The State periodically analyzes political ads related to state legislative races. To watch this ad, go to http://www.thestate.com/ and click on the S.C. Politics link.

WHAT IT’S ABOUT

• Democratic state Senate nominee Joel Lourie’s education funding proposals

WHO’S BEHIND IT

• South Carolinians for Responsible Government, a policy organization that supports school choice and lower taxes. The group said this is the first ad it has run targeting a politician.

WHAT IT CHARGES

• That Lourie believes the only way to show concern for schools is to increase education funding, even though the state already pays “nearly $10,000 a year per student” and accounts for a third of all state taxes and two-thirds of property taxes

• It also says Lourie’s policies will lead either to a “job-killing tax increase” or cuts in other areas, specifically mentioning police protection as a possible cut.

WHO IT TARGETS

• Low- and middle-income voters who are struggling to deal with rising property tax rates

• People who are skeptical of how education dollars are allocated to school systems

LOURIE’S TAKE

• Lourie held a news conference Friday to denounce South Carolinians for Responsible Government as a front group for organizations such as Michigan-based All Children Matter, which he said advocates shifting resources from public schools to vouchers and tax incentives for private schools.

• He said he has never said the state would have to choose between supporting either education or police officers.

THE BOTTOM LINE

• Lourie has advocated increased funding for education. He has tried unsuccessfully to get the Legislature to pass an increase in the cigarette tax and a half-cent increase in the state sales tax.

• The ad’s figures on per-student spending are too high. That is either the result of excessive rounding or a distortion, depending on how you calculate the figure. The state education department calculated per-student spending at $7,232 in 2003. That figure increases to $9,130 per student if you include capital expenses allocated through a state-funded bond referendum.

• Lourie has never suggested decreasing funding for state troopers.

RESPONSES

• In a tense encounter, Lourie’s Republican opponent, Ken Wingate, showed up uninvited when Lourie held a news conference about the ad at the law office of his late father, former state Sen. Isadore Lourie. Wingate was there to explain why he supports Put Parents in Charge, a proposal to offer tax incentives to parents to help pay for private school, and to indicate he had nothing to do with the ad.

• Pressed further, Wingate said he would not denounce the group running the ad because it is a S.C.-based organization. “I welcome their participation,” he said.

— By John C. Drake