Former Rep. J.D. Hayworth (R-AZ), who is challenging Sen. John McCain in the Republican primary, just can’t avoid having to talk about his involvement in a 2007 infomercial for a company offering questionable seminars on how to receive “free money” from government grants. His latest, from a Wednesday interview on local radio: The grants really do exist! (Note: They really don’t.)
“Oh yeah, it’s the one where the, they call it an infomercial — a video presentation. I recorded it back in 19 — I beg your pardon, back in 2007, three years ago. And they’re using all these false attacks saying, ‘free money,’” said Hayworth.
“First of all, I never ever used that term. I made it very clear that no money that comes to the government is free — that it comes through taxation. But there are grants. And just as - well, let me use my old days at Channel 10. We wouldn’t beat up Dave Munsey for telling us, ‘You know, it’s gonna be hot today, in the triple digits.’ We might not be happy with that news. It might not comport with what we’d like to have happen. But it’s reality, in terms of the weather forecast. The fact is, those grants exist.”
Not exactly. As a disclaimer on Grants.gov warns consumers: “We have all seen them; late night infomercials, websites, and reference guides, advertising ‘millions in free money.’ Don’t believe the hype! Although there are many grants on Grants.gov, few of them are available to individuals and none of them are available for personal financial assistance. To find an alphabetical listing of federal personal assistance visit USA.gov website’s Government Benefits, Grants, and Financial Aid page. Find out if you are eligible to apply for grants on Grants.gov, watch this helpful animated eligibility tutorial.”
I asked Hayworth spokesman Mark Sanders for comment on the government disclaimer, as well as how Hayworth’s comparison of a weatherman delivering bad news is similar to his paid appearance in an infomercial promoting the personal acquisition of federal money. Sanders referred back to Hayworth’s statement from last week, in which Hayworth called the ad a ‘mistake’ he should not have participated in, and asked voters to look beyond it.
The 2007 informercial first came to light two weeks ago. Hayworth’s initial explanation for the informercial — and the company’s spotty history with consumer protection complaints — was to declare that he had been unaware of the history. In another gaffe, he stood by his involvement by using an old Latin phrase: “I always say about any product or service, one of the staples I learned growing up is caveat emptor, ‘buyer beware.’ I think that is a given in any commercial endeavor - I would certainly hope in this one. But yeah, I’m a broadcaster, and yeah, I appeared in this, and yes, it was a job. And that’s that.”
Hayworth then came under fire from all sides. The McCain campaign has run TV and Web ads calling Hayworth a “huckster.” And Glenn Beck, who is not even remotely a fan of McCain’s, declared: “I believe we can announce on this program that J.D. Hayworth’s campaign is over.” Beck cited the fact that Hayworth was trying to run on a Tea Party platform of cutting government, but had in the last few years hawked a program for people wanting to get money handed to them by the government.
Hayworth then subsequently released the statement, mentioned above: “I should not have made the ad. It was a mistake…I hope voters will look past a video presentation made three years ago and instead look at the issues confronting us in 2010.”
Eric Kleefeld
Eric Kleefeld joined TPM as an intern for the final months of the 2006 midterm elections, and then kept showing up for work. His other interests include guitars, old comic books and the politics of various English-speaking countries.
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