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Sierra Club goes after six GOP House incumbents on fossil fuels
Six GOP House members are in the cross-hairs of a new advertising barrage that seeks to portray them as lenient toward fossil fuel industries.
The Sierra Club will start its mail and TV campaign Wednesday by hitting Rep. Dan Lungren (R-Calif.) with a TV advertisement that will air in his district for the next 10 days. The spot says the incumbent’s voting record and $455,000 in campaign contributions show he is too friendly with the oil-and-gas industry.
Trey Pollard, a spokesman with the Sierra Club, said the campaign would run through the Nov. 6 election. He said the endeavor is the beginning of a broader organization mission.
“This would be our first step of a long-term, multi-cycle effort to make fossil fuel money as politically toxic as tobacco money, because the consequences absolutely are,” he told The Hill on Wednesday.
“These six incumbents are among the worst of the worst at taking toxic money from fossil fuel billionaires and making toxic votes that threaten the health American families,” Cathy Duvall, Sierra Club director of public advocacy and partnerships, said in a Wednesday statement.
The Lungren ad alone is “backed by a substantial six-figure buy,” Pollard said. He declined to mention an estimated total cost for the media blitz, citing Sierra Club policy.
The ads are part of a larger push by the Sierra Club to call out lawmakers they view as detrimental to the environment. The group debuted a website related to the ad campaign and promised more action in the coming weeks.
Rob Stutzman, a spokesman for the Lungren campaign, told The Hill on Wednesday that the ad is out of context.
-- This post was updated at 10:15 a.m.
