Do the ads add up?

The answer: Not all the way.

The blistering political ads now blanketing Oregon’s airwaves and filling mailboxes are part of the regular ebb and flow of elections – yet many of this year’s claims are misleading.

The attack ads are aimed at both Republican and Democratic voters, who face a deadline Tuesday to deliver ballots to election offices. It is too late to send ballots in the mail.

Ad No. 1

Target: Ron Saxton

By: Kevin Mannix

What the ad says: Saxton supported a three-year Multnomah County income tax surcharge, which expires this year.

Response: He does not support the tax. In 2005, he said the three-year tax shouldn’t be renewed. In a 2004 television commentary, he said the tax gave businesses a reason to leave town, but didn’t call for its repeal because it would mean less for schools. ”A local income tax was a bad idea when initially proposed and is still a bad idea,” he said, but ”repealing the tax will have one huge victim, our children in the county’s schools.” In 2003, however, his law firm and his wife contributed money to the campaign advocating for the tax.

Ad No. 2

Target: Ron Saxton

By: Kevin Mannix

What the ad says: Saxton has supported Democratic candidates, such as Bill Clinton.

Response: As the head of one of the state’s largest law firms, Saxton signed off on hundreds of corporate political donations, including to candidates he didn’t personally support. Over the years, he gave much more heavily to Republicans.

Ad No. 3

Target: Ron Saxton

By: Ron Saxton’s Real Good Friend Neil Goldschmidt Committee

What the ad says: Saxton has flip-flopped on crime and Measure 11.

Response: Saxton supports Measure 11, the tough-sentencing law that was passed by voters in 1994, and has never voiced support for any repeal. However, he did say in an interview in 2001 that the law is ”rigid.”

Ad No. 4

Target: Kevin Mannix

By: Ron Saxton

What the ad says: Mannix must have a special deal with his biggest financial supporter, a person with a raunchy Web site who has contributed more than $600,000 to his campaign.

Response: Donors give money without any behind-the-scenes deals with the candidate. The donor, medical equipment mogul Loren Parks, is a longtime supporter of Mannix and conservative causes, but also parted ways with Mannix over Oregon’s assisted suicide law, which Parks supported and Mannix did not. Parks, now 80, once billed himself as a sexual hypnotist.

Ad No. 5

Target: Kevin Mannix

By: Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde

What the ad says: Mannix voted to raise taxes 83 times.

Response: As a legislator in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Mannix – then a Democrat – did vote to advance revenue-raising bills including a gas tax increase and a referral that asked voters to pass a sales tax. But Mannix switched parties to Republican in the late 1990s, became chairman of the state Republican Party and has signed a no-new-tax pledge, as have his two primary opponents.

Ad No. 6

Target: Gov. Ted Kulongoski

By: Former Treasurer Jim Hill

What the ad says: Kulongoski supports a sales tax

Response: The governor has no such plan. However, he has said he is open to discussing a sales tax.

Ad No. 7

Target: Gov. Ted Kulongoski

By: Oregonians Against Off-Reservation Casinos (Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde)

What the ad says: Oregon led the nation in school cuts.

Response: The cuts were from an amended budget signed by his predecessor, Gov. John Kitzhaber, as a result of the early 2000s budget collapse. During Kulongoski’s term, school funding has increased by more than $1 billion.

Ad No. 8

Target: Jim Hill

By: Gov. Ted Kulongoski

What the ad says: Hill is shilling for the Grand Ronde tribe, a narrow special interest.

Response: Hill opposes any off-reservation casinos, and the Grand Ronde support did not influence his decision. Hill said in a televised debate he would have allowed the casino on tribal land in Hood River instead of Cascade Locks.