Defenders of Wildlife PAC

The long back and forth between U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-Fort Morgan) and the Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund gained yet another entry on Saturday, as David Kirk, the group's communications coordinator sent an e-mail to PolitickerCO.com, to rebut Musgrave's recent characterization of the group as "radical" and its ads as "reprehensible". These comments were made in an open letter criticizing her challenger Betsy Markey (D-Fort Collins) for having not finalized their debating schedule.

Terming Musgrave's comments "name calling and pouting," Kirk wrote that he believed Markey's accusation of the group being "radical" was unfounded.

"If she thinks it is a 'radical' proposition to increase automobile fuel efficiency standards so that we can pay less at the pump and to think that Big Oil companies making record billions of dollars in profit do not need billions of dollars in tax breaks that she voted for, then I think we can safely say that she really must be out-of-touch with her constituents," Kirk wrote in the e-mail.

U.S. Rep. Marilyn MusgraveThe Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund, an environmental advocacy organization, is expanding its effort to unseat U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-Fort Collins).

Defenders President Rodger Schlickeisen said the organization was building an aggressive ground operation in the Fort Collins area that would be in place by the end of July. Leading the effort is Ed Yoon, who in managed the Defender’s successful campaign to oust U.S. Rep. Richard Pombo of California. This cycle Yoon has been active in the organization’s efforts in House and Senate races in New Mexico.

The move comes several weeks after the organization launched several hard-hitting advertisements portraying Musgrave as out-of-touch on the environment and too close to President Bush on the issue. The organization placed a significant sum of money behind the ads, purchasing about $200,000 worth of air time and spending about $12,000 to produce the ads.

With energy and the environment emerging as hot button topics this election year, two environment-focused advocacy groups are spending heavily in competitive House and Senate races in Colorado.

The League of Conservation Voters is coming out strongly for Democrat Mark Udall in his run for the seat of retiring U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard (R-Loveland). The organization has sunk more than $565,000 into two television advertisements slamming Udall’s Republican opponent, former U.S. Rep. Bob Schaffer.

Earlier this week, Defenders of Wildlife PAC began airing two television advertisements targeting U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, who is engaged in a competitive race with Democrat Betsy Markey. The organization has purchased about $200,000 in television airtime and spent about $12,000 to produce the ads.

One of the Democrats’ top targets in the battle for the U.S. House is taking heat from an environmental advocacy group in a new set of television advertisements launching today.

Defenders of Wildlife PAC is airing hard-hitting ads that aim to portray U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-Fort Morgan) as out-of-step on the environment and too close to President Bush. In one of the two ads airing the organization accuses Musgrave of voting to give tax breaks to oil companies and pictures the three-term congresswoman getting a kiss from the president.

Musgrave is facing off against Betsy Markey, a businesswoman and former Larimer County Democratic Party chair. Musgrave, who defeated Democrat Angie Paccione in 2006 with a narrow 46 percent of the vote, is widely seen as vulnerable this cycle.