Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Anti-Griffith ad puts heat on Boucher
Two environmental groups bought an ad that called attention to cap-and-trade, a hot issue in the 9th District.
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From today's paper
CHRISTIANSBURG -- Republican congressional candidate Morgan Griffith fired back Monday at a full-page newspaper ad claim that he "is for creating jobs -- in China."
But it's unclear whether the ad will hurt Griffith's 9th District campaign or potentially bring more attention to what could become a sticky issue for incumbent U.S. Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon.
The ad was purchased by the Natural Resources Defense Council's Action Fund and the Blue Green Alliance. The ad, featuring pictures of windmills bearing Chinese script, said Griffith "wants to block clean energy legislation that will create thousands of jobs in Virginia" that can't be outsourced. Otherwise, it suggests, those jobs will go to China.
It ran Monday in The Roanoke Times. The cost of the ad would be in the $5,500 range, according to the newspaper's ad rates, which are published online.
NRDC Action Fund Director Heather Taylor said the group placed the ad in 19 congressional districts where challengers had signed a no-climate-tax pledge.
The jobs claim is apparently based on Griffith's opposition to cap-and-trade legislation backed by Boucher. The ad doesn't mention Boucher or a third candidate, independent Jeremiah Heaton, and it was not authorized by either of those campaigns.
Griffith said the ad not only has it wrong, but suggests that Boucher is losing ground headed into the fall campaign.
"The fact they've gone to a full-page ad before Labor Day indicates they know Boucher's in some trouble," Griffith said. "They know cap-and-trade is the number one issue, so what they're trying to do is convince people that nonpassage will somehow send jobs to China, when in fact passage will send jobs overseas."
Griffith has criticized Boucher's support of the cap-and-trade legislation for its potential ramifications for the coal industry, one of the largest job producers in the district with a lobby that has stood behind Boucher for years. Boucher has said he worked to shape the legislation to protect the coal industry as much as possible.
Boucher spokeswoman Courtney Lamie issued a statement Monday following Griffith's news conference:
"Congressman Boucher had nothing to do with the ad that appeared in the Roanoke Times today. He was, in fact, unaware of it. He has no comment on the substance. It would be a violation of federal law for Congressman Boucher to have solicited or coordinated in any way or to have commented on the ad's content to the organizations sponsoring the ad."
The issue of cap-and-trade has been one of Griffith's biggest talking points, and the ad may help bring it back to the forefront after it appeared to have all but died in Congress.
Boucher played a major role in helping the legislation through the House; it has stalled in the Senate.
If passed, the legislation would require power plants, oil refineries and manufacturers to obtain allowances for carbon dioxide and other emissions through various means, including a Wall Street-like market. Although only a small segment of businesses would have to buy pollution allowances, the nation's reliance on fossil fuels means the new costs would likely be spread through much of the economy.
Advocates of the bill say it would create incentives for "green energy," driving innovation and growth in a new economic sector.
Griffith, however, said the legislation would endanger local jobs on a number of levels: crippling the coal industry, which is a major economic driver in the 9th; driving businesses that supply the coal companies out of the region; harming local economies based on the loss of coal income; and raising the cost of electricity and business in general.
The NRDC refers to coal as "dirty and dangerous" on the issues section of its website. The Blue Green Alliance -- a coalition of environmental and labor groups -- doesn't address coal directly but generally favors renewable energy sources. "The only way coal is viable long-term is if coal cleans up its act," Taylor said.
Griffith called on Boucher to not only disclaim the ad, but the groups that purchased it.
"I would submit that now that they've run this ad, Boucher needs to disclaim" the NRDC Action Fund and Blue Green Alliance, Griffith said. "I think he voted for their bill, that they're coming to his defense because they are political allies, and absent some strong language denouncing their polices, I think you have to say that they and Boucher and pretty much in step with one another.
"I don't think they spent whatever the cost of this ad is because Boucher disagrees with them."
