DNC alleges ‘baseless’ Boehner arguments in web video

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) is using “baseless” claims to attack the stimulus plan, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) said in a new web video.

Pouncing on recent reports from Ohio newspapers that Boehner’s district had benefited from millions stimulus funds, the DNC asserted Boehner now leads “the party of no facts” in Congress.

Boehner has reasserted himself as a top voice for Republicans in Congress, especially since his “fili-Boehner” speech ahead of the vote on climate change legislation had provoked a groundswell of support from conservatives.

DNC Press Secretary Hari Sevugan suggested Wednesday that Boehner may have deliberately mislead the public about the effects of the stimulus program.

Boehner has maybe been “willfully misleading the public about the effect of the President’s economic recovery package to score political points,” Sevugan suggested.

“Either way, considering that the Republican ‘alternative’ included ZERO funding for construction projects, it’s the height of hypocrisy for Boehner to criticize the status of these projects at all,” Sevugan added. “I’d say it’s time for John Boehner to decide who he really represents — the people of Ohio or the ‘Party of NO’ — but he’s already made that clear through his false and irresponsible claims.”

Update, 9:40 a.m.: Boehner spokesman Michael Steel emailed a response to the DNC ad:

Ohio was very nearly the last state to get the first 50 percent of its stimulus construction money obligated for construction projects, which is ridiculous. As of late May, approximately, no contracts had been signed. Since that time, some contracts have been belatedly set in motion, but the entire process has been absurdly slow-moving — just as Republicans warned it would be last winter when we called for an economic recovery bill based on fast-acting tax relief for small businesses and working families rather than spending on slow-moving government programs. It’s embarrassing that the DNC can’t defend its own indefensible trillion-dollar stimulus that isn’t working and resorts to desperate tactics like this.

Watch the video below: