Votevets.org's anti-oil TV ad campaign begins in Maine

By Deborah Mcdermott  |  SeaCoastOnline.com  |  View story in the original context
PUBLISHED: March 13, 2010

PORTSMOUTH - The television ad begins with footage taken in a war zone, from the vantage point of one military vehicle behind another. Without warning, the lead vehicle blows up.

Next, a man identified as an Iraq war veteran comes on and tells the viewer the vehicle was destroyed by an Explosively Formed Projectile, or EFP, a weapon he said was created in Iran. As a photo of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad flashes on the screen, the veteran says, "Every time oil goes up a dollar, Iran gets another $1.5 billion to use against us."

The veteran encourages viewers to urge their senators to support passage of a "clean energy climate plan" as a means of "breaking our addiction on foreign oil."

The ad is currently airing in Maine and seven other states, said John Soltz, chairman of votevets.org, which funded the ad. Soltz said the ad targeted nationwide at Americans. "It's an education ad, an explanation of the issues."

It is being aired in states with Democratic as well as Republican senators. Right now, the House has passed climate change legislation, and a bill awaits Senate action.

Soltz said his group is in favor of a yet-to-be filed bill by Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn. He said filing is imminent, and he wants his organization to be poised for when it happens.

"Actually, the ad is aimed at more Democrats than Republicans," he said. "It's time for Democrats to take leadership on this issue. But Republicans don't want to move forward. Sometimes you have to take off (the label) Democrat or Republican and just position yourself on this legislation."

He said the ad is expected to run for the next week or so and is the first in a continuing series of ads connecting national security and war.

As for targeting Maine's two senators, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, both Republicans, Soltz said they were chosen because they are influential. Collins is the lead Republican sponsor of an energy bill gaining traction in the Senate. Soltz said he was aware of her bill, "but there's no guarantee she's in the right spot. I don't see the Collins' legislation moving."

More than anything, though, he said he wants climate change legislation to get off the back burner, where he said it's been languishing.

"There's a lot of punting the football across the board, and meanwhile, men are dying in Iraq and Afghanistan," he said.

Collins' and Snowe's offices were not aware of the ad.