Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn, a Democrat, announced Monday that she will run the first television ad in the 36th Congressional District runoff election, a 30-second spot that compares Republican rival Craig Huey to former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.
The "Palin-Huey" commercial starts by noting that Palin and Huey both oppose abortion in all cases and both support plans to end Medicare while supporting tax breaks for the wealthy. The ad stated that Huey alone called Planned Parenthood a "murder mill."
The ad goes on to say that voters don't need Huey's "extremist right wing agenda" and said Hahn would fight for green jobs, cutting spending and protecting Medicare.
Dave Gilliard, a campaign consultant for Huey, said the ad was false on multiple fronts.
"We think it's a shame that she chose to launch her campaign here in the runoff election with a negative ad that tries to smear her opponent," Gilliard said. "It really insults the intelligence of the voters in the 36th District. It says a lot about the campaign we're going to see from Janice Hahn. We're going to focus on the issues that the public cares about, which are jobs and how the government is spending their money."
Hahn and Huey will face each other in a July 12 runoff election to fill a seat that became vacant in February when longtime Rep. Jane Harman (D-Venice) resigned to join a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.
The commercial will begin airing Tuesday on cable television networks and has also been posted on YouTube.
