Dem super PAC targets 3 GOP frosh
August 12, 2011
The new Democratic political action committee created to help recapture control of the House is unveiling its first slate of TV ads since it played heavily in a May special election win in New York, POLITICO has learned.
House Majority PAC, a so-called Super PAC that can take unlimited contributions, has made a six-figure ad buy across three far-flung House districts. The group is targeting freshmen Republican Reps. Scott Tipton of Colorado, Tim Griffin of Arkansas and Chip Cravaack of Minnesota.
“The American people are disgusted with House Republicans’ misguided priorities and votes to throw middle-class families under the bus,” House Majority PAC executive director Alixandria Lapp will say in a statement set to be released later Friday. “Whether it’s ethics problems or voting for tax loopholes to keep corporate profits sky high, protecting profits for companies that ship jobs to China, or ending Medicare as we know it, House Republicans have plenty to answer for back home this August recess.”
House Majority PAC is one of several independent Democratic groups formed as a response to American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS, Republican groups closely tied to GOP operative Karl Rove that spent heavily in the 2010 midterm elections. The Democratic groups have thus far trailed their GOP counterparts in fundraising, but House Majority PAC spent almost $400,000 in propelling now-Rep. Kathy Hochul (D-N.Y.) to victory in May.
The group plans to unveil a second set of targets later this month. It made smaller buys of ads hammering 10 House Republicans in April and did a wave of radio ads earlier this summer.
The new ad airing against Tipton features a clip of the Colorado Republican saying on the House floor that “once you come to this place … it seems to kind of cloud your vision,” juxtaposed with reports that his House office spent money on companies tied to his nephew.
“You don’t say?” a narrator intones. “Only six months in office and Congressman Tipton is channeling congressional funds to his family’s business.”