On Tuesday, PolitiFact weighed in on a statement made by House Ethics Committee Chairman Joe Wilkinson. Politifact declared Wilkinson’s statement that Georgia’s Ethics laws are among the toughest in the nation is “false.”Peach Pundit went on to publish an answering message from former Georgia state senator Dan Moody. Moody makes a great point that PolitiFact's grading of Wilkinson falls into the realm of editorial judgment, deciding what criteria qualify as the proper ones to rank the strength of state ethics laws.
Wilkinson and Moody argued that disclosure laws serve as the foundation of state ethics law. PolitiFact disagreed and pinned the "False" on Moody.
Hilariously, PolitiFact didn't even bother to quote Moody in its fact check. It graded Moody based on a paraphrase appearing in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the PolitiFact affiliate in Georgia.
Didn't the reporter retain notes that would have allowed readers access to Moody's actual statement?
Unbelievable.
We always try to get the original statement in its full context rather than an edited form that appeared in news stories.
About PolitiFactVisit Peach Pundit to read Moody's riposte in full.
Edit 11/13/11: While doing some formatting work on the site after midnight I accidentally spilled some water on Gizmo and somehow this review re-posted with a new date. I "corrected" the date to 9-27-11, the day prior to when this articles "tweet" was sent, which is standard for us. Sorry for the confusion. Jeff
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