Titus launches new ad, defends Heck criticism

Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., on Tuesday launched a new ad attacking Joe Heck, the Republican challenging her in Nevada's Third Congressional District.

The new ad says Heck, a former state senator, "supports the same lax regulations and economic policies that created this mess," and cites Heck's stated support for extending tax cuts enacted during the administration of George W. Bush.

President Barack Obama has proposed that the tax cuts expire for the wealthy -- individuals earning more than $200,000 and families with earned income of more than $250,000 -- but should be made permanent for everyone else, which he puts at roughly 98 percent of households.

Heck and others, mainly Republicans, have argued in favor of extending the tax breaks for everyone, including the wealthiest 2 percent.

The ad also criticizes a state senate bill by Heck that gave tax breaks to banks and his opposition of a Titus bill of a property tax freeze for homeowners.

In an interview last month Heck said of the vote, "It was going to freeze property taxes for a year with no long term solution."

"Instead we opted to cap property taxes at 3 percent," he said of the proposed freeze which was supported by Titus.

In addition to launching the new ad, Titus spokesman Andrew Stoddard defended an earlier claim that Heck's signature on an anti-tax pledge from Americans for Tax Reform, or ATR, amounts to support for tax breaks Democrats say give companies incentives to ship jobs overseas.

The claim is included in an ad attacking Heck, but has been criticized as misleading by non-partisan observers who say the pledge didn't cite specific tax breaks, it was instead a pledge to keep taxes at or below current levels in general. Related blog: Ad attacks Titus on taxes.

Said Stoddard in defense of the tax attack: "ATR has said flat out that a vote for a bill that closes tax loopholes companies use to ship jobs overseas is a violation of their pledge. It doesn’t get any clearer than that."