Kay Hagan's ad
Here's Kay Hagan's first television ad:
It's an upbeat affair, although manages to stay clear of any images that we scruffy media types might call "gauzy," the vogue code-word for sappy.
Looking over the script, there's really only one line where anyone could quibble with the facts: "And she brought change: raising the minimum wage, expanding health care, and strengthening local schools."
Expanding health care and strengthening local schools is a common claim for legislators. Since Hagan was part of the appropriations teams that wrote bills that did make health care coverage more widely available and did things like increase teacher salaries, she can lay claim to those as well as probably any one of 30 members of the General Assembly during the past 10 years.
"Raising the minimum wage" might be dicier and here's why: Within the General Assembly the House was the first chamber to really push for the minimum wage. And within the House, Rep. Alma Adams, who like Hagan is from Greensboro, was the recognized leader of the 2006 effort that was eventually successful.
When the measure crossed to the Senate, the chamber held the measure up as the state budget was negotiated. Essentially the minimum wage increase to $6.15 an hour seemed to be a barter item in the budget negotiations.
Also, when the Senate did finally get around to passing the minimum wage, there was some drama about instituting a "training wage," that would have been lower than the minimum. Hagan was among a number of Senate Commerce Committee members who initially voted for the training wage before reversing themselves under pressure from groups like the NAACP.
So if someone wanted to tug at the loose threads on that claim, they might get somewhere.
