Former Sen. Russ Feingold (D., Wis.) was hit with the worst possible rating from PolitiFact over his change of tune when it comes to campaign contributions.
Feingold, who is running for Senate in Wisconsin in an attempt to regain the seat he lost to current Republican Sen. Ron Johnson in 2010, has long promised that he would rely on more than half of his political contributions coming from people within the state of Wisconsin.
Feingold has shattered the "Garage Door Pledge" he first made in 1992 during the current election cycle with 57 percent of his campaign contributions pouring in from outside of Wisconsin.
Due to the longtime career politicians’ complete reversal on his pledge, PolitiFact has bestowed a "Full Flop" upon Feingold.
PolitiFact Wisconsin writes:
Times change. And so do positions.
Cue the Flip-O-Meter, which examines whether a politician has changed position on an issue. Remember: It does not measure whether any change is good or bad policy or politics, only whether the candidate has been consistent.
The more-than-half-from-Wisconsin pledge is not a 1992 campaign relic. Feingold followed it in his re-election bids in 1998, 2004 and in 2010.
This time around it was clear early on that Feingold planned to run a different kind of campaign….
Feingold said he will not operate in this campaign by the pledge he made in past races.
"It makes no sense now," he said.
They later explained their rating:
In four Senate campaigns, Feingold abided by the pledge he inscribed on his garage door: He would raise the majority of his campaign cash from Wisconsin residents.
Feingold said he was changing with the times, and is no longer bound by his previous pledge.
That’s a complete reversal. And a Full Flop.
America Rising PAC press secretary Amelia Chassé said the "full flop" rating was hardly surprising.
"In what must have been the easiest fact check in history, former Senator Feingold's abject failure to keep his promise to fundraise from within Wisconsin has been officially ruled a ‘full flop,’" Chassé said in a statement. "Even more disappointing—but hardly surprising at this point—is former Sen. Feingold's dishonest attempt to explain away what a fraud he's become."
America Rising first noticed the rating.