Leonard Lance won a seat in Congress ten years ago after running a TV ad criticizing rival Linda Stender for a series votes to raise taxes when she served in the State Assembly.

The “Linda Stender is a Spender” ad became legendary in New Jersey politics.

Now facing a tough re-election campaign against former Assistant U.S. Secretary of State Tom Malinowski, Lance is back on the air with a TV ad that again seeks to tag his Democratic opponent with a memorable catch phrase.

Tax Cheat Tom.

The problem for Lance is the ad struggles to be factually accurate. There is no evidence that Malinowski is a tax cheat.

The ad claims that Malinowski “cheated on DC taxes” by receiving a homestead tax deduction on his Washington, D.C. home by claiming to be a city resident. But according to records at the Washington. D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue, Malinowski is not claiming a tax exemption.

Records show that Malinowski has not benefited financially from the local tax deduction since he returned to New Jersey last year to challenge Lance.

Lance’s ad uses an old document, not the one that was most recently filed.

The Lance campaign defending their attack on Malinowski.

“Voters deserve to know that Tom Malinowski lived in one place and voted in another,” said Jim Hilk, Lance’s campaign manager.

Lance’s allegation appears to revive criticism of Malinowski by Linda Weber during her short-lived bid for the Democratic House nomination in New Jersey’s 7th district earlier this year. Weber criticized Malinowski for living in Washington and for moving to New Jersey to run for office.

Malinowski grew up in central New Jersey, where his aunt, Anne Martindell, represented parts of Hunterdon and Morris counties in the State Senate.

Webber’s criticism of Malinowski’s residence caused a backlash among Democrats. Malinowski wound up winning organization lines in all six counties in the district, and Weber dropped out of the race before the winter was over.

Lance uses Weber’s attack – “even Democrats say he’s earned the title Tax Cheat Tom” – in his ad, even though Webber pulled her Facebook ad after being denounced by other party leader.

At the time, Democrats claimed that residency attacks and Washington, D.C. homestead rebate issues are part of a coordinated effort by national Republicans to smear a large group of former Obama administration officials who are running for Congress throughout the country this year.

“The ad doesn’t strike me as particularly effective, and it certainly doesn’t touch on any of the issues that are salient to voters this year. In fact, it’s not going to resonate with anyone who has ever owned property elsewhere. I think that’s probably why they used the light music and sound effects,” said Micah Rasmussen, the director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University. “In my campaign days, we used to say they were going to hit you with something, and if this was all they had, you were in good shape.”