Whose ad: Club for Growth ad attacking Rep. Don Young
Where it's running: TV stations statewide
Time: 15 seconds
What it says and shows: The camera shows a television on a kitchen counter with Young's face on the screen. A voice says: "Don Young on the gas tax."...It shows Young in a subcommittee hearing saying "I'd suggest we raise the taxes to a dollar a gallon. That makes you put your money where your mouth is."
Analysis: The ad doesn't mention that Young subsequently said he was not proposing such a tax increase. He said he was just trying to wake the committee up to make the point that if Congress doesn't allow new domestic supplies of oil it will have to find a way to curb demand. Young does support a five-cent-a-gallon gas tax increase, which he says is needed for transportation infrastructure.
The Club For Growth, a national anti-earmark organization, is running the ads in support of Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell, who is running against Young in the Republican primary. Young's lawyers wrote local television stations a "request to cease broadcast of false advertisement by Club For Growth." Young also requested that Parnell ask the Club for Growth to pull the ad.
he Parnell campaign issued a response repeating the claim that Young proposed raising the gas tax to a dollar a gallon. It said Young has been proposing higher gas taxes for years. The Parnell campaign also said it didn't coordinate with the Club For Growth on the ad and the group is free to advertise how it sees fit. '
Club For Growth spokeswoman Nachama Soloveichik said Young "is embarrassed by what he said, he's trying to backtrack. All we're doing is putting his voice on the air. It's just Don Young." Soloveichik said she's spoken to the Alaskan television stations and they aren't going to pull the ad.