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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The conservative group Citizens United has launched TV ads in Utah urging residents to call U.S. Sen. Mike Lee and thank him for his conservative policies.
Citizens United president David Bossie said his organization wants Utah residents to understand Lee's agenda and embolden the senator.
"We just felt like it was time to celebrate Mike Lee's ideas and make sure that the people of Utah understood that he is a real leader with a real positive agenda and that they should recognize him for it," Bossie said.
Bossie said the group decided to start running the ads on Monday because the congressional session has started. He said the group is not running the ads to aid a possible bid for reelection by Lee next year.
Lee was elected in 2010, defeating longtime U.S. Sen. Bob Bennett for the Republican nomination. Lee has not said if he will seek another term.
"The senator was surprised to hear about the ads since he is focused on working here in Washington for Utahns, but this is a free country with a First Amendment and Citizens United can do what they want," Lee's spokesman Conn Carroll said Tuesday.
Citizens United has so far spent $200,000 on the television, online and radio ads. Bossie said it might spend more in the months ahead.
Utah Democratic Party Chairman Peter Corroon said it's premature for the group to spend money when the election is about 600 days away.
"It's another example of bundles of Beltway bucks coming into Utah to try to influence local elections," Corroon said.
Corroon said he hasn't seen the ads but expects Utah residents will "take them for what they are: outside money, outside people trying to put their nose in our business."
The ads came on the heels of Lee's new book about the U.S. Constitution. The book includes a brief mention of the landmark 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision in favor of Citizens United that overturned campaign finance limits.
Citizens United promoted the book last week in posts on its Twitter and Facebook accounts.
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Follow Michelle L. Price at https://twitter.com/michellelprice
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