PolitiFact Texas on the air

Nearly 17 months into our fact checks of Texas political figures, we’ve launched segments on two major outlets–a Dallas TV station and Austin’s National Public Radio outlet, KUT-FM.

The reports for WFAA-TV’s “Inside Texas Politics,” which airs in Dallas at 9 a.m. Sundays, began May 22 with our review of a Republican’s claim that gas prices have gone up $2 since Barack Obama became president. (Scroll about 13 minutes into the video posted to the right and below to see the segment.)

Michael Williams, a former member of the Texas Railroad Commission seeking the U.S. Senate seat to be vacated by Kay Bailey Hutchison, got his dollars and cents right. But his implication that presidents control gas prices is flawed; we rated his statement Half True.

In the initial back and forth on KUT, we recapped memorable statements from the legislative session that was to end Monday. For instance, the interview by KUT’s Emily Donahue touched on Gov. Rick Perry’s accurate claim that he’s the first Texas A&M University graduate to be governor and his not-so-right statement that this year’s budget pinch is not that different than the one faced by the 2003 Legislature. The segment aired during the May 26 “Morning Edition.”

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