Josh Mandel on Free Trade

FactCheck: Brown voted against China trade & moving jobs

Can Mandel back up his claim? A campaign spokesman sent several points:
• The federal stimulus bill in 2009 led to taxpayer money being spent on wind turbine parts made in China. "The purpose of the bill was to provide jobs in the US, not China."
• Excessive federal regulations that Brown supports "destroy American jobs and drive businesses overseas."
• This country's high corporate tax rate "puts America at a competitive disadvantage and drives jobs overseas."
• "Unchecked federal borrowing and spending (supported by Brown) dissuades job-creating investment in America."

Criticizes opponent for helping move jobs to China

Can Mandel back up his claim? A Mandel campaign spokesman said in an email, "The federal stimulus bill in 2009, on which Brown voted yes, led to tens of millions in taxpayer money being spent on wind turbine parts made in China."

But the wind project with the Chinese connection never got completed. Since companies could only collect money after completion and the program expired last year, it is safe to say that the amount that went to China was "zero."

We find Mandel's claim was overly broad; dead wrong in the case of his most concrete backup examples and, overall, just not accurate.