Koch brothers-backed ad trumpets Joe Heck for Senate
Republican U.S. Rep. Joe Heck responds to a question during an editorial board meeting at the Las Vegas Sun offices Monday, Aug. 11, 2014.
By Megan Messerly (contact)
Tuesday, March 1, 2016 | 12:54 p.m.
A new ad paid for by a Koch brothers-backed group hits Nevada’s airwaves today, lauding Republican Rep. Joe Heck in his Senate run.
The $700,000 television and digital ad buy focuses on Heck’s record on veterans issues as a congressman. It comes as the battle heats up between Heck and the Democratic candidate, former Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto, to replace Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, who is retiring.
The ad features a handful of veterans crediting Heck for leading the charge to fix the VA, expanding access to health care for veterans and, generally, going after “the culture of Washington.”
Veterans issues are key in Nevada, a state that is home to more than 224,000 veterans, according to 2015 U.S. Census Bureau figures.
The ad is paid for by Concerned Veterans for America, a conservative-leaning organization that advocates for reforms for veterans across the country and is part of the network of organizations affiliated with conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch.
This is the first major broadcast buy of 2016 for the group.
“CVA has long championed the reforms supported by Rep. Heck — they are critical to fixing the VA and ensuring that our veterans get the care and benefits they earned in the timely manner they deserve,” Dan Caldwell, the organization’s vice president for legislative and political action, said in a statement. “The VA is a glaring example of what happens when government bureaucrats create unnecessary obstacles to accessing quality health care.”
In response, a spokeswoman from the state Democratic party fired back, criticizing the Koch brothers’ support for Heck.
“After all, whether it’s supporting the privatization of Social Security, voting to turn Medicare over to private insurance companies, or opposing an increase in the minimum wage, Congressman Heck has spent his half a decade in Washington voting with the Koch brothers and special interests at every turn,” Sarah Zukowski, the party’s press secretary, said in a statement.
Above is from: http://lasvegassun.com/news/2016/mar/01/koch-brothers-backed-ad-trumpets-joe-heck-for-sena/
Koch-Linked Group Releases Ad Backing G.O.P. Candidate for Harry Reid’s Seat
6:00 am ET6:00 am ET
Nick Corasaniti
Updated, 2:04 p.m. | The Koch network is unleashing its first political ad of 2016, right in Senator Harry Reid’s backyard.
As early as Wednesday, television viewers across Nevada will start to see an ad showing military veterans voicing their support for Representative Joe Heck, the Republican challenger for Mr. Reid’s seat when he retires at the end of his term.
The ad is part of a $700,000 broadcast and digital buy from the Concerned Veterans for America, an organization dedicated to overhauling the Veterans Affairs Department from a conservative viewpoint and part of the vast political network affiliated with the conservative billionaires Charles G. and David H. Koch.
Featuring veterans praising Mr. Heck for his efforts as a congressman to change the Veterans Affairs Department, the ad stays solely in the realm of policy. At the end, they all thank Mr. Heck, an Iraq war veteran, for his “service to our veterans.”
“We don’t generally look at it through a political lens,” Daniel Caldwell, the vice president for political and legislative action at the Concerned Veterans for America, said of the ad. But he said: “We hope it does send a message to Harry Reid and to others in the race that these are issues that are important to veterans. We would hope that Harry Reid and others are paying attention to these ads.”
Changing the Veterans Affairs Department is an important issue in Nevada, one the group has been working toward for some time. And it is of concern to voters, with both Reno and Las Vegas having ranked among the top 15 places in the country in terms of how long veterans have had to wait for care, according to a June 2014 report in USA Today.
The race to replace Mr. Reid is poised to be a tight contest between Mr. Heck and Catherine Cortez Masto, the senator’s handpicked successor, and the group claims that the representative’s record, both toward changing the department and as a veteran, will be important to voters.
Although this is the first major broadcast buy of 2016 for the group, it was active last year. According to Mr. Caldwell, it ran a digital ad attacking Hillary Clinton for comments she had made about changing the department.
And it has not gone after only Democrats. In November, it sent out a press release critical of the plan of Donald J. Trump to reform the V.A., calling it “heavy on rhetoric, light on specifics.”
Sarah Zukowski, a spokeswoman for the Nevada State Democratic Party, said in a statement on Tuesday that it wasn’t surprising that the Koch brothers “would spend over half a million dollars propping up” Mr. Heck’s Senate campaign.
She added: “After all, whether it’s supporting the privatization of Social Security, voting to turn Medicare over to private insurance companies, or opposing an increase in the minimum wage, Congressman Heck has spent his half a decade in Washington voting with the Koch brothers and special interests at every turn.”
Above is from: http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2016/03/01/koch-linked-group-releases-ad-backing-g-o-p-candidate-for-harry-reids-seat/
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