National Democrats Target Blake Farenthold [Updated]
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Not even two months into his first term, U.S. Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Corpus Christi, is the subject of an ad campaign from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
The national group is running automated phone calls, web ads, live phone calls and e-mails in Farenthold's South Texas district starting Thursday that criticize his support for cuts in transportation and infrastructure spending. The DCCC says Farenthold's vote "will cost 4,227 jobs in Texas while still preserving taxpayer subsidies for Big Oil companies making record profits."
The ads come as part of the DCCC's "Drive to 25" campaign that takes aim at 19 GOP Congress members they view as vulnerable in 2012. Farenthold is the only Texas member on the list.
In a phone interview, Farenthold said he voted for a continuing resolution that reduced spending across the board because he feels that's "what the voters elected me me to do."
"In cutting government, we cut a huge variety of programs a lot of which I would have liked to see increase and a lot of which I'd like to see decreased more," he said.
As for whether or not he's vulnerable in 2012, Farenthold had this to say: "Nobody thought that I would able to win in this last election at all and I won. And now nobody thinks I'll be able to keep it. I intend to work hard to prove that the thinking in Washington DC about this is just wrong."
Here's the script of the calls:
Everyone knows we need to cut spending and reduce the deficit in Washington. And we can do that by reforming government, cutting wasteful spending and getting rid of taxpayer subsidies for the Big Oil companies that are making record profits.
Instead, Rep. Blake Farenthold voted for a partisan plan to cut transportation and infrastructure costing more than 4,000 jobs and making our roads and bridges less safe. With unemployment at 9 percent, it just doesn’t make sense to cut investments in transportation and infrastructure that create jobs.
Call Blake Farenthold at [PHONE] and tell him to cut taxpayer subsidies for Big Oil, not transportation investments, safe roads and bridges that create Texas jobs.
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