On KFKA, Independence Institute's Oliver cited misinformation from global warming critic, failed to note his role at conservative think tank

Summary: Talking with a caller on February 12, Amy Oliver of 1310 KFKA repeated a mischaracterization of a remark from former President Bill Clinton when she stated that "Paul Chesser [] found a quote" in which Clinton said that "we are going to have to accept that we have to slow down the economy in order to combat global warming." Further, Oliver did not mention that Chesser directs the conservative Climate Strategies Watch, which states that it "[e]xpos[es] stealth environmental advocacy" and "scrutiniz[es] global warming policy."

On her February 12 broadcast, 1310 KFKA's Amy Oliver told a caller that "according to Paul Chesser," former President Bill Clinton said, "We are going to have to slow -- we are going to have to accept that we have to slow down the economy in order to combat global warming." However, in addition to repeating a mischaracterization of Clinton's remark, Oliver failed to state that Chesser is director of Climate Strategies Watch, a critic of "global warming alarmists" that is a "joint project" of the conservative John Locke Foundation and the "free market" Heartland Institute think tank.

As Colorado Media Matters has noted, other Colorado conservative radio talk show hosts recently have echoed the misleading claim that, during a January 30 speech in Denver, Clinton stated, "We have to slow down our economy to fight global warming." In fact, as Media Matters for America has noted (here and here), after stating that "rich" countries could take that approach, Clinton then said why he thought it wouldn't work, asserting that the "only way" to fight global warming is to prove that doing so "is good economics that we will create more jobs to build a sustainable economy."

From the February 12 broadcast of 1310 KFKA's The Amy Oliver Show:

CALLER: You know, there's a tremendous pressure on the left to do the Al Gore -- it's "environmentalism pays." They have to create going concerns to show that they're not just complete fruitcakes here; that, you know, money can be made, the economy can go forward and be green. So they're comin' up with stupid ideas to, in quotes, accomplish their goals. But what they're really accomplishing is something completely different.

OLIVER: Actually interesting -- and I have to run here, [caller], but you, the couple of things that I want to bring up. One is that Bill Clinton, according to Paul Chesser, he found a quote from Bill Clinton when he was in, said this -- I don't know, I, you know, I want to say a couple of weeks ago, according to Paul, when he was in town, he said, "We are going to have to slow -- we are going to have to accept that we have to slow down the economy in order to combat global warming."

[laughter in background]

CALLER: Yes, isn't that precious?

OLIVER: Yeah, well, you know what, he can accept that, but I don't want to. Hey, [caller], I got to run. Thanks so much for the phone call.

Oliver is director of operations for the "free market" Independence Institute think tank. Although she noted earlier in the program that Chesser spoke at an Independence Institute-sponsored event on February 11, Oliver did not identify him as director of Climate Strategies Watch. According to its website, Climate Strategies Watch "[e]xpos[es] stealth environmental advocacy by the Center for Climate Strategies," a group it describes as "controlled by global warming alarmists who seek solutions that will dramatically increase energy costs and raise taxes, in addition to infringing upon freedom and property rights." Chesser also writes guest commentaries for conservative publications.

—C.H. & J.F.B.