Grading PolitiFact (Florida): Grover Norquist and half of something

Words matter -- We pay close attention to the specific wording of a claim. Is it a precise statement? Does it contain mitigating words or phrases?
--Principles of PolitiFact and the Truth-O-Meter

The issue:

The fact checkers:

Aaron Sharockman:  writer, researcher
John Bartosek:  editor

Analysis:

This item immediately caught my attention because of the ambiguity.  What does Grover Norquist's statement mean?  What was the original context?  PolitiFact seemed to figure it out easily and quickly:

"FYI," he wrote. "Withheld union dues fund half of Dem (Democratic) campaigns in Florida."

That's an awfully big number. So, FYI, we decided to check it out.

Is it "an awfully big number"?

On its face, Norquist's statement appears to refer to half the total number of political campaigns of Democrats in Florida.  For some as-yet-unknown reason, PolitiFact takes it to mean that withheld union dues provide half the funding for all Democratic campaigns in Florida.

The difference in those two understandings is very substantial.  Use the wrong understanding and the wrong fact gets checked.

Astonishingly (or not, if you follow PolitiFact like I do), once PolitiFact failed to hear back from Norquist or his spokesperson, PolitiFact simply assumed that he was talking about withheld union dues providing half the funding for all Democratic political campaigns in Florida.

Let it be noted that even if those deductions provide every penny of Florida Democratic campaign funds, Norquist is not going to earn a "True" rating simply because his statement could easily represent the idea that at least some funding for half the total number of Democratic political campaigns in Florida came from union dues withheld from paychecks.  PolitiFact tends to penalize when statements lend themselves to misunderstanding.

The subsequent fact check goes out of its way to cut Norquist break after break, for example by dealing with all union contributions to  Democratic campaigns in Florida rather than those that came from paycheck deductions.  No charitable technique (aside from the discarded technique of charitable interpretation) makes the PolitiFact understanding of Norquist remotely accurate.

Apparently it never occurred to the team responsible for the story that Norquist's statement was amenable to a different interpretation than the one they gave it.  Moreover, Norquist's wording apparently seemed to them a completely appropriate way to describe a scenario where half of funding of Democratic campaigns in Florida came from withheld union dues.  They don't even bother paraphrasing it into greater clarity (yellow highlights added):

In both cases, not chump change. But hardly half of what the candidates raised.

Norquist said union dues fund half of Democratic campaigns in Florida. While unions predominantly donate to Democrats, according to research from the National Institute on Money in State Politics, there's no evidence union dues fund anywhere close to half of state Democratic campaigns.

I guess it depends on what "half of state Democratic campaigns" means.

This claim is way off. We rate it Pants on Fire!

Most likely PolitiFact's interpretation of the claim is off by a mile, and even if it doesn't plainly mean something other than what the PolitiFact team thinks it does it is ambiguous to the point that assuming the meaning for purposes of a fact check is inadvisable/foolhardy.

This is yet another flub that is extremely difficult to understand apart from echo-chamber institutional bias at PolitiFact.  Nobody thought the statement might be talking about something other than half of all the funds received by Democratic Party campaigns?

It's kind of hard to believe.


The grades:

Aaron Sharockman:  F
John Bartosek:  F

Journalists reporting badly.

Afters:

Took a stab at doing the fact check my way (based on the most natural understanding of Norquist's claim).

 I looked for matches between campaign contributors and the state of Florida's list of agencies permitted to accept funds withheld from paychecks with an exclusive emphasis on public employee unions.
The list indicates the campaign, followed by the top contributor that apparently meets Norquist's criteria, followed by the total giving from public sector unions.  The database lists 137 Democratic Party campaigns.


