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WASHINGTON – Commercials that blame Rep. Mark Souder, R-3rd, for the increase in imported oil and accuse him of voting against an energy bill “just like the special interests told him to” have an additional target:
The state’s Democratic senator, who faces re-election next year.
The Senate has not yet voted on a bill to curb air pollution that leads to climate change, and Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., has voiced concerns about legislation that could squeeze Hoosier utilities powered by coal and electricity-consuming manufacturing plants.
The Environmental Defense Fund hopes Bayh takes notice of the Indiana ads, whose narrator and images link Souder to Exxon Mobil, the increase in foreign oil and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
“Bayh, in particular, is a guy who is very sensitive politically,” said Keith Gaby, communications director of Environmental Defense Fund’s national climate campaign. The group launched the $60,000 anti-Souder ad campaign Wednesday on radio, TV and online sites in northeast Indiana.
He said the organization chose Souder and two House members in Pennsylvania and Ohio to try to pressure them to switch their votes when the bill returns to the House after the Senate writes its version of the legislation. In addition, Gaby said, the ads are designed to send a signal to those states’ senators about “what our future course would be.”
The House adopted a bill last month on a 219-212 vote that was a cornerstone of President Obama’s agenda: A cap on emissions of greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming and a system to trade emission credits so polluters could buy them from non-polluters before having to pay a fine.
The Senate is working on its version and is using the cap-and-trade provisions as a framework.
Bayh has not said definitively how he would vote on a cap-and-trade bill. But he said in the spring, “because of the potential for substantial disproportional harm to the state of Indiana, we need to make sure we take our time to get that done correctly.”
Souder opposed the bill, saying it is too expensive for Indiana and would crush an already-suffering economy.
The state’s three other Republicans – Reps. Mike Pence, R-6th; Dan Burton, R-5th; and Steve Buyer, R-4th – also opposed the bill, as did Democratic Reps. Joe Donnelly, D-2nd, Pete Visclosky, D-1st, and Brad Ellsworth, D-8th. Only two voted for it.
Environmental Defense Fund spokesman Tony Kreindler said none of the other Hoosiers who voted “no” are targeted in the ad campaign because the group thought they would be “less sensitive to the ads.” Souder won re-election last year with 55 percent of the vote, the tightest margin of victory among the incumbents.
