NRSC Web Ad Blasts Udall For Not Punishing Berkeley City Council

The National Republican Senatorial Committee has a new video criticizing Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Mark Udall for not co-sponsoring House legislation protesting a recent anti-Marine resolution passed by the Berkeley, California city council.

The House resolution, H.R. 5222, would rescind about $3 million in federal earmarks for the city of Berkeley and transfer that money to the Marine Corps.

That legislation came in response to the Berkeley City Council voting in January to send a letter to a recruiting station in the city saying that U.S. Marines are not welcome in the city.

The council later decided not to send the letter, but no apology was made.

The ad shows footage of protesters crowding around the recruiting station, preventing people from entering The ad then states that "Boulder liberal" Udall "still has not cosponsored (sic) a bill that would penalize these liberal extremists," and says "He even sided with liberals against pay raises and body armor for our troops."

Of the 88 co-sponsors of H.R. 5222, only one is a Democrat -- U.S. Rep. Jim Marshall (D-Ga.).

Udall spokesperson Taylor West responded in a statement that the ad was "dishonest and intentionally misleading."

"Mark Udall believes Congress has much more important work to do – on everything from the lagging economy, to skyrocketing oil prices, to getting our kids covered with health care, to ending the war in Iraq in a responsible way – than micromanaging the budgets of cities for the sake of political gamesmanship," West said in the statement.

West also took issue with the assertion that Udall hasn't supported body armor or pay raises for troops.

"(Udall) introduced legislation to increase American troop strength by 80,000, has consistently rejected the idea of withdrawing funding for troops in Iraq, and has voted repeatedly to provide support for military operations, equipment, health care, and pay raises," she said in the statement. 

The NRSC has released two versions of the ad: one targeting Mark Udall, the other targeting U.S. Rep. Tom Udall (D-N.M.), the Democratic U.S. Senate candidate in New Mexico.

NRSC spokesperson John Randall said there are "no plans right now" to modify the Mark Udall video into a television ad.