Thursday, January 29th, 2015
Contorno

Steve Contorno

PolitiFact Staff Writer

Steve Contorno is a staff writer for PolitiFact. He previously covered Congress and Virginia politics for the Washington Examiner as well as state and local governments in Wisconsin for the Green Bay Press-Gazette. A native of the Chicago suburbs, Steve graduated from the University of Illinois with a bachelor's degree in news-editorial journalism and a minor in political science, and holds a master's degree in public affairs reporting from the University of Illinois-Springfield, where he covered the Illinois legislature for the Chicago Sun-Times.

Email: scontorno@politifact.com

The latest Truth-O-Meter items from Steve Contorno

Half-True

Makes it sound better than it is

Barack Obama
Barack Obama

"In Iraq and Syria, American leadership, including our military power, is stopping (the Islamic State’s) advance."

Mostly False

Counting payments to Bush loans

Barack Obama
Barack Obama

"The auto companies have now repaid taxpayers every dime and more of what my administration invested in."

Mostly True

We're closer to New Guinea than New Zealand

Barack Obama
Barack Obama

The United States is "the only advanced country on Earth" that doesn’t guarantee "paid maternity leave to our workers."

False

It's much, much less

Rand Paul
Rand Paul

"Over half the people on disability are either anxious or their back hurts."

Mostly False

It pays to work

Marco Rubio
Marco Rubio

"If people work and make more money, they lose more in benefits than they would earn in salary."

True

No doubt

Bob Goodlatte
Bob Goodlatte

"The President has decided to move forward with executive actions on immigration that he has said on numerous occasions that he didn’t have the constitutional power to take."

— PolitiFact Virginia

Mostly True

Castros have kept Cubans from connecting

Marco Rubio
Marco Rubio

"The reason why Cubans don't have access to 21st century telecommunications — like smart phones, like access to the Internet — is because it is illegal in Cuba."

Pants on Fire!

Did King read the report?

Peter King
Peter King

"Nobody suffered any lasting injuries" from the CIA interrogation program.

Mostly True

We'd be more like Europe without them

Barack Obama
Barack Obama

"We are younger than our competitors, and this is entirely because of immigration."

Mostly False

No concrete evidence

Richard Saslaw
Richard Saslaw

Female students at UVA "have a 20 percent chance of being sexually assaulted."

— PolitiFact Virginia

Recent stories from Steve Contorno

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We combed through every line in Obama's 2015 State of the Union. Learn the facts behind the speech. Joni Ernst's 2015 State of the Union rebuttal: annotated PolitiFact's live blog for the 2015 State of the Union and GOP response  
On

Joni Ernst's 2015 State of the Union rebuttal: annotated

Learn the facts behind Sen. Joni Ernst's 2015 GOP response to the State of the Union.  
On

Fact-checking claims about Cuba

New rules about normalizing U.S.-Cuba relations set off political claims from Sen. Marco Rubio, U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart and others.
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Fact-checking the 2015 State of the Union and GOP Response

PolitiFact's coverage of the 2015 State of the Union and GOP response.      
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Fact-checking U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio's new book 'American Dreams'

The Florida senator -- and potential 2016er -- has a new book out. We fact-checked three statements from it about welfare, education and government regulation.
On

Fact-checking U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio's book 'American Dreams'

The senator from Florida (and a potential 2016er) has a new book out. We fact-checked three statements from it about welfare, education and government regulation.   Help fund PolitiFact’s Kickstarter to live fact-check the 2015 State of the Union and GOP response. 
On

What we know about Steve Scalise attending a white power event

We sift through conflicting accounts from May 2002, when the European-American Unity and Rights Organization held a conference in the New Orleans area. Help PolitiFact fund live fact-checking of the 2015 State of the Union and GOP response.
On

The top 10 most viewed fact-checks of 2014

We count down the 10 fact-checks readers clicked on the most in 2014. Help PolitiFact fund a Kickstarter to live fact-check the 2015 State of the Union and GOP response
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PolitiFact Florida's top 10 fact-checks for 2014

You'd think in an election year we'd hear more about the gubernatorial candidates, but the Affordable Care Act, undocumented immigrants and birth control were popular topics, too. With a second term for Rick Scott, we add promises to the Scott-O-Meter Help PolitiFact fund a Kickstarter to live fact-check the 2015 State of the Union and GOP response  
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18 fact-checks of things that were wrong on the Internet

From wild claims about the Obamas to Fox News to Ferguson, we found lots to fact-check from the Internet in 2014. Here are 18 doozies.
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