Jim Pederson (D), who is running for US Senate against incumbent Jon Kyl (R), recently released his latest ad. It doesn’t even mention Kyl, but it does criticize Congress in vague terms for subsidizing big oil, implying by silence and association that Kyl voted for those subsidies in the latest Energy Bill. He didn’t.
As many times as Kyl has used his vote to screw the average American, this isn’t one of them. Kyl voted ‘NO’ on the 2005 Energy Policy, stating correctly that it did nothing to reduce prices for consumers. He voted against his party on this one. I would rather rip my tongue out by the roots than defend Jon Kyl, but the simple truth is, that even if his motives weren’t right, even if the GOP’s whip count allowed him to vote the right way, he did vote the right way.
This is an important issue for Arizona and for America, and Pederson should do something dramatic, like taking the MoveOn Oil Free Pledge, and challenge Kyl to do the same. Given the humndreds of thousands that Kyl has taken from big oil over the years, I suspect that Pederson would win that round.
Here’s the ad: