Rep. Kathy Hochul’s campaign on Tuesday was quick to respond to a “negative” ad from her Republican opponent Chris Collins.

The Democratic freshman’s response was so rapid in fact that Collins’ people hadn’t even blasted it out yet to the press outside of western New York.

The response included a lengthy fact check of the ad, which, among other claims, took Collins to task for allegedly taking over a company in Niagara and then firing more than 100 workers.

Now Collins is out this morning with his own response calling the layoff claim false — and based on a 2004 story from The Buffalo News that Hochul’s campaign cites, he’s got a point. The claim that Collins laid off workers from the plant doesn’t hold up.

Hochul’s campaign says in its fact sheet that after Collins and a business partner took over Niagara Ceramics “right away the new company fired 115 workers, cut wages and reduced benefits.”

Collins and a business partner have no connection to the old company, Buffalo China, which folded and laid everyone off. Collins then bought the building where the old company was and began a new one christened Niagara Ceramics, hiring back some workers from Buffalo China.

Update: Hochul’s campaign says firing is firing, no matter how you slice it. In an email, campaign spokesman Frank Thomas notes that Collins was of one of the purchasers for the plant in 2004 that reopened under a different name with fewer employees than it had under the old company. Also, it’s worth pointing out that the facility did re-open, albeit with lower wages. Regardless, the BN story says the plant was targeted for closure and includes a vintage-era quote from then-Gov. George Pataki saying the $2.1 million in tax credits the new company received will ensure the factory stays open. You can read the story here.

“I realize that as a public sector millionaire and someone who has never created a job in the private sector, Kathy may not understand what it takes to create jobs. I hope she’ll join me on a personal tour of every one of my companies to have her talk to the folks whose jobs were saved or created because of what we built in the private sector,” said Collins in a statement.

If anything can be taken away from this, it’s that job creation is central to Collins’ platform and that Hochul’s campaign is eager to dilute any of those business credentials as quickly as possible.

The ad from Collins and Hochul’s fact check are below.

Collins First Negative Ad Ignores Kathy Hochuls Record Campaigns Against President

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