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Brad Schneider upset about Dold TV ad in 10th District race

Democratic congressional candidate Brad Schneider is steamed about an opposition commercial he claims takes remarks he made out of context.

Schneider wants Republican incumbent Robert Dold to pull the 30-second TV ad, which debuted last week.

The commercial twice uses a snippet of a comment Schneider made during a Democratic Party primary forum in February while talking about investing in infrastructure.

“I would borrow money all day long, if the cost of borrowing is less than the expected return,” Schneider said during the debate at the Hyatt Deerfield.

The Dold video cuts out the second half of the sentence, however, making Schneider appear willing to borrow money without any conditions.

Dold’s ad also accuses Schneider of wanting to raise taxes in such a way that families would pay an additional $7,000 annually to the government. The Schneider campaign repeatedly has called the sum false.

“This misleading ad put out by Congressman Dold’s campaign takes a remark completely out of context and uses false figures in a blatant effort to mislead voters and distort my positions,” Schneider said in an email.

Dold campaign spokesman John McGovern offered no apologies.

“It’s astonishing that Brad Schneider would accuse anyone of distortion, especially since he has repeatedly and blatantly misrepresented Bob Dold’s positions on a number of issues,” McGovern said in an email.

When asked to explain the math behind the $7,000 income-tax figure, McGovern pointed to data from the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.

The group’s website says its district-by-district estimates were based on the impact of several tax policies set to expire in 2013 and taxes created by the health care reform law.

During the primary, Schneider repeatedly said all of the Bush-era tax cuts should expire. He now supports retaining the tax break for people earning less than $250,000 annually.

Dold consistently has said he wants them all extended.

Schneider, of Deerfield, is trying to unseat Dold in the 10th House District. Dold, of Kenilworth, is vying for a second term.

The edited snippet of Schneider talking about borrowing first surfaced in a YouTube video created by the Illinois Republican Party that’s been on the Internet since September.

But Schneider saved his ire for Dold, saying the “crudely edited video” is an attempt to mislead voters.

Dold isn’t happy with some of Schneider’s TV spots, either.

Dold was particularly incensed by an ad that quotes a Houston Chronicle column and refers to him as a “Tea Party loyalist.” Although the print version of the Chronicle used the phrase, the version available online was changed.

Dold, who paints himself as a moderate and has distanced himself from the conservative Tea Party, also has objected to an accusation in the ad that he supports drilling for oil in Lake Michigan.

Dold, a vocal supporter of the Great Lakes environment, has called that allegation “absolutely outrageous.”

The Schneider campaign stands by the ad. Team Schneider even repeats the Lake Michigan claim in a new commercial funded by the campaign and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

The 10th District includes parts of Lake and Cook counties. It stretches from Lake Michigan into the North and Northwest suburbs.

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Republican U.S. Rep. Robert Dold, left, and Democratic challenger Brad Schneider recently debated before ABC 7 cameras. Photo courtesy of ABC
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