Miami Herald: On offense with Ryan budget, GOP bashes Joe Garcia vote in opening ’14 salvo

Miami Herald
Marc Caputo
March 22, 2013
http://tinyurl.com/bqzwub7

Yup, it’s 2014 already. A conservative Super PAC is up with an ad already bashing new Congressman Joe Garcia for voting against the latest iteration of House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan’s plan.

What makes the ad intriguing is that the GOP is on offense over the Ryan plan, something that caused them to scurry in the 2012 election cycle. Democrats pointed out changes it made to Medicare and that spooked Republicans.

Now Republicans seem ready to counter the attack by making it a debate about debt (and, yes, there’s an argument to be made that Ryan’s plan has its own financial problems).

WASHINGTON – The Congressional Leadership Fund (@CLFSuperPAC ), the super PAC exclusively dedicated to protecting and growing the House Republican Majority, released today their first ad of the 2014 cycle against Congressman Joe Garcia (FL-26) for voting against balancing Washington’s budget yesterday.

The House-passed budget would balance Washington’s budget, preventing our coming debt crisis and growing the economy. The ads will run on cable shows targeting women and will be accompanied by a similar paid digital ad campaign.

“Joe Garcia refused to support balancing Washington’s budget even though Florida families have to every month,” said CLF Communications Director Dan Conston. “South Florida moms deserve to know why Congressman Garcia thinks Washington shouldn’t follow the same rules they do.”From 2011-2012, CLF raised a combined $55 million with their sister-organization the American Action Network, a 501c4 primarily focused on advocating for center-right policy solutions and the center-right movement.

Additionally, the Sunlight Foundation rated the $21 million in independent expenditures spent by AAN & CLF the #1 and #2 Highest “Returns on Investment” of conservative groups.