{"id":1865,"date":"2007-06-20T10:50:00","date_gmt":"2007-06-20T16:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/06\/group-attacks-pearces-oil-ties-votes-in-radio-ad\/"},"modified":"2007-06-20T10:50:00","modified_gmt":"2007-06-20T16:50:00","slug":"group-attacks-pearces-oil-ties-votes-in-radio-ad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/06\/group-attacks-pearces-oil-ties-votes-in-radio-ad\/","title":{"rendered":"Group attacks Pearce’s oil ties, votes in radio ad"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>A national environmental group that helped defeat a veteran GOP member of Congress from California<\/st1:state> last year is taking aim at five more, including U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce<\/a> of Southern New Mexico<\/st1:place>. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

It\u2019s further evidence that Pearce is going to face his toughest challenge yet in keeping his seat in 2008.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund<\/a> is running the radio advertisement around the Second District of New Mexico as part of a larger campaign called \u201cHeads in the Sand.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

In the ad, which you can hear by clicking here<\/a>, the group accuses Pearce of having his head \u201cstuck in the sand\u201d and voting repeatedly against legislation that would combat global warming and reduce America<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region>\u2019s dependence on foreign oil.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cCould it be because Steve Pearce has taken $375,000 in campaign cash from big oil while voting for $14 billion in tax breaks for oil companies gouging us with high gas prices?\u201d the ad\u2019s narrator asks. \u201c\u2026 America<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region> has the know-how to be a world leader in clean renewable energy that will make our economy stronger, create jobs and protect the environment, but Steve Pearce continues to take big oil\u2019s money and say \u2018no.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The group\u2019s home page<\/a> for the campaign against the former Hobbs<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> oilman includes other information about Pearce and the campaign, in addition to ways to send a letter to Pearce and donate to keep the ad on the air.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

According to the San Diego-area North County Times<\/a>, the group was instrumental in the 2006 defeat of former U.S. Rep. Richard Pombo<\/a> of California<\/st1:state><\/st1:place>. In addition to Pearce, the group is now taking aim at GOP reps. Ken Calvert<\/a> and John Doolittle<\/a> of California<\/st1:state>, Rick Renzi<\/a> of Arizona<\/st1:state> and Dean Heller<\/a> of Nevada<\/st1:state><\/st1:place>.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Pearce spokesman Brian Phillips told the newspaper the congressman has offered several amendments to an energy bill in the past week that would favor clean energy fuel development.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

But the group, in a news release announcing the campaign, said Pearce and the others \u201chave a record of anti-conservation, pro-global warming votes and have accepted significant donations, in some cases hundreds of thousands of dollars, from big oil and other corporate polluters. \u2026 On Wednesday, Reps. Pearce and Heller \u2013 both members of the House Natural Resources Committee \u2013 voted against legislation to help combat global warming and protect wildlife from its impacts.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cAmericans want action now on global warming,\u201d Defenders Action Fund President Rodger Schlickeisen said in the release. \u201cBut extreme anti-environmentalists in Congress, epitomized by these five, continue to have their heads stuck in the sand on energy policy while taking money from big oil and polluters.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Two Democrats have already jumped into the 2008 race against Pearce \u2013 Al Kissling<\/a>, who Pearce defeated last year, and Do\u00f1a Ana County Commissioner Bill McCamley<\/a>. State Rep. Joseph Cervantes<\/a> of Las Cruces<\/st1:city><\/st1:place> is also considering running.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The Defenders Action Fund isn\u2019t the only national group to have its eyes on Pearce. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee<\/a>, the fundraising arm of House Democrats, is eyeing the race.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A national environmental group that helped defeat a veteran GOP member of Congress from California last year is taking aim at five more, including U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce of Southern New Mexico. It\u2019s further evidence that Pearce is going to face his toughest challenge yet in keeping his seat in 2008. The Defenders of Wildlife […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1865"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1865\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}