Alex Sink & Rod Smith, AFSCME FLORIDA COUNCIL 79, $50,542
Dan Gelber, AFSCME FLORIDA COUNCIL 79, $22,050
Loranne Ausley, AFSCME FLORIDA COUNCIL 79, $18,450
Dave Aronberg, FLORIDA POLICE BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATION, $12,750
Scott Maddux, AFSCME FLORIDA COUNCIL 79, $7,300
Deborah Gianoulis, AFSCME FLORIDA COUNCIL 79, $13,050
Bill Montford, AFSCME FLORIDA COUNCIL 79, $5950
Kevin Rader, AFSCME FLORIDA COUNCIL 79, $14,125
Stacy Frank, AFSCME FLORIDA COUNCIL 79, $14,500
Perry C. McGriff Jr, AFSCME FLORIDA COUNCIL 79, $3,250
Katie Edwards, AFSCME FLORIDA COUNCIL 79, $10,250
Kelly Skidmore, AFSCME FLORIDA COUNCIL 79, $18,250
Adam Fetterman, AFSCME FLORIDA COUNCIL 79, $15,000
Keith Fitzgerald, AFSCME FLORIDA COUNCIL 79, $13,000
Janet C. Long, AFSCME FLORIDA COUNCIL 79, $5,500
Debbie Boyd, AFSCME FLORIDA COUNCIL 79, $7,000
Ron Saunders, FLORIDA POLICE BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATION, $14,500
Gwen Margolis, AFSCME FLORIDA COUNCIL 79, $10,000
Luis Garcia, AFSCME FLORIDA COUNCIL 79, $11,500
Bill Heller, AFSCME FLORIDA COUNCIL 79, $10,950
Joseph Abruzzo, AFSCME FLORIDA COUNCIL 79, $10,750
Franklin Sands, AFSCME FLORIDA COUNCIL 79, $8,500
Michelle Rehwinkel Vasilinda, AFSCME FLORIDA COUNCIL 79, $9,500
Pete Burkert, (none detected from state list), $1,000
Barbra Anne Stern, AFSCME FLORIDA COUNCIL 79, $5,250
Mark Marciano, AFSCME FLORIDA COUNCIL 79
Diane Rowden, (none detected from state list), $3,250
Nan H. Rich, (none detected from state list), $3,850
Z. J. Hafeez, (none detected from state list), $0
Jeffery (Doc) Solomon, AFSCME FLORIDA COUNCIL 79, $4,500
Hava Holzhauer, AFSCME FLORIDA COUNCIL 79, $3,700
Lisa Lesperance, AFSCME FLORIDA COUNCIL 79, $7,000
Steve Barnes, (none detected from state list*), $6,200
Cole Peacock, AFSCME FLORIDA COUNCIL 79, $5,250
Lori Berman, (none detected frm state list*), $1,500
Tim Huth, AFSCME FLORIDA COUNCIL 79, $5,000
Leonard L. Bembry, FLORIDA POLICE BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATION, $5,000
Evan Jenne, AFSCME FLORIDA COUNCIL 79, $4,000
Russ Patterson, AFSCME FLORIDA COUNCIL 79, $2,300
Scott Randolph, AFSCME FLORIDA COUNCIL 79, $9,450
Curtis Richardson, AFSCME FLORIDA COUNCIL 79, $6,800
Darryl Ervin Rouson, FLORIDA POLICE BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATION, $3,500
Rick Kriseman, AFSCME FLORIDA COUNCIL 79, $6,500
Jeremy Ring, AFSCME FLORIDA COUNCIL 79, $3,000
James W. (Jim) Waldman, (none detected from state list), $1,500
Michael Steinberg, (none detected from state list), $2,500
Sandra Ruiz, AFSCME FLORIDA COUNCIL 79, $13,250
Maria Lorts Sachs, FLORIDA POLICE BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATION, $3,000
Mack Bernard, AFSCME FLORIDA COUNCIL 79, $5,000
Rick Minor, (none detected from state list), $0

Page one results, 41 of 50 received support from public labor unions listed to use automatic payroll deduction.

