Gov. Craig Benson manipulated and exaggerated claims in ads blasting the corporate environmental record of his Democratic opponent, John Lynch, according to the group cited as the source of the information.

For almost a month, Benson has focused much of his ad blitz on pollution levels at Knoll Inc., the Pennsylvania furniture company Lynch ran during the 1990s. In commercials and mailers and on the stump, Benson claims Environmental Defense ranked Knoll as one of the country's worst polluters and that the company's emissions doubled during Lynch's tenure.

But the man who gathers and posts pollution data to Environmental Defense's Web site says those claims are wrong.

"It's absolutely, flat-out bunk," said Bill Pease, a toxicologist and pollution expert who created scorecard.org, which gathers and compares emission data from companies across the nation. Environmental Defense posts the information on its site. "This is a Web site that likes to point the finger at polluters, and we are not pointing the finger at these guys."

Knoll is far from one of the nation's worst polluters, he said: In fact, the company wouldn't even make the top 100. Emissions did spike in the late 1990s, probably because of increased production, but the company decreased pollution by 80 percent from 1988 to 2002, he said.

"All companies need to use chemicals to produce products," Pease said. "The best companies are the ones that over time lower those chemicals. That's the pattern with this company."

Benson's staff stood by their claims yesterday, pointing to a graphic that shows Knoll in the low end of the "dirtiest" range for two kinds of particle emissions. The same graphic puts Knoll in the "cleanest" range for five other types of air emissions.

"It's their data, their scale," said Keith Herman, Benson's adviser. "You should tell them to take it off their Web site if it's wrong."

The environmental claims are just part of a pricey ad war that's escalated over the last three weeks. Lynch paid about $500,000 for ads and fliers calling Benson unethical and accusing him of making poor choices as governor. Benson bought $1.6 million worth of mailers and air time, some of it during the World Series. His final round of ads portray him as a frugal, compassionate leader. His attacks focus on taxes, prescription drugs and Knoll's environmental record.

Benson first questioned Knoll's air emissions during the third debate. The same day, the Republican Governors Association, which funneled $1 million into anti-Lynch ads in the last month, launched a radio ad saying Lynch's company had been fined multiple times by the federal government for air and water pollution.

The Environmental Protection Agency and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection have no record of fines against Knoll.

Taxes

Accusing a Democrat of planning to raise taxes is an old trick in these parts, where even considering a sales or income tax can lead to political death. Lynch pledges often to veto both, but Benson's commercials and mailers accuse him of not promising to veto taxes on water, electricity, junk food, cigarettes, gas and entertainment. The same flier says he plans to increase spending by more than $500 million.

The campaigns disagree about the spending estimates. Pamela Walsh, Lynch's spokeswoman, says Lynch doesn't have a firm budget. He's promised to eliminate donor towns, which will cost about $20 million, hire an energy-efficiency coordinator, restore $40,000 to the travel and tourism budget and spend several million to provide more children with health insurance.

But Benson's staff says Lynch's campaign promises will be far more expensive. They estimate children's health insurance will cost $15 million and a new contract with state employees will run about $10 million. Lynch, they say, has also mentioned $12 million for the Land and Community Heritage Improvement Program, $12.5 million for the University of New Hampshire and $5 million for prescription drug cards. They also include a $150 million deficit and an estimated loss of $373 million if the statewide property tax is eliminated.

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