Pelosi-allied PAC hits Bresnahan with another unfounded claim, stops ad

Editor’s note: Since this article was published, Broad + Liberty has learned that HMP created a new version of the ad that overdubs “Bresnahan was given a company” with “Bresnahan was given an executive job.” We have also learned that while some airings of the former inaccurate phrase were canceled, it continues to air in Wilkes-Barre.

House Majority PAC (HMP), the political outfit that recently mischaracterized northeastern Pennsylvania congressional candidate Rob Bresnahan’s (R) abortion stance, just ran another inaccurate advertisement. 

The new ad was so misleading about Bresnahan, currently running in the 8th Congressional District against Democrat incumbent Matt Cartwright, that Bresnahan was able to get the ad canceled from airing. While some airings continue in Wilkes-Barre, a re-edited version has been released as well.

The video depicts several costumed, prop-toting narrators taking turns bemoaning what they see as the Republican’s professional shortcomings. One young man holding a skateboard says, “Rob Bresnahan was handed the keys to his family fortune as a teenager.” Then a twenty-something male in a matte cap and gown complains, “Most of us get diplomas; Bresnahan was given a company.” 

But no evidence suggests anyone gave Exeter-based Kuharchik Construction to Bresnahan. Yes, Bresnahan’s grandfather started the electrical contracting firm and Bresnahan became its CFO when he was nineteen. Nevertheless, long before the candidate launched his congressional bid, he attested to buying the entity from his grandparents after graduating college. A new version of HMP’s video overdubs “Bresnahan was given a company” with “Bresnahan was given an executive job.”

In a March 2022 appearance on the On the Stacks podcast, Bresnahan recalled purchasing the company only after meeting his grandmother’s condition that he receive “a four-year college degree from an approved university of her choosing.” He graduated from the University of Scranton in 2012 and, according to his attorney’s missive to TV broadcasters, bought the family business at a fair-market rate. He was no longer “a teenager” like the ad said he was. 

“In fact, he purchased a debt-laden business and turned it into a successful operation, something HMP certainly doesn’t want viewers to know,” lawyer Jessica Johnson of the Holtzman Vogel firm wrote to station executives. “This advertisement is, at best, ignorant, and, at worst, intentionally deceitful. Regardless, it cannot be permitted to continue to air on your stations or elsewhere. With so much at stake this election, voters at the very least deserve to be told the truth about their candidates.”

Incidentally, the ad’s comment that “most of us get diplomas” also doesn’t jibe with local reality; no county in the district has a majority college-graduation rate for adults aged 25-64. Post-secondary degree-holders comprise 43 percent of that demographic in Lackawanna, 38 percent in Pike, 38 percent in Luzerne, 37 percent in Monroe and 31 percent in Wayne. Bresnahan, at any rate, has a diploma, despite the video insinuating that he doesn’t.

This isn’t the first time HMP put an erroneous anti-Bresnahan spot on the airwaves. In late summer, the PAC released a TV ad stating the candidate wanted to “pass a national abortion ban [with] no exceptions,” something he went on record opposing on August 14. HMP didn’t answer a request for comment before Broad + Liberty published that story nor did the committee respond to an inquiry about the newer ad depicting Kuharchik’s ownership transfer as a gift. 

Whether Johnson’s letter motivated the PAC to cancel continued broadcasts or not, airing reports indicate they stopped early Tuesday morning despite contract records showing the ad was slated to keep running until Monday, September 23.

HMP is widely recognized as closely tied to former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). Its president, Mike Smith, was one of her senior advisers. While the committee can’t legally coordinate with Cartwright’s campaign on media content or strategy, it’s a key supporter of his. HMP spent $1,121,238 advocating against Bresnahan and donated $10,000 to Cartwright so far this year, topping its financial support for virtually all other recipient candidates. 

Whatever the congressman himself has to say about his booster’s misstatements is unknown; his campaign did not reply to an email asking about that. Bresnahan spokesman Chris Pack lamented the Democrat’s silence about HMP’s media output.

“Maybe he didn’t do the ad, but he has a voice and he can speak out against these false ads and he’s choosing not to and that speaks volumes on its own…,” Pack said. “He doesn’t care if the people he represents are lied to as long as it’s in support of him.”  

Pack also observed irony in Cartwright supporters’ choosing to underscore Bresnahan’s wealth; the congressman had plenty of it himself when he took office in 2013 and gained more over time according to financial disclosure documents and independent analysis. The campaign-finance data aggregator Open Secrets estimates the University of Pennsylvania-educated attorney had a net worth of $2.5 million in 2013 and a net worth of $3.3 million in 2018. 

“The truth is that while Cartwright has made Congress work for him and his bank account, Rob has worked to grow a successful business that provides 150 good-paying union jobs to the people of Pennsylvania,” Pack said.

This article has been updated to included new information about changes to the wording of the ad.

Bradley Vasoli is a writer and media strategist in Pennsylvania. You can follow him on X at @BVasoli.