Brown: ad over EPA vote "reeks of political demagoguery"

By Theo Emery, Globe Staff

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Scott Brown is hitting back at a voter education group that began running a critical television spot today, saying the ad "reeks of political demagoguery."

The League of Women Voters’ television spot features a young girl on a respirator, and accuses Brown of siding with polluters when he voted this month for a measure that would have stripped the EPA of its ability to regulate greenhouse gases. A similar ad aimed at Democrat Claire McCaskill is airing in her home state of Missouri.

"It is outrageous for an allegedly non-partisan group to use sick children to misrepresent a vote about jobs and government over-regulation. These type of over-the-top distortions have no place in our political discourse,” Brown, a Republican, said in a statement.

Brown and McCaskill's states are the only ones where the ads are playing; both are up for re-election in 2012. The spots have the appearance of issue ads that typically pop up during election seasons that point out how candidates voted on particular issues.

Before Brown's comments, League of Women Voters President Elisabeth MacNamara said the spots were not attack ads, and did not target Brown and McCaskill because of their upcoming elections. She said that “there is an accountability piece” to running them, but said it was not related to their elections. The votes of all 100 senators are available at an accompanying Web site.

“These are not intended to at all attack these particular senators. They are designed to draw attention to the votes that were made by these two particular senators," she said.

Theo Emery can be reached at temery@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @temery.