Chabot campaign responds to Patriot Majority TV ad buy

The campaign of U.S. Rep. Steve Chabot (R-Cincinnati) responded today to the TV advertisement buy of Patriot Majority hitting the Congressman on the issue of gas prices.

Patriot Majority is a left-leaning advocacy group that spent about $250,000 in advertising time to air a spot critical of Chabot in the Cincinnati area. The advertisement is being funded by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME).

The spot hits Chabot for voting for "billions in special tax breaks for oil companies even though they're making record profits."

The Chabot campaign issued a statement characterizing the buy as attacking Chabot's efforts "to increase the domestic energy supply." The release also points out that AFSCME has maxed out in contributions to opponent state Sen. Steve Driehaus (D-Price Hill).

"Steve Driehaus and his special-interest friends are apparently against expanding domestic drilling," said Chabot campaign manager Jamie Schwartz citing the ads opposition to H.R. 6 from the 109th Congress.  "Driehaus and his liberal allies are simply out of touch with voters who want to see lower gas prices and a strategy that leads us to energy independence."

The Chabot release says that the TV ad criticizes Chabot's "support for comprehensive energy legislation designed to boost renewable energy development and open energy rich parts of Alaska to environmentally safe oil and natural gas production." The release says that other bills cited in the ad "were opposed by Chabot because the legislation failed to boost domestic energy production and contained massive tax increases."

The statement from the campaign says Chabot believes in a comprehensive energy policy that "invests heavily in renewable energy sources for the future" and also "expands our domestic oil production capabilities to meet today's energy demands."

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