Misleading ad links Dole to tax breaks for oil companies

******

CORRECTION

An article on Page 3B Thursday about a campaign ad attacking U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole incorrectly said that the group sponsoring the ad, Majority Action, was created by investor George Soros. It was founded by Democratic consultants Mark Longabaugh and Donnie Fowler with some financial support from Soros.

******

SPONSOR

Majority Action, a 527 group created by investor George Soros.

WHAT THE AD SAYS

AUDIO: "Chevron, $18.7 billion. BP, $20.8 billion. ExxonMobil, $40.6 billion. Big oil companies are making billions at our expense. And where has Elizabeth Dole been? In Washington, taking over a quarter-million in campaign cash from big oil and voting to give them billions more in tax breaks. Tell Elizabeth Dole we need lower fuel costs, not billions for big oil."

IMAGES: The ad flashes corporate logos as ominous music plays and a narrator talks about Dole's record. Text on the screen reproduces phrases from two news articles: "Big Oil's Big Windfall ... a minimum of $7 billion and as much as $28 billion" and "$2.6 billion for oil and gas industries."

WHAT THE RECORD SHOWS

Oil companies drilling on federal land typically pay a royalty fee. In 1995, Congress created a royalty relief program for oil companies to spur production in the Gulf of Mexico. Waivers granted between then and 2000 added up to at least $7 billion in lost revenue for the federal government.

Dole was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2002.

As part of an omnibus energy bill in 2005, Congress extended some of the royalty relief provisions by another five years, but it cost far less than the previous measure. Dole voted for that bill.

Though an exact figure is not available, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the extensions and several other provisions in the 2005 bill would cost the federal government about $200 million over the following five years.

Apart from royalty relief, the 2005 energy bill included $2.6 billion in tax cuts for oil and gas companies, but it also included $2.9 billion in tax increases -- a net tax increase for the industry.

Congressional budget analysts say they do not consider the royalty relief program to be a "tax break," although it has a similar effect on the federal budget.

Dole has received $266,456 in campaign contributions from people associated with the oil and gas industry since 2002 and an additional $35,000 from oil and gas companies' political action committees, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Bill Buck, executive director of Majority Action, defended the ad, but did not offer any other specifics. "We assert that Senator Dole voted for billions in tax cuts for the oil industry because it is true," he said in e-mail.

IS THE AD ACCURATE?

In large part, no. The ad does not back up its claim that Dole has given "billions ... in tax breaks" to oil companies. The $7 billion figure cited is wildly inaccurate, because it refers to legislation from before Dole's time in the Senate and is not even properly termed a "tax break." The $2.6 billion figure is also misleading, because it leaves out the offsetting tax increases in that bill.