Green group slams ‘big oil’-backed Colorado ad, Rep. Gardner

The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) released an ad Monday accusing Americans (AFP) for Prosperity of running a “smear campaign” against Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.), saying the ads are part of a “big oil” campaign to elect Rep. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) to Udall’s Senate seat.

“There’s a smear campaign going on in Colorado, backed by the out-of-state oil billionaire Koch Brothers, steering $1 million into attack ads,” a voiceover on the ad says. “Why? Congressman Gardner supports their agenda. Gardner voted to keep giving billions in special taxpayer-funded subsidies to oil companies.”

The ad is part of a $1 million LCV campaign against Gardner.

It refers to a recent ad by the Koch Brothers-backed AFP that aired in Colorado against the Affordable Care Act. LCV said the ad, as well as other AFP ads in Colorado, are false and misleading.

“The Koch Brothers are steering a million dollars into misleading ads to buy one of their biggest allies a promotion to the Senate,” Gene Karpinski, president of LCV, said in a statement announcing the ad. “But Cory Gardner and his oil billionaire backers will find that the facts are not for sale.”

The ad called Gardner “too extreme for Colorado.”