$100,000 to smear pro-worker Republicans
The local Americans for Prosperity front group is launching an advertising campaign packed with venomous hate speech against Missouri Republican lawmakers who didn’t vote for ALEC’s so-called right-to-work legislation this year.
With Missouri’s Republican leadership vowing to make right-to-work (RTW) a top priority next year, Americans for Prosperity (AFP) has launched the advertising campaign in hopes of pressuring Republican lawmakers to switch sides and help Missouri become the 26th RTW state.
A television ad in Rep. Kathie Conway’s St. Charles-area district began airing last week. The ad urges voters to call Conway and tell her “to stand with Missouri workers, not Barack Obama’s liberal agenda.”
According to the Associated Press, voters in Conway’s district also will be getting mailings with photos of President Obama and a man lighting a cigar with a caption that says Conway “voted to defend special interests.”
The infuriating irony is that out-of-state special interests and corporate front groups like the Koch Brothers-funded AFP are promoting RTW.
AFP’s efforts follow the measure’s failure in this session of the Missouri Legislature, where Republicans hold what should be a veto-proof majority.
The House needed a two-thirds majority of 109 votes to overturn Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon’s veto of the bill, but fell short by 13 votes.
‘NOT GOING ANYWHERE’
Americans for Prosperity CEO Luke Hilgemann said at the time that wasn’t “the end for right-to- work.”
AFP is spending $100,000, targeting Republican lawmakers who didn’t support the right-to-work legislation, with print and radio ads and mail sent to their constituents.
The campaign also includes thank you notes to constituents in districts represented by four Republican lawmakers who switched their votes in favor of right-to-work legislation.
“This is just the first wave of a long-term effort,” Hilgemann said in a statement about the advertising push. “Right-to-work will eventually happen…. We’re not going anywhere, we’re invested in getting this done.”
INTEGRITY AND BULLYING
Rep. Shane Roden (R-Cedar Hill) — one of 20 Republicans who helped defeat the bill — told the Associated Press he’d lose his integrity if he switched sides after telling voters that he would oppose right-to-work legislation.
“They’re wasting their time and money,” Roden said of AFP. Roden added that others have approached him saying they’ve been offered financial help if they run against him in a future GOP primary for his seat. He called efforts against him “bullying.”
SPECIAL INTERESTS
The whole advertising campaign begs the question: Who is really voting for special interests, Democrats and Republicans who stood with Missouri’s working families or those ALEC junket-attending Republicans in the Missouri legislature who are committed to passing RTW and eliminating unions?
The answer is self-evident, but AFP is counting on voters to respond to the negativity of the ads.
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Turncoat Cornejo gets AFP ad on KMOX
Turncoat right-to-work voter Robert Cornejo (R-St. Peters) must be feeling the pressure for his anti-worker turnaround in trying to pass RTW after he first voted against it because Americans For Prosperity (AFP) is advertising for him on KMOX radio asking listeners to “thank him” for turning his back on Missouri’s working families, alert Pro-Union St. Louis contributor Anthony Scarpace posted on the group’s Facebook page.
If you are unhappy that Cornejo turned his back on working families, do what AFP suggests: call him and let him know you won’t forget his vote at election time. Phone his office at 573-751-1484 or email him at Robert.Cornejo@house.mo.gov.[/box]
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