It is hard to miss the attack ads in the governor’s race. Former Governor Charlie Crist is running against incumbent Rick Scott in this November’s general election. Both sides are using TV ads to the other’s credibility.

Most recently, you may have seen ads tying both candidates to the same convicted Ponzi schemer, Scott Rothstein.

An ad by the Crist campaign claims:

    “Now he’s teamed up with a felon convicted of running a Ponzi scheme to smear Charlie Crist with false attacks.”

PolitiFact Florida rated the claim for its truthfulness. Writer Linda Qiu said the claim rates FALSE. According to Qiu, the timeline just doesn’t match up.

“By the time this man was arrested in December of 2009, Scott hadn't even entered the governor's race,” Qiu said. “He entered the governor's race five months later in April 2010.”

There is one link between Scott and Rothstein. It’s an ad that the Republican Party of Florida produced attacking Crist for his connections to Rothstein. PolitiFact rated that ad half true.

But the Crist ad uses the phrase “teaming up”, which implies Scott and Rothstein worked together at some point. Because there is no evidence that the paid crossed paths, PolitiFact rated the claim as FALSE.

SOURCES: SCOTT ROTHSTEIN APPEARS IN ANOTHER CAMPAIGN AD