Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) called the push for climate change reform “environmental jihad” in an email sent to fundraising supporters on Tuesday.
Johnson’s comments came a day after The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) announced a $2 million ad campaign targeted at the “anti-science, anti-climate wing of Congress.”
The League of Conservation Voters is a national non-profit organization working to “turn environmental values into national priorities,” according to the group’s website.
The ad campaign is a two-week long TV and online initiative targeting Sen. Johnson and Reps. Mike Coffman (R-CO) and Dan Benishek (R-Mich.). The LCV explained that the ad blitz is a way to elevate the climate change discussion to a national level and said they are targeting these lawmakers due to their “extreme positions” on climate change science that puts them at odds with their constituents.
“The American people are tired of Washington politicians ignoring basic scientific facts and standing in the way of action on climate change,” LCV president Gene Karpinski said in a release. “This ad campaign shows that members of Congress won’t be able to sweep their extreme, anti-science voting records under the rug.”
Johnson’s email asked his supporters for an “urgent donation” to help him respond to the LCV’s attack ads – before he had even seen them. The LCV said the ads wouldn’t even be released until today.
“The League of Conservation Voters is one of the many attack dog groups used by President Obama, the Democrats, and the extreme left to weaken, defeat, and silence conservatives,” Johnson wrote in the email to supporters. “They use TV ads filled with smears because they work.”
“The League of Conservation Voters is not an organization with a balanced approach to a cleaner environment,” he wrote. “They are an extreme left group on an environmental jihad.”
Jesse Farthing is a guest blogger for Ring of Fire.