Republican Attack Ad Withdrawn, Revised

The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) withdrew and revised an ad attacking Charlie Wilson, a Democratic candidate for the House in Ohio. The NRCC removed a reference to an FBI investigation before re-airing the ad.The ad attacks Wilson for his role in a 1990's environmental scandal, when he headed a water authority that was fined more than $770,000 for repeatedly dumping untreated wastewater into the Ohio river.

A federal administrative law judge also found that the board Wilson headed unlawfully fired the whistleblowing employee who tried to correct the dumping violations.

The original ad was incorrect in one respect – the local FBI office says no formal investigation was opened. However, we find the rest of the ad is substantially true. In fact, the record shows state officials did conduct a criminal investigation of the dumping and referred evidence to a federal prosecutor, who declined to press charges.

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