New NRSC ad accuses Merkley of steering money to World Affairs Council

The National Republican Senatorial Committee released a new ad Monday that accuses U.S. Senate candidate Jeff Merkley (D-Portland) of allocating tax dollars to an organization that he was the executive director of.

“When it comes to feeding his own self interest, Jeff Merkley is an expert,” the ad says, as it replays the now infamous video of Merkley caught on tape and off guard on the escalating conflict in Georgia while he was eating a hot dog.

The ad accuses Merkley, currently the state House speaker, of voting to give $150,000 of taxpayer money to the World Affairs Council while he was the group’s executive director. According to NRSC spokesman John Randall, in July 2001 Merkley allocated the funds toward the World Affairs Council, while he was still president of the council.

Calls to Merkley’s campaign were not immediately returned.

A report on KATU Thursday about the internal poll Merkley’s campaign released showed the Merkley campaign theorizing that negative attack ads were not working in favor of Smith, hence his downward spiral in the job approval category. But Randall questioned that logic.

“Was that polling done before or after it was exposed Merkley is soft on crime and voted against tougher penalties for serial rapists?” Randall asked, referring to the ads Smith released Friday.