Boxer Hit for Supporting ‘Air Freshener for Harry Reid’

One of Sen. Barbara Boxer’s (D-Calif.) 2010 Republican opponents is using Boxer’s support for the newly-opened Capitol Visitors Center (CVC) against California’s junior Senator, releasing a web ad criticizing Boxer for supporting the controversial project.

California Assemblyman Chuck DeVore (R) released a web ad Thursday calling the CVC “Barbara Boxer’s $620 Million Air Freshener for Harry Reid.” Reid, the Senate Majority Leader from Nevada, had acclaimed the center’s opening this week for relieving the Capitol of the smell of tourists during the summer.

“Barbara Boxer was one of the Senators that voted time and time again for this massive museum for Congress, which was three years late, and $360 million dollars over budget,” a narrator says in the ad.

The center, the groundbreaking for which took place in 2000, was called a “tragically misconceived and overscale addition” by a Washington Post architecture critic this week.

“Barbara Boxer and Harry Reid may think it’s worth $621 million to protect their delicate noses from the American public,” said DeVore, who opposed the bailout for the financial industry, “but I think this over budget and late building project is symbolic of the greater waste we’ll be seeing with more than a trillion dollars in bailouts. California can’t afford Barbara Boxer.”

DeVore announced in mid-November that he would challenge Boxer in 2010.

Watch the video here: