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Prop. 23 campaigns go head-to-head in TV spots

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The battle over California’s global warming law moved to the airwaves Tuesday with both sides launching TV commercials. Backers of Proposition 23, a November ballot measure to suspend the law that would clamp down on greenhouse gas pollution, aired a 30-second spot in Sacramento, the Central Valley and San Diego.

The ad opens with a woman in a well-to-do suburban neighborhood collecting her mail, entering a spacious, sunlit home and saying “I have enough bills. Now the politicians are putting a new energy tax on us to pay for California’s global warming plan.” The ballot measure, it says, will prevent a 60% increase in electricity rates and save a million jobs.

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The No on Prop 23 campaign began airing a 15-second spot and a 30-second spot statewide. It opens with a shot of windmills, saying, ‘California is outlining a clean energy future, a growing workforce of bright Californians who harness wind and solar power to move our state forward. But two Texas oil companies have a deceptive scheme to take us backwards.”

Proposition 23 would suspend the state’s 2006 Global Warming Solutions Act, also known as AB 32, until unemployment in the state drops to 5.5% for a year -- a level reached only three times in the last four decades. California’s joblessness rate is currently more than 12%, and the measure would have the likely effect of indefinitely postponing a series of measures designed to wean the state from burning fossil fuels.

The measure is largely funded by two Texas-based oil companies, Valero Energy Corp. and Tesoro Corp, which own refineries in California that could be forced to retool under the climate law. Backers also include Kansas-based Koch Industries, owned by the two billionaire Koch brothers who have been active in fighting federal climate legislation.

The TV campaign came as environmentalists geared up an extensive grassroots effort. Monday night, 45,123 people joined a statewide conference call with Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune and Bonnie Holmes-Gen of the American Lung Assn. -- part of a group of 230,000 voters identified as infrequent, but environmentally-oriented by the California League of Conservation Voters.

Yes on Prop. 23 campaign spokeswoman Anita Mangels said that no similar grassroots effort was underway by the those supporting the proposition. However, ‘tea party’ activists were to rally in Fresno Tuesday against Prop 23.

The spot advocating for the ballot measure can be viewed on the Yes on 23 campaign‘s website.

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The spots opposing the ballot measure can be viewed on the No on 23 campaign‘s website.

-- Margot Roosevelt

RECENT AND RELATED:

Prop 23 shows a dead heat among California voters

Proposition 23: Environmentalists power up

Billionaire Koch brothers back suspension of California climate law

Mayor Villaraigosa: Go home Texas oil companies

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