Tag Archives: art hackney

New American Crossroads ad attacks Begich over taking undue credit

Below is an American Crossroads ad attacking U.S. Sen. Mark Begich for taking credit for things that the ad claims he shouldn’t take credit for. The ad continues a theme that has been playing out between the campaigns of GOP Senate candidate Dan Sullivan and Begich for weeks now. (See the ads here, here and here.)

As expected, it quotes Rep. Don Young, who recently told a camera crew during a recent campaign shoot in Fairbanks, that he was tired of Begich’s claims about his accomplishments. “Don’t take credit for something you did not do,” Young said in an impromptu interview by a camera crew that regularly works for Young and for Art Hackney, an Anchorage based ad-man and strategists for American Crossroads.

Among other things, Young was referring to a road that was recently built in National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, that was an effort by Continue reading →

American Crossroads attacks Begich’s commitment to veterans

A day after U.S. Senate candidate Dan Sullivan called for Sen. Mark Begich to agree to try to put an end to third-party ads, American Crossroads released the following ad, accusing Begich of not taking enough action on veterans healthcare. The new ad will air statewide for a total buy of $450,000. It started on Wednesday.

“Begich likes to use his position on the Veterans Affairs Committee to score political points when he’s in Alaska, but he continues to sit on the sidelines when it comes to holding President Obama and the VA leadership accountable in Washington,” said Art Hackney, well known Anchorage-based adman and strategist for Crossroads.

Begich’s campaign responded:

Begich has widespread support from the Alaska veteran community. Begich also sits on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee where he successfully facilitated an agreement between the VA and tribal health facilities to allow veterans to receive care closer to home, helping to significantly cut down on VA wait times in Alaska.

The Senate passed a $50 billion VA health care bill on Wednesday night, largely mirroring similar proposals from the House. Begich was in D.C. and voted for the bill.

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com

Anti-Begich ad likely first ever to use term ‘erectile dysfunction’

Anchorage-based adman Art Hackney isn’t known for making ads that are overly cautious. One of his most famous ones was about a gas reserves tax on the ballot in 2006. It starred himself holding a handgun, which he pointed downward and pulled the trigger. Cut to a still-smoking boot with a bullet hole through it. His most recent radio ad is pure Hackney, and is probably the very first ad for Senate in the country to use the term “erectile dysfunction.” Hackney runs the pro-Dan Sullivan super-PAC, Alaska’s Energy-America’s Values. In the ad, he rifts off of recent Begich commercials which show him zooming through the North Slope on a snowmachine, set to the backdrop music that Hackney describes as “straight out of an erectile dysfunction ad.” Listen to that one here. The other ad that he produced takes on Begich’s time as Anchorage mayor and continues with the “Malarkey Mark” theme Hackney began earlier this year. Listen to that here.
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