Karl Rove Group Runs Ads Explaining Benefits Of Unions

Karl Rove's corporate front-group Crossroads GPS is spending $750,000 to run ads [1] explaining that unionized workers make 42% more than non-union workers. From the Politico story [1] about the ad buy,

Crossroads GPS is airing the ad on national cable. The buy is $750,000 over one week, with spots running on CNN, CNBC and Fox News.

While this sounds to most people like a pretty darn good reason to join a union, the Cato Institute says that the Rove group is overstating the case. In Right-leaning think tank says Rove group "misrepresented" its data in ad attacking public employee unions [2], at the Washington Post, Greg Sargent writes,

The author of the Cato Institute study cited in the ad tells me the spot "misrepresents" his study's findings. ... The ad says that unionized government workers get paid 42 percent more than non-unionized workers in general, a charge that seems intended to turn non-unionized workers of all kinds against unionized public employees.

I'm not sure why anyone thinks that telling people that unions help workers get paid more is supposed to turn workers against unions. It seems to me to be a pretty good argument for joining a union, actually.

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