jennifer Coxe.
Bryant's people expressed similar sentiments. The ad is "not just misleading, its totally wrong," said Andrew Shulman with the Bryant campaign.
Both were especially upset over the accusation that Bryant and Hilleary had voted to raise their pay.
The Corker campaign cites a December 2000 House vote as evidence of Bryant and Hilleary voting yes to raise their pay. They point to a Boston Globe story (12/16/00) on that vote:
"Congress limped out of town last night, months past its scheduled adjournment date, after working out a budget package...the bill also includes funding for other federal agencies and paves the way for lawmakers to receive a $3,800 pay raise."
The vote in question was an omnibus bill, officially known as the 'Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2001. It covered three appropriations bills: Labor/HHS/Education, Legislation Branch, and Treasury/Postal Services. Plus some non-appropriation legislation, including Medicare and Medicaid, small business, taxes and immigration.
The Bryant and Hilleary campaigns say there is no pay raise language in the bill and challenged the Corker campaign to find it.
The Corker campaign refuses to budge. I asked if they were going to take the ad down? "Absolutely not, it's 100 percent accurate and we stand by it.."
To understand all this, it helps to know that back in 1998, Congress approved a cost of living adjustment (COLA) for themselves that automatically kicks in every year - unless its specifically voted down. Because of some legislatative sleight of hand, voting the COLA up or down never got to a floor vote in 2000, meaning an automatic payraise in 2001.
So, I guess you could argue that voting for the omnibus bill, which included the Treasury bill, was, indirectly, voting to raise Congress' pay. Certainly the Boston Globe and others reporting that the vote "paved the way" for the increase, saw it that way.
What the ad doesn't say, however, is that both Hilleary and Bryant, have a long and consistent record of voting against the payraise whenever it did manage to make it to a floor vote.