We all remember the childhood story of Pinocchio and the valuable life lesson it taught us about the importance of telling the truth. I've repeated the same story to my own children in hopes that a growing nose may dissuade them from lying.
Unfortunately, the Pinocchio story doesn't seem to have impacted the U.S. Chamber of Commerce or Crossroads GPS. In fact, they down right ignored the four Pinocchios given by the Washington Post to a Chamber report which grossly exaggerated carbon emission reductions under the Clean Power Plan.
Now their long noses are poking into the political realm with a new television ad against environmental champion Mark Udall in Colorado. Crossroads GPS just dumped $460,000 into attack ads which site the previously debunked report from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
I wish I could say I'm surprised. But, it's the same old tired play from their political playbook. These fossil fuel funded opponents know they don't have the science or public opinion on their side, so they resort to their standard scare tactics: job loss and higher electricity rates.
The only surprise here is that they are still trying these failed strategies. It didn't work in the 2012 election cycle. Despite their best efforts and extremely deep pockets, fossil fuel backers lose much more often than they win. The last election cycle their win rate was a measly 5 percent versus the environmental community and our champions. For an industry highly focused on its return on investment, they don't have much to show their investors when it comes to the electoral politics of climate change. This goes to show that the big money is not always the smarter money.
Our 2014 battleground state polling, which included Colorado, also shows that more than two-thirds of voters say the EPA should limit carbon pollution from power plants. This includes 53 percent of Republicans, 63 percent of Independents, and 87 percent of Democrats.
I'm confident that as voters sniff out the truth this November, it won't take them long to find these modern day Pinocchios.