Press Release: Pinocchi-Rounds' Caught In Another Lie -- This Time With Rapid City Journal B1-B Ad

Press Release

Embattled US Senate candidate Mike Rounds is under fire again today for yet another lie, this time in a print ad in the Rapid City Journal yesterday that wrongly claimed that a national organization, the Council for a Livable World, and Rick Weiland oppose the B-1B bomber and want to close Ellsworth Air Force Base.

In fact, neither the Council for a Livable World or Rick Weiland oppose the B-1B bomber and neither has ever advocated closing Ellsworth Air Force Base.

"A shamefully desperate Mike Rounds has been caught in yet another lie in a pattern that is becoming all too familiar and sad -- this time by running an ad in the Rapid City Journal that is not only false but is scurrilous. Their characterization that the Council and Rick Weiland want to "scuttle" the B-1B bomber and shut down Ellsworth Air Force base is completely and blatantly false. And Mike Rounds knows it. In fact lying has become so much a part of Mike Rounds' DNA that even Pinocchio would be embarrassed," said Weiland Campaign Manager Kris Swedin.

The Weiland campaign isn't the only aggrieved party to Rounds' lie.

Angela Canterbury, Executive Director for the Council had this to say in response to Rounds' ad, "The ad is simply incorrect. The Council for a Livable World does not advocate closing Ellsworth Air Force Base. Council for a Livable World does not support scuttling the B-1B bomber. The President does not support scuttling the B-1B bomber. The ad is made up out of whole cloth. The B-1B is a 1980's program that we opposed when it was first initiated--when it had nuclear weapons capability--but that's ancient history. In 2014, under President Obama, the Air Force began a multi-year technological overhaul and upgrade of its B1-B Lancer long-range bomber fleet, which we do not oppose. Mike Rounds is making this up."

Unfortunately, this newest lie by Mike Rounds is only the latest in a growing and disturbing pattern.

Last spring, the Rounds campaign aired an ad claiming that Obamacare would "steal" $716 billion from Medicare. The state's leading newspaper and national fact check organizations called the ad false and misleading, but Rounds continued to air television, radio and print ads about the issue.

But Rounds was just getting started.

This summer, Rounds was caught submitting false testimony to the state legislature's Government, Operations and Audit Committee in answering questions about his role in the EB-5 scandal.

Then, other South Dakota political reporters recently reported that Rounds had been dishonest with them in interviews on answers Rounds gave them on the EB-5 timeline as new evidence discovered in the shadowy case surfaced.

The truth in the B-1B bomber and Ellsworth Air Force Base lie of Rounds' is that Rick Weiland is a strong supporter of both Ellsworth and the B-1B bomber. Rumored reports of another round of base closures come up from time to time. "Ellsworth has proved its strategic importance in earlier base closure efforts. It's clearly an integral part of our nation's security and I would make that case as your next US Senator," Weiland said.

Ironically, the biggest threat to the B-1B bomber and Ellsworth may well come from Big Money. Precious Defense Department dollars are being wasted by Big Money defense contractors. Big Oil corporation Halliburton is one of the main culprits.

"I believe there are other areas of the military we can look to cut. The defense procurement system is riddled with inefficiency and corruption. Last year, a bipartisan commission reported that US taxpayers lost up to $60 billion because of contractor fraud and waste during the past fifteen years. We paid a group called KBR, better known here in America as Halliburton, $36 billion to provide base support in Iraq. The report showed that Halliburton's employees worked as little as 43 minutes a day," Weiland concluded.

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