A new ad aired by the Democratic Party of Virginia features an elderly woman who claims to be dependent on social welfare programs despite being a frequent political contributor over the past decade.
Peggy Borgard says that she fears a Ken Cuccinelli governorship because she is reliant on Social Security and Medicare.
"Now I’m retired and I do rely on Social Security and Medicare," Borgard stated in the ad.
Borgard, however, has been an active political contributor to Virginia democrats.
According to data from the Virginia Public Access Project, Borgard has contributed $1,770 to Democratic candidates since 2009.
Borgard contributed an additional $700 to federal candidates and committees in 2012 alone, including a $500 contribution to ActBlue PAC.
Borgard has made $9,218 worth of in-kind donations to Katherine Graziano for Richmond City Council in the past decade.
Fact checkers have also criticized false claims Borgard makes about the content of Cuccinelli’s book The Last Line of Defense.
"In his book, Cuccinelli questions whether Medicare and Social Security should exist," stated Borgard, "It scares me to think of Ken Cuccinelli as governor."
The Washington Post’s Glenn Kessler awarded the ad "three pinocchios," meaning the ad had a "significant factual error and/or obvious contradictions."
The ad directs us to page 62 of Cuccinelli’s book, in which he discussed increased dependence by people on inefficient government programs but comes far from advocating for their elimination.
"These programs make people dependent on government," wrote Cuccinelli. "And once people are dependent, they feel they can’t afford to have the programs taken away, no matter how inefficient, poorly run, or costly to the rest of society."
FactCheck.org pointed out that Cuccinelli actually explicitly refutes exactly what the ad accuses him of saying later in the book.
"I’m not questioning here the existence of these programs nor the wisdom of how much money is spent on them," wrote Cuccinelli on page 238, "What I’m trying to illustrate is that most dollars that government spends do not create economic growth but instead take money out of the hands of the people who do create economic growth."