HEADLINE-GATE: Politician publishes ad with fake Rockland County Times headline

BY DYLAN SKRILOFF

On Friday, November 2, an advertisement hit Facebook featuring a false headline underneath the masthead of the Rockland County Times paper. The fake headline directly contradicts what the paper had actually reported, reading: “BREAKING NEWS: Tom Basile will break the tax cap.” The actual headline on the website reads, “Stony Point Budget comes in under tax cap…”

The Rockland County Times strongly condemns the New York State Democratic Senate Campaign Committee and Assemblyman James Skoufis’s campaign for placing this false and misleading ad. Further more, the characterization of Basile and the Stony Point Town Board as tax-hikers is completely incorrect. The town has been frugal with public spending for many years, often lowering taxes and constantly seeking new rateables for the tax base. By contrast, Skoufis’s Democratic majority in the Assembly and Governor Andrew Cuomo have continued  tax and spend policies, as well as fostered a pay-to-play culture that rewards opportunity to political donors.

Basile’s campaign responded to Skoufis’s deceptive advertisement on Friday, stating in a press release that his opponent was “desperate and without a clear path to victory,” and thus took to fabrication “more fake news on Facebook about Tom Basile’s record on the Stony Point Town Board.”

Stony Point Town Supervisor Jim Monaghan has also called the tactics of Skoufis “deliberately misleading and false.”  

Basile campaign spokesman Bob Driscoll said, “James Skoufis just keeps on lying. He’s lied repeatedly about Tom Basile’s record. He’s lied about cutting taxes when he’s voted for billions in tax increases. He’s been caught hiding a $1.7 million NYC residence while telling people he lives in Woodbury. Now he’s making up headlines. He’s shameless and will say anything to save his flailing campaign.”

  basile, headline-gate, skoufis