Mike Rounds is already trying to beat back primary challenger Scyller Borglum by painting her as an out-of-state infiltrator. Borglum should strike back by pointing out that Rounds is already turning to out-of-state money to support his campaign:
The American Chemistry Council, which represents nearly 200 companies including DuPont, Chevron Phillips and ExxonMobil, is running TV and radio ads in Alaska, Delaware, Louisiana, Montana and South Dakota between July 8 and 21, according to Federal Communications Commission records accessed via OpenSecrets’ political ad database. Sens. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.) and Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) all face reelection next year.
The ads that mention Cassidy, Daines and Rounds praise the three senators for tax cuts. Sullivan receives recognition for ocean cleanup, while Coons is applauded for his sustainability efforts. All of the ads end by encouraging viewers to call their senators and thank them.
…The plurality of the currently identified July advertising money, nearly $69,000, will be spent in South Dakota, where the council will run more than 300 spots. The council endorsed Rounds when he ran for the state’s open Senate seat in 2014 and ran independent ads on his behalf, calling the Republican a “proven leader” who “supports small business.” Rounds easily won that race [Jessica Piper, “Trade Group Airs Ads to Boost Five Senators Facing Reelection,” OpenSecrets.org, 2019.07.08].
The American Chemistry Council lists all sorts of out-of-state companies as members. The ACC is a member of the South Dakota Chamber of Commerce, but even on the Chamber’s website, the ACC lists an address in Des Moines, Iowa. Iowa!
The AAC also spends money directly and through ALEC to fight efforts to protect us from pollution. Trumpist Borglum will have trouble countering that angle, but she should be able to make great hay among Republicans by hollering about out-of-state interference in our politics.
Related Worrying: Funny that the tax cuts for which Big Chem is going to praise Rounds didn’t keep chemical giant BASF from lowering its profit outlook:
BASF SE fired a warning shot signaling a weakening global economy, as the world’s largest chemical company said slowing markets from cars to crops and the impact of the U.S.-China trade war threaten to cut profit by 30% this year.
…The projected drop in earnings before interest, taxes and special items was “mainly due to the trade conflicts,” BASF said late Monday. Tensions between the U.S. and China haven’t eased as expected, and that has slowed decision-making and investments in key markets including the Asian country. BASF doesn’t see the situation improving in the second half of 2019 [Andrew Marc Noel, “BASF Profit Warning Ripples Through Economy from Cars to Crops,” Bloomberg, 2019.07.08].
What? The Trumpist chaos Rounds has facilitated is hurting the economic outlook? Dang—too bad Borglum hasn’t left herself room to attack Rounds from that direction….
Update 07:31 CDT: Here’s the American Chemistry Council’s 2014 ad for Rounds:
A “leader” who will rubber stamp anything the party leaders put in front of him. Very sad! Bigly!
The GOP isn’t concerned about silly laws. Laws are for other people, not them. They built a chunk of border wall with no permits except violent threats against local elected officials.
How a private wall rose on the border using millions in donations — and deception and threats
https://news.yahoo.com/how-a-private-wall-rose-on-the-border-using-millions-in-donations-and-deception-and-threats-100000942.html
I noticed that the American Chemistry Council is starting its ads for Rounds pretty darn early in the campaign. They must think he needs all the heavy lifting he can get.
Just for fun GOOGLE American Chemistry Council exposed. (They’re a nasty pro-pollution lobby group, you know.) Here’s an appetizer— https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/chemical-lobbyist-caught-drafting-new-law-414698563573
What will happen if dems ever regain a foothold in state politics?
“That our political institutions are ill-equipped to grapple with the complexity of climate change is not a new conclusion. But events in Oregon suggest that even modest progress via democratic processes could become all but impossible so long as corporate-backed politicians are willing to play dirty.”
In a similar ag/timber state, Oregon, [t]”he conflict carries obvious echoes of the Bundy brothers’ takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in 2016. On display is a similar antidemocratic belligerence, a willingness to resort to dramatic gestures and threats of violence to get one’s way. This is not so much a local phenomenon as an ascendant mood on the right nationwide, one that President Donald Trump embraces. (The Bundy occupation was initiated almost entirely by non-Oregonians, and was not warmly embraced by locals.) Republicans have tried to shield themselves from electoral accountability through various means of rigging the system, from gerrymandering to more overt voter suppression. With those options out of reach in Oregon, lawmakers simply ran away. And not for the first time: Earlier this year Republicans used the same tactic to block a tax bill, returning only after making a deal that Democrats would shelve unrelated vaccine and gun safety bills in exchange for a promise from the GOP that they wouldn’t walk out again this session. So much for that. ” https://www.thenation.com/article/oregon-republican-walkout-climate-change/
He hasn’t got results.