June 14, 2010

Groups Take Murkowski EPA Showdown to the Airwaves


Environmental and progressive groups are targeting senators for their votes last week on a measure to block the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gas emissions. The measure, sponsored by Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), failed by a vote of 47-53.

Americans United for Change is spending $405,000 on local TV ads targeting Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Richard Burr (R-NC), and Scott Brown (R-Mass.). Both Burr and Grassley are up for reelection this year. Brown isn’t up for reelection until 2012, but he comes from the state whose challenge to the EPA prompted the regulation of planet-warming gases in the first place, and he supported carbon reduction as a state senator. The Brown ads, which started over the weekend, highlight the senator’s $45,000 in donations from the oil industry and show footage of the Gulf oil spill and oil-coated animals. Here’s the ad:

Meanwhile, Clean Energy Works is running ads thanking senators who voted against Murkowski’s measure. The first round praises Michael Bennet (D-Col.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Carl Levin (D-Mich.); Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), and Jim Webb (D-Va.). Here’s the Murray ad:

More Mother Jones reporting on Climate Desk

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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