Monday, July 06, 2009
GOP ads target Boucher and Perriello
A national GOP group criticized the way the Democrats voted in last month's energy bill.
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From The Roanoke Times
Midterm congressional elections are more than a year away, but a Republican group is already taking aim at two Western Virginia Democrats.
The National Republican Congressional Committee has targeted U.S. Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon, and U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello, D-Albemarle County, with advertisements criticizing their votes in favor of the Waxman-Markey energy bill.
The bill, which last month passed the House on a 219-212 vote, would create a complex, national "cap-and-trade" program to require power plants, oil refineries and manufacturers to obtain allowances for the pollution they emit. Those that need more or less could turn to a Wall Street-like market.
Boucher, who represents a coal-rich district, played a key role in negotiations that helped the bill clear the House Energy and Commerce Committee and won votes from coal-country Democrats.
Boucher dismissed the NRCC ads as inaccurate. He said Thursday that due largely to his work, "We have seen to it that electricity rates will remain affordable and that coal production and use will continually grow in the United States."
Boucher pushed to accelerate funding for research of "clean coal" technology, lowered targets for reductions in carbon dioxide emissions and providing electric utilities with 90 percent of the emission allowances they need without charge.
Perriello did not play as influential a role as Boucher, but he's seen as potentially vulnerable in his first term after winning a tight race over incumbent Virgil Goode.
In addition to softening up the two congressional Democrats, the NRCC ads also maintain a public discussion about the legislation, which has yet to receive a vote in the U.S. Senate. Passage there is considered a tougher prospect than in the House.
One version of the NRCC radio ad terms the cap-and-trade bill as a "national energy tax," says it would cost Western Virginia 5,000 jobs and ties Boucher to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi: "Boucher voted in lock step with Nancy Pelosi. Just like he did on the wasteful stimulus plan ... and on 98 percent of the votes this year. Rick Boucher and Nancy Pelosi. More taxes. More spending. Less jobs."
Virginia Del. Terry Kilgore, R-Scott County, said he's not sure how much effect the ad will have on Boucher's chances for re-election.
"It's a long time between now and next year. It's an eternity in politics," Kilgore said.
Kilgore said the legislation is "not a good bill for Southwest Virginia" but that many people still aren't aware of it.
The Perriello ad tries to tie him to Pelosi and President Obama and likens the bill to a tax increase.
Perriello's office fired back on Thursday, complaining that the ad is misleading and not factual.
WDBJ (Channel 7) is not currently airing the ad, according to General Manager Jeff Marks. Marks said the congressman's office contacted the station, but he pointed questions about why it was pulled from the air to the NRCC.
Andy Sere, an NRCC spokesman, declined to comment beyond noting that the ads are running on other area stations.
In a widely circulated statement, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has alleged that WDBJ refused to air the ad.
Staff writer Pete Dybdahl contributed to this report.
