JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – A PAC backed by former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg will begin an advertising blitz in the coming days focused on highlighting four attorneys general across the country for their opposition to President Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan.
Missouri AG Chris Koster is one of those four.
He is also the only Democrat among the group. AGs Pam Bondi of Florida, Bill Schuette of Michigan and Brad Schimel of Wisconsin will also have ads released against them in their home states.
The 30-second ad, made by Bloomberg’s Independence USA PAC, accuses Koster of taking money from “polluters” and using tax dollars to fight against the health and environmental interests of Missouri citizens.
In early October, Koster announced his decision to join a lawsuit suing the Environmental Protection Agency for its new limits on carbon emissions.
“The lawsuits filed last week against the Clean Power Plan will not stop the decline of coal, given its unpopularity and increasingly unattractive economics,” Bloomberg said in a statement. “But when attorneys general put the coal industry’s financial interests ahead of their constituents’ right to breathe clean air, we want their constituents to know about it, and these ads will help make sure they do.”
Andrew Whalen, Koster’s committee director in his run for governor, said the ads unfairly painted Koster as an opponent of the environment, when Koster was actually fighting to keep utility costs low. The attorney general noted it could cost Missouri nearly $6 billion dollars.
“While a double-digit electric bill jump might not affect someone with Michael Bloomberg’s bank account, it would devastate seniors on fixed incomes, working families and small businesses across the state,” Whalen told the New York Times in an interview.
Bloomberg will spend an unreported eight-figure sum on the ad campaign across all four states, which happen to be swing states.
Whalen later spoke with The Missouri Times to reiterate that a national campaign shaming these attorneys general did not necessarily reflect on what Koster was doing for the state.
“Missourians are looking for Missouri-based solutions,” Whalen said. “They don’t want to be told what to do by billionaires in New York City.”
Whalen also said Koster still had plenty of ground to stand on when it came to environmental issues. The attorney general is currently suing Republic Services for allowing a subsurface fire at the West Lake Landfill in a highly-publicized case in St. Louis.
Koster’s campaign manager noted that Koster’s actions were a way to look out for Missouri.
“As far as his record on conservation issues, he has always looked out for Missouri,” Whalen said. “The change from the EPA to the final rule was drastic and put Missouri at a severe disadvantage. That’s the real issue here is that he is looking out for the best interests of Missouri.”
