May 17, 2012 05:35 PM UTC

New Ad Thumps Tipton in Pueblo

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• by: Colorado Pols

From the Clean Water Fund’s (related to better-known Clean Water Action) release yesterday:

Clean Water Fund, a Colorado citizen group, launched a $100,000 TV buy in Pueblo that highlights Congressman Scott Tipton’s support for tax breaks and subsidies for Big Oil companies.  Rep. Tipton has supported tax breaks for Big Oil companies 6 times (see chart), subsidizing their $137 billion in profits while drivers in Pueblo and across Colorado are paying nearly $4/gallon for gas.

“Congressman Tipton’s support for tax breaks for Big Oil companies is just plain wrong,” said Gary Wockner of Clean Water Fund.  “Big Oil made $137 billion in profits  last year – Big Oil doesn’t need Tipton’s help to get even richer off the backs of drivers in Colorado who are struggling in this tough economy.”

The ad will air for 10 days throughout Southern Colorado.  

A recent Wall Street Journal poll found that 74% of Americans want to stop giving tax breaks to Big Oil companies .  At the same time, Big Oil companies spent $65.7 million lobbying Congress in 2011 to maintain the tax breaks and other industry friendly regulations.

Here’s yet another ad hitting back squarely on a supposed strong point for the GOP, energy policy–we’ve said that this is a smart thing for Democrats and their allies to be doing, for as long as Republicans keep up their “low-information” attacks on the issue.

While $100,000 seems like an insignificant number in the era of multimillion-dollar Super PAC buys, focused on the relatively cheap Southern Colorado market, it can go a long way.

Remember, Scott Tipton needs to win big on the West Slope, but also not lose too much here.