So when accusations of lying get thrown about the political battlefield, as they often do, I can usually head on over to the Tampa Bay Times’ fact-checking website Politifact to help clear things up. The ‘Snopes for politics’ operation has usually done a decent job in covering elections and candidate statements. As expected, they had a commentary on the recent back and forth over Hillary Clinton’s ties to fossil fuel industry lobbyists (Warning: autoplaying video):

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2016/apr/01/sorting-out-clintons-fossil-fuel-contributions/

The author, C. Eugene Emery Jr., does a decent job in laying out the facts of the situation as far as I can tell, but where he goes wrong is this statement (emphasis mine):

The Greenpeace report goes a step further to include $4.25 million going to Priorities Action USA, the super PAC that supports Clinton. But it’s a stretch to draw a direct line between those super PAC donations and Clinton’s campaign. Under federal law, the candidates have no control over super PAC spending.

Whoaaaaaaa there, I know that the journalists over at Politifact know better than to say that a candidate has no direct connection to their supporting Super PAC and can’t be held accountable for those donations.

In fact, they just published a really nice summary of the influence on Super PACs in this year’s presidential race:

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/sep/30/bernie-s/bernie-sanders-only-presidential-candidates-withou/



In that article Linda Qiu lists Priorities Action USA as an affiliated Clinton Super PAC, and then goes on to elaborate what this means (emphasis again mine):

Affiliated super PACs are often created or staffed by the candidate's political allies and act as extensions of the official campaigns. Though these independent groups are not allowed to donate directly to or coordinate with campaigns, they’ve have found ways to toe the line. A few examples: Jeb Bush’s longtime strategist and friend Mike Murphy heads his Right to Rise super PAC, which has advertised on his behalf. Hillary Clinton’s 2008 campaign manager Guy Cecil is at the helm of the pro-Clinton Priorities Action USA, while her current campaign manager has met with potential PAC donors.

Using their own words as evidence, I rate their assertion that “it’s a stretch to draw a direct line between those super PAC donations and Clinton’s campaign”, as PANTS ON FIRE!