Ad attacking McCrory based on facts

This money trail is well-marked:

In a Schedule 14a proxy filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Tree.com reported paying McCrory $78,333 in cash and $62,500 in stock during 2009. That total compensation would be more than $140,000. McCrory still serves on the Tree.com board, and SEC reports indicate his total compensation is more than $100,000 each year.

Binker did a good job on this fact-check, although the presentation leaves something to be desired. The actual fact-checking comes after an analysis of who paid for the ad itself, and an impatient reader might just quit reading before the getting to the info quoted above. In which case, the fact-check itself becomes misleading. As to this finish:

So is the ad truthful or not?

As with many political ads, its authors can claim cover from documents ranging from SEC filings to news releases issued over the years. Each specific piece of information is truthful in its own right.

The question is less about the specific facts cited – whether McCrory received a certain amount of compensation – than the overall implication. The ad implies a quid pro quo where its creators cannot prove one exists. Further, mayors in North Carolina regularly have private sector employment, and the suggestion that this was somehow unusual in McCrory's case in unfair.

Bolding mine. In the world of professional politicians who have decades of experience hiding their dirty laundry, sometimes an implication based on facts is all you're going to get.

McCrory went to bat for the company, and a few years later (while he was still a public servant) got a cushy job on its Board. It doesn't take a rocket scientist (or a seasoned journalist) to see the connection.