Groups target GOP on cap-and-trade
Groups target GOP on cap-and-trade
by Ben Smith
Four independent groups are launching more than $1 million in attack ads Tuesday targeting five House Republicans who voted against energy legislation in June, spokespeople for the groups said.
The ads from the League of Conservation Voters, the Sierra Club, MoveOn and Americans United for Change, will target Reps. Thaddeus McCotter (R-Mich.), Denny Rehberg (R- Mont.), Roy Blunt (R- Mo.) and two Virginia Republicans, Frank Wolf and House Minority Whip Eric Cantor.
The ad casts the members as siding with “big oil and energy interests” and against “the jobs we really need” because they voted against the legislation that would set up a system of trading carbon permits known as “cap-and-trade” and impose a series of other measures aimed at reducing emissions.
The legislation passed despite defections among some Democrats worried about its impact on local coal and other industries. An official at the League of Conservation Voters, Navin Nayak, said the ad is intended to send the message to legislators that there will be a cost to opposing the cap-and-trade bill, and to counter a broad political perception that the main risk is in voting in favor of a bill foes cast as a job killer.
“The whole [notion] that the Beltway has put out there is really flipped on its head,” said Nayak, the director of the League’s Global Warming Project. “We feel confident that if the public understands people had a choice between voting for Big Oil and fighting for clean energy jobs, that we know who’s going to pay a price.”
Nayak said his group will also be taking out print ads attacking two House Democrats who voted against the cap-and-trade legislation, Rep. Jason Altmire (D-Penn.) and Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick (D-Ariz.).
The collaboration between the four groups is the latest result of a constellation of tightly aligned liberal groups collaborating beyond narrow subject areas. The combined expenditure, which Nayak said would be in the “seven figures,” is relatively large for a debate which has been overshadowed by the health care battle. The Senate is scheduled to consider the White House-backed energy legislation in the fall….
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0809/26410.html#ixzz0PN9yyxTa