Fox's Luntz Fails To Disclose Relationship With Former GOP Clients He Praises

Written by Remington Shepard

Published

Fox News contributor and Republican pollster Frank Luntz praised the ability of Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) to communicate without disclosing that both men were past clients of his.

During a Fox & Friends appearance on Wednesday, communications strategist Luntz claimed that “almost no politician is connecting right now” with voters because “the American people are so angry and frustrated with Washington.” He then highlighted the supposed ability of Rubio and Ryan to connect with voters, highlighting real-time responses given by his focus group as Rubio talked about immigration and Ryan talked about federal debt.

Luntz claimed that the tone Rubio used in the remarks Luntz selected for the focus group is “why he is becoming one of the most popular politicians in America today.” Luntz added that the Ryan remarks he selected for the focus group proved that Ryan “has this ability to transcend traditional partisan politics”:

Luntz did not disclose that both lawmakers were formerly his clients. According to a January 2012 Wall Street Journal article, Rubio hired Luntz to help him craft his “100 Innovative Ideas for Florida's Future” when he was speaker of the Florida House of Representatives:

Mr. Rubio, a budding GOP activist in Miami when Mr. Gingrich unveiled the Contract With America in 1994, modeled his speakership on Mr. Gingrich's. He recruited Frank Luntz, who did polling work for the Contract With America, to help him craft his “100 Innovative Ideas.” In a 2006 speech before the Florida House, Mr. Gingrich singled out Mr. Rubio, who was about to become the state's first Cuban-American speaker, as a potential national figure.

“Rubio's approach...came straight from the concept of the Contract,” Mr. Luntz said, adding that Messrs. Rubio and Gingrich “shared a similar approach to governing.”

And according to Federal Election Commission filings from the 2012 election cycle, Luntz received $45,000 from Ryan's congressional campaign for polling and consulting services.

Luntz previously praised Ryan in his capacity as CBS analyst while failing to disclose his financial ties to the Ryan campaign. Luntz also praised an American Crossroads anti-Obama ad during the 2012 presidential election without disclosing that Crossroads paid him for surveying and polling services.