The League of Conservation Voters unveiled a new TV ad this week criticizing Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bob Schaffer's ties to oil and gas companies.

The ad, featuring a gradually growing oily fingerprint, features a narrator stating:

"What kind of mark has Bob Schaffer made as a politician? He's left a definite imprint, accepting over $150,000 in campaign contributions from oil and gas interests and voting in Congress to give oil and gas companies over $13 billion in tax breaks. As a politician and corporate oil executive, Bob Schaffer has had all of his fingers in Big Oil. Colorado deserves cleaner representation in the Senate."

Schaffer manager Dick Wadhams responded by noting that the LCV was fined $180,000 by the Federal Election Commission in December 2006 for funding pro-Kerry and anti-Bush canvassing without registering with the FEC or reporting donors and contributions to the agency, as political action committees are required to do. 

"Boulder Liberal Udall's front group is now spending millions in scandal tainted dollars to attack energy companies and Bob Schaffer," Wadhams said in an e-mail. "Beyond that, its (sic) time for Boulder Liberal Udall and his convicted front group to tell hundreds of thousands of Coloradans who make their living directly or indirectly from the energy industry why they should not have those jobs." 

Udall spokesperson Taylor West said in an e-mail that LCV is "a totally independent effort with no connection to or communication with (the Udall) campaign."

"Mark Udall has been leading for over a decade to build Colorado’s new energy economy – creating jobs, lowering costs for families, and putting Colorado out in front on American energy independence.," West said in the e-mail. "Meanwhile, it’s the Bush-Schaffer economy that’s shedding jobs by the million and crushing America’s middle class."

The League of Conservation Voters is one of a coalition of national environmental groups targeting the Colorado U.S. Senate race, among other races. The coalition's goal is to elect a 60-member majority in the U.S. Senate to deal with global warming.

POLL: Will Bob Schaffer take any significant hit from the League of Conservation Voters' new TV ad?