When your own dad calls you a liar...

Dick Devos' hometown paper is calling the gubernatorial candidate out for his newest campaign ad which attempts to paint the billionaire as the man who single-handedly made Grand Rapids what it is. The ultra-conservative paper (which has so far enthusiastically backed the son of ScAmway founder Richard DeVos) called his new ad "revisionist" and even his own father has weighed in on the issue and said that by claiming he "turned Grand Rapids around" he's engaging in "a little political license."

The Press surprisingly pulls no punches in calling DeVos out for the misleading ad:

The latest TV spot by GOP gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos comes with a bold claim:

"Dick DeVos turned Grand Rapids around," it states on an introduction to the ad on the candidate's Web site.

The 30-second ad, which first aired around the state last week, contrasts a bleak black-and-white city -- empty, crumbling buildings -- that morphs into a colorful metropolis, with shots of the Amway Grand Plaza, the downtown campus of Grand Valley State University, Van Andel Arena and DeVos Children's Hospital.

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But the ad strikes some as revisionist history. And media analysts warn it could invite unfavorable comparisons with the hefty investments in Grand Rapids by Amway co-founders Rich DeVos, his father, and Jay Van Andel.

"You're living in the shadow of admitted giants," said Calvin College communications professor Randall Bytwerk. "It would be easy for people say, 'Yeah, he is taking credit for more than he has been directly responsible for.'"

...Lansing political analyst Bill Ballenger considers the latest spot a gamble.

Ballenger said DeVos needs to establish himself as a business figure who could be trusted to revitalize the state economy. But he said DeVos also risks stirring up criticism that he is riding the coattails of Amway's first generation while taking credit for what they started.

"In West Michigan, everybody really knows the facts," said Ballenger, a former Republican legislator. "People could be a little bit stunned, saying, 'What is this dude doing? We know the truth.'"

"People want to see some separation between his father and Jay Van Andel. They want to see what Dick DeVos could do by himself without a head start, standing on third base."

The problem is, he hasn't done anything that didn't include playing with daddy's money. DeVos is a self-made man like Paris Hilton is a self-made woman. Everything he's done was due to winning the birth lottery. Even his own dad is calling him on it...