By MATTHEW DALY

The Associated Press             

WASHINGTON (AP) — Oregon Rep. Darlene Hooley's campaign is denouncing an out-of-state group that has spent more than $350,000 on TV ads and mailings attacking the five-term Democratic incumbent.

The California-based Economic Freedom Fund — bankrolled by the Texas homebuilder who backed the "Swift Boat" ads against Democrat John Kerry in 2004 — accuses Hooley of "playing politics with the lives of our soldiers" in TV ads running across the Salem-based 5th Congressional District.

As ominous music plays, the TV ad cites three votes in which it says Hooley opposed improving military health care, pay raises for soldiers and critical equipment during combat emergencies. The ads are reinforced by mailings that echo similar themes, as well as attacks on Hooley's record on immigration and Social Security.

Hooley spokesman Matthew Schumaker called the military ad "a total distortion that just doesn't ring true, given the voluminous efforts Darlene has made on behalf of our veterans and the National Guard."

Hooley, who has made support for veterans and the Guard a core campaign issue, has called on her Republican opponent, Mike Erickson, to request the ad's removal.

"I have been a leader in trying to make sure our soldiers have the pay, the health care and the equipment they need," she told The Associated Press.

Besides Hooley, the Republican-leaning Economic Freedom Fund has been active with ads against Democratic House members in West Virginia, Iowa and Georgia. A representative of the group did not return repeated phone calls.

But a spokeswoman for Erickson defended the ads, saying Hooley has accepted more than $3.4 million in money from special interest groups over her congressional career.

"Obviously she doesn't have any problem with outside interest groups, unless it benefits her opponent," said Erickson spokeswoman Fawn McNeely. "For her to complain about that (ad) is kind of silly."

Erickson, a Lake Oswego businessman, has spent more than $1 million of his own money to blanket the airwaves with ads accusing Hooley of being out of step with the 5th District, which stretches from the mid-Willamette Valley to the Oregon Coast.

The ad sponsored by the Economic Freedom group cites three votes by Hooley — in 1999, 2000 and 2004 — that the group characterizes as antimilitary. At the request of the AP, Hooley's campaign responded in writing to each the allegations.

In the first vote, which took place on July 22, 1999, Hooley opposed a defense spending bill because it increased funding for the V-22 Osprey, "an aircraft that consistently crashed and was considered unsafe in (Pentagon) testing," Schumaker, the Hooley spokesman, said in an e-mail.

"In fact, a constituent of Oregon's 5th District — Keoki Santos — was killed in an Osprey crash," Schumaker wrote, adding that Hooley has been a longtime advocate of grounding and eliminating expenditures for the Osprey until problems were fixed.

"While Congresswoman Hooley supported increased pay for our soldiers, she could not support additional funding for a failed (Defense Department) project responsible for the death of a constituent and several other servicemen," Schumaker said.

Santos, 24, of Grand Ronde, was among 19 Marines — two from Oregon — killed in the crash of an MV-22 Osprey in Arizona. But that crash did not occur until April 2000 — a year after the defense vote.

Schumaker acknowledged the error after it was pointed out to him by the AP, but said Hooley had been concerned about the safety of the Osprey before the crash, noting that Santos himself had voiced concerns about riding in the Osprey aircraft to his mother.

The 1999 bill also included spending for a national missile defense system, Schumaker said, which Hooley considered wasteful and unnecessary.

The second vote took place on March 29, 2000. Hooley and the state's other Democratic House members opposed an amendment to an emergency spending bill that would have added money for military health programs.

Schumaker called the GOP amendment a "political budget trick used to add $4 billion to an emergency hurricane relief bill. In fact, these political games by the Republican majority slowed down relief to thousands of hurricane victims" that year.

"Congresswoman Hooley has a long record in Congress of supporting pay increases, bonuses and increased health care funding for our active military and veterans," Schumaker said.

The final vote cited by the ad came on Aug. 14, 2004. Hooley and other Democrats opposed legislation that Schumaker said gave Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld "broad, unchecked authority to obtain below-standard equipment that put our soldiers at greater risk."

Equipment authorized by the bill "had not even undergone efficacy testing," Schumaker said, calling Hooley "a national leader in the fight to give our soldiers the best possible equipment and training during this time of war."

Associated Press Writer Brad Cain in Salem contributed to this report.

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On the Net:

Economic Freedom Fund: http://www.economicfreedomfund.com

Hooley: http://www.hooley.org

Erickson: http://www.ericksonforcongress.org