League of Conservation Voters launches ad buy opposing Heck

The League of Conservation Voters is putting more money into Nevada’s U.S. Senate race.

LCV Victory Fund, the organization’s super PAC, launched a $860,000 television ad campaign Tuesday against U.S. Rep. Joe Heck, R-Nev. Heck is running against Democratic candidate Catherine Cortez Masto, a former Nevada attorney general, for the open seat of retiring Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

The 30-second television spot says Nevada has created 25,000 jobs in clean energy, adding that Heck puts those jobs “at risk when he votes big oil’s way.”

It continues: “Joe Heck’s taken hundreds of thousands in big oil money. And voted their way, protecting billions in tax breaks for big oil. Threatening Nevada’s solar economy. Twenty-five thousand Nevada jobs at risk. Because Joe Heck’s in big oil’s pocket.”

The ad buy brings the total League of Conservation Voters and the LCV Victory Fund spending in the Nevada Senate race up to more than $3 million. The group has spent $1.4 million for canvassing and $750,000 on a prior ad campaign.

The Senate election could determine if the GOP maintains control of the Senate, and outside groups from both sides are pouring millions into the race. The environmental advocacy group has endorsed more than a dozen Democratic candidates for U.S. Senate.

In a statement, Nevada Conservation League Executive Director Andy Maggi said: “While Heck has been receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars from the dirty fossil fuel industry to keep himself in office, he has been voting their way to protect the billions they get in taxpayer handouts.”

The ad is running in the Las Vegas and Reno media markets.

The Heck campaign said the ad is a partisan attack and pointed to Heck’s record, including his backing of a bill with bipartisan support to streamline permitting for renewable energy projects, including solar, on public lands and a passed bill that cleans up the 1,260-acre Three Kids Mine site in Henderson.

“As the father of three, of course Dr. Heck cares about the future of our natural environment, which is why he co-sponsored legislation supporting renewable energy development in Nevada,” Heck campaign spokesman Brian Baluta said. “However, the League of Conservation Voters is a DC-based partisan special interest that wants to put Nevadans out of work by stopping responsible mining and ranching in the West and supporting the BLM’s controversial sage hen management plans.”

Contact Ben Botkin at bbotkin@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2904. Follow @BenBotkin1 on Twitter.