Ad content: Opens with shot of Tester and his wife, Sharla, at their Big Sandy farm and then switches to one of Tester talking, interspersed with shots of oil rigs, cash and the U.S. Capitol. Tester provides the only voice-over.
Script: Tester: “For Sharla and me, working hard and watching every penny is the only way to make ends meet. So the way Washington’s spending our money just isn’t right. It’s time we stand up to oil company giveaways, no-bid contracts for Halliburton, and billions in pork, including bridges to nowhere - all saddling our kids with more and more debt. This won’t get me contributions from Jack Abramoff, but it’s sure the right thing to do for Montana.”
It also makes vague, negative references to his opponent, U.S. Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., without naming him. But Tester may as well indict all of Congress, for some of the actions he criticizes are in bills that passed with broad, bipartisan support.
For example, the “bridge to nowhere” - a $223 million appropriation to build a bridge from Ketchikan, Alaska, to an island where Ketchikan’s airport is located - was contained in a 2005 highway funding bill that passed the Senate by votes of 89-11 and 91-4. Two other “pork” projects the Tester campaign says came out of a subcommittee that includes Burns are in a 2005 transportation-housing budget bill that passed the Senate on a 93-1 vote. A third project is in a spending bill that passed on a 77-21 vote in May.
As for the “oil company giveaways,” they are part of a 2006 bill that cut taxes by $70 billion over five years, applying mostly to investment income. Democrats have criticized the bill as benefiting mostly upper-income taxpayers. It passed the Senate in May on 54-44 vote, with Burns in favor.
The no-bid government contract for Halliburton, the oil/construction conglomerate formerly chaired by Vice President Dick Cheney, was awarded in February 2003 for reconstruction work in postwar Iraq, such as putting out oil-well fires and other oilfield-related work. A government whistleblower in 2004 said the contract, worth at least $1 billion, wasn’t awarded properly - although there’s been no official action taken against the company. In October 2003, Senate Democrats tried to pass an amendment to an Iraq reconstruction bill to prohibit money being paid to any company that owed compensation to top Bush administration officials, such as Cheney. The amendment was killed on a 65-34 vote, with Burns voting to kill it.
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