Sierra Club defends McNerney in new radio spot

U.S. Rep. Jerry McNerney: Campaign PhotoThe environmental group Sierra Club is launching a radio advertisement Monday praising several freshmen congressional Democrats who are engaged in competitive re-election races this fall for what the organization says has been their aggressive stance against oil companies. Amongst those members the Sierra Club is defending is U.S. Rep. Jerry McNerney (D-Stockton).

The spot is likely to be seen as a direct counterpoint to Freedom's Watch, a conservative-leaning advocacy group which for the past several weeks has been hitting Democratic members in robocalls and radio ads on the issue of offshore drilling.

"All this week, you'll be hearing about the billions of dollars in record high profits the big oil companies are making," an announcer says in the 60-second Sierra Club spot entitled "Rolling in It." "They're raking it in while we're feeling the pain of four dollar a gallon gas. Let's face it -- big oil has our economy, our energy policies and our politics in a strangle-hold. But Congress still has a chance to break that hold, to pass legislation that provides price relief and helps hard working families instead of the oil industry.

"Call Congressman Jerry McNerney... Thank him for standing up to the oil companies. Ask him to keep voting to end the billions in government giveaways to big oil, to crack down on the price gouging that's keeping gas prices so high, and to invest in renewable energy and give consumers more, cleaner energy choices."

The ad is also being aired in the districts of U.S. Reps. Heath Schuler (D-N.C.), Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), Chris Carney (D-Pa.), and Carol Shea-Porter (D-N.H.). A version of the ad is also defending U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.). A spokesman for the Sierra Club said the amount of the ad buy was in the vicinity of several hundred thousand dollars.

On Thursday, the Sierra Club will also begin airing television ads focusing on oil in the key presidential battleground states of Colorado, Ohio, and New Hampshire. The spot will also be airing in Washington, DC. A spokesman for the organization did not provide any further details on the television ad.

The Sierra Club has been active this election cycle. In late April the organization launched a coordinated campaign with several other environmental groups, including the Defenders of Wildlife and the League of Conservation Voters, to target competitive Senate races in Colorado, New Mexico, and New Hampshire.

In announcing the radio ad, Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope took aim at "President Bush, big oil's backers in Congress, and shadowy outside groups" who "are doing everything they can to push an agenda that will help pad big oil's bottom line while denying consumers any real relief from pain at the pump."

"I don't know what's more remarkable - that the Sierra Club is actually defending high gas prices, or that the politicians responsible for today's record gas prices have finally found a constituency happy about it," Freedom's Watch spokesman Ed Patru said in response to the ad. "The fact is, every member of Congress who votes against more domestic production is out of touch, and Sierra Club is defending the indefensible."

McNerney, a first-term incumbent, is facing a battle for re-election against former state Assemblyman Dean Andal.