Mark S. Pafford, FLORIDA POLICE BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATION, $6,700
Michael Hageloh, (none detected from state list), $0
Alan Williams, (none detected from state list*), $3,000
Martin David Kiar, FLORIDA POLICE BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATION, $7,000
Hazelle P. Rogers, AFSCME FLORIDA COUNCIL 79, $4,000
Irving (Irv) Slosberg, (none detected from state list*), $3,750
Amy C. Tidd, (none detected from state list), $5,250
Nancy Feehan, (none detected from state list), $2,000
Janet Cruz, AFSCME FLORIDA COUNCIL 79, $7,500
Amy Mercado, AFSCME FLORIDA COUNCIL 79, $3,750
Gwydolen (Gwyn) Clarke-Reed, AFSCME FLORIDA COUNCIL 79, $3,000
Darren Soto, AFSCME FLORIDA COUNCIL 79, $5,500
Ari Abraham Porth, AFSCME FLORIDA COUNCIL 79, $3,000
John Patrick Julien, (none detected from state list*), $1,750
Dwayne L. Taylor, FLORIDA POLICE BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATION, $5,500
Jeff Clemens, AFSCME FLORIDA COUNCIL 79, $7,750
Millie Herrera, AFSCME FLORIDA COUNCIL 79, $5,500
Dwight M. Bullard, AFSCME FLORIDA COUNCIL 79, $7,000
Elena McCullough, (none detected from state list), $500
Reggie Fullwood, (none detected from state list*), $1,500
Justin Flippen, (none detected from state list), $0
Alix Desulme, (none detected from state list*), $3,500
Pete Brandenburg, (none detected from state list*) $500
Eleanor Sobel#, (none detected from state list), $0
David B. Pleat, (none detected from state list), $1,250
Perry E. Thurston Jr, (none detected from state list*), $1,500
Elaine J. Schwartz, FLORIDA POLICE BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATION, $1,500
Arthenia L. Joyner, FLORIDA POLICE BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATION, $1,500
Joseph (Joe) Gibbons, (none detected from state list*), $2,500
Sheldon (Klassy) Klasfeld, (none detected from state list), $0
Tom McKone, AFSCME FLORIDA COUNCIL 79, $500
Mia L. Jones, FLORIDA POLICE BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATION, $2,000
David Chalela, AFSCME FLORIDA COUNCIL 79, $500
Betty Reed, FLORIDA POLICE BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATION, $2,000
Ron Miranda, (none detected from state list), $0
Steve Perman, (none detected from state list), $0
Frank Layne Wood, (none detected from state list), $3,000
Cynthia A. Stafford, (none detected from state list*), $2,500
Oscar Braynon II, AFSCME FLORIDA COUNCIL 79, $3,000
Les Gerson, AFSCME FLORIDA COUNCIL 79, $500
Todd Christian, (none detected from state list), $2,250
Leo Cruz, (none detected from state list*), $1,750
Jodi James, (none detected from state list), $1,000
Jon Paugh, (none detected from state list), $0
Richard L. Steinberg, FLORIDA POLICE BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATION, $2,000
Johnny G. Farias, (none detected from state list), $0
Geraldine F. Thompson, (none detected from state list), $500
Nina Hayden, (none detected from state list), $0
Dominique Simon, (none detected from state list), $0
Charles S. (Chuck) Chestnut IV, (none detected from state list), $500

Page two results, 21 of 50 received support from public labor unions listed to use automatic payroll deduction.

Bess McElroy, (none detected from state list), $0
Kevin Burns, (none detected from state list), $0
Michael Etienne, (none detected from state list), $0
Daphne Campbell, (none detected from state list), $0
Claudia Brown-Curry, AFSCME FLORIDA COUNCIL 79, $500
Doug Courtney, (none detected from state list), $0
Christopher (Chris) Smith#, (none detected from state list*), $500
Tom Collins, (none detected from state list), $1,000
John Labriola, (none detected from state list), $0
Eunice Garbutt, (none detected from state list), $0
Cristina Albright, (none detected from state list), $0
Christopher Carlos Cano, (none detected from state list), $500
Carole Penny Kaye, (none detected from state list), $0
Mary Russell, (none detected from state list), $0
Joe Pishgar, (none detected from state list), $0
Brian P. Moore, (none detected from state list), $0
Matthew Tisdol, AFSCME FLORIDA COUNCIL 79, $2,500
April Danielle Sheffield, (none detected from state list), $0
Kionne L. McGhee, (none detected from state list), $0
Bernadine Bush, (none detected from state list*), $2,500
John McDonald, (none detected from state list), $0
Michael A. Hepburn, (none detected from state list), $0
Lee Douglas, (none detected from state list), $0
Robert (Bob) Blanco, AFSCME FLORIDA COUNCIL 79, $500
Jay A. Thompson, (none detected from state list), $0
Andrew Frank Saltman, (none detected from state list), $0
Alex Cruzet, (none detected from state list), $0
Eddie Freeman, (none detected from state list), $0
Carol Castegnaro, (none detected from state list), $0
Roy Hardemon, (none detected from state list), $0
Janet Havet, (none detected from state list), $0
Shelly Leonard, (none detected from state list), $0
Larcenia J. Bullard#, (none detected from state list), $0
Anthony C. (Tony) Hill Sr.#, (none detected from state list), $0
Gary Siplin#, (none detected from state list), $0
H. David Werder, (none detected from state list), $0
Frederica Wilson#, (none detected from state list), $0

For page three, 3 out of 37 received support from public labor unions listed to use automatic payroll deduction.

Overall, 64 of 137 Democratic Party candidates met Norquist's criteria.  Excluding candidates not up for re-election (6), the numbers change to 64 of 131 (49 percent).  Excluding the losers of primary elections also changes the numbers, this time to 60 out of 102 (59 percent).  Either figure roughly supports the more likely interpretation of Norquist's statement.



# -candidate not up for election
italics-candidate lost in primary
*-though union not detected on state list, shared a name with an entity on the list so may have received dues via payroll deduction directly or indirectly.