VOTE 2010: NC Democrats – Pantano changes stories

THE FOLLOWING IS A NEWS RELEASE FROM THE NORTH CAROLINA DEMOCRATIC PARTY

RALEIGH, NC – In this afternoon’s Star News, Ilario Pantano’s campaign for Congress did a 180 degree about-face on the charges that they edited their campaign television ads to cover up Pantano’s controversial past. In previous responses, the campaign said they edited the commercials to ensure they remained within 30 second limits, but NOW they say the edits were designed to hide specific information that they no longer believe is “relevant.”

The information selectively edited out of their commercial included Pantano’s past work at Goldman Sachs and his being charged with murder.

“It’s now increasingly clear that Ilario Pantano thinks he should be the judge of which parts of his past are subject to public scrutiny,” said Andrew Whalen, Executive Director of the North Carolina Democratic Party. “First, Pantano said he was editing away his past to fit into the time of a commercial, but now it’s clear that was another lie. He edited out his controversial past because he didn’t think it was ‘relevant’ for voters to know, and then he lied about hiding his past because he was worried he’d been caught. Between the changing stories and the rewritten histories, it’s becoming increasingly clear how dangerous the real Ilario Pantno really is.”

When the video editing first came to light on September 24th, Pantano’s campaign asserted they were merely edited to fit into the 30 second time window for the commercial.

Background

Today’s Star News reports that Ilario Pantano deliberately edited his television commercials to hide his controversial past working at Goldman Sachs and being charged with murder in Iraq and cited for failing morals and judgment. [Star News, 10/5/10]

Yesterday the Start news reported that North Carolina Democrats urged Pantano to apologize for selectively editing commercials to hide his past. [Star news, 10/4/10]

Tea Party Activist Endorses Democrat in NC. “A leading tea party activist broke ranks Monday to endorse Democratic Rep. Mike McIntyre, expressing concern about a Republican challenger who was once charged with murder.” [Associated Press, 10/4/10]

N.C. Republican edits out controversial bio details in new ad. “A North Carolina House candidate is using edited news footage in his latest TV ad. Republican Ilario Pantano, a former Marine who’s challenging Rep. Mike McIntyre (D-N.C.), cut from the clips mentions of how he was once charged with murder of two Iraqi civilians while serving during in combat there and that he had worked for the investment bank Goldman Sachs.” [The Hill, 9/24/10]