A mailer targets Democratic Senate candidate Kay Hagan on taxes.

The Associated Builders and Contractors sent the mailer to North Carolina voters this week. It claims that North Carolina has "the highest tax burden in the Southeast."

"No wonder times have been so tough lately," it says. "And guess who has been in charge of North Carolina's money for the last five years?"

The article notes that the state budget has increased by more than $3 billion during the time that Hagan was a cochairwoman of the Senate Appropriations committee.

The Washington-based group has made two automated calls targeting Hagan over earmarks and the state budget and praising U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole on offshore drilling and sent a mailer criticizing Hagan over earmarks.

A lobbying group for construction contractors, it is concerned about Hagan's support for a bill that would make it easier to unionize.

A new mailer targets Kay Hagan on earmarks.

The Associated Builders and Contractors has sent a mailer to North Carolina voters that argues that the Democratic Senate candidate has spent too much on "pet projects" in the legislature.

"With the state's budget in peril and so many hardworking families struggling, these kinds of earmarks and spending policies must stop," it says.

As a Senate budget writer, Hagan was known for directing state money to projects in her home district, although the legislature does not refer to this kind of spending as "earmarks."

The Washington-based group has made two automated calls targeting Hagan over earmarks and the state budget and praising U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole on offshore drilling.

A lobbying group for construction contractors, it is concerned about Hagan's support for a bill that would make it easier to unionize.

The Associated Builders and Contractors is praising U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole's stance on drilling.

The Washington-based group, which advocates for developers, has sent a mailer to North Carolina voters praising Dole's support for more offshore drilling.

"It's good to know someone in Washington is working to provide relief to North Carolina families," the mailer says.

It notes that a bill Dole co-sponsored would lift a moratorium on oil shale exploration in the Western U.S. and offshore drilling along the coastline.

"Not only will the proposal help reduce gas prices for North Carolina families, but it moves us toward energy independence making us safer and improving our environment," it says.

The group has previously made automated calls praising Dole on offshore drilling and criticizing Democratic rival Kay Hagan on state spending and the budget.

ABC is concerned about a bill Hagan supports that would make it easier to unionize.

A robocall praises U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole on offshore drilling.

The Associated Builders and Contractors' Free Enterprise Alliance is making automated calls to Norh Carolina voters noting that the Salisbury Republican voted to allow offshore drilling.

"America needs energy independence," a woman says in the recorded call. "That's why Senator Dole cosponsored the Gas Price Reduction Act, opening more offshore areas to harvest domestic energy, lift the moratorium on oil shale exploration in the Western states, and reduces our dependency on foreign sources."

Both Dole and Democratic rival Kay Hagan backed a failed bipartisan compromise bill that would allow offshore drilling and promote alternative energy. The Gas Price Reduction Act was a Republican-backed alternative that would have gone further on oil exploration.

The Washington-based group has made two other calls targeting Hagan over earmarks and the state budget. A lobbyist for construction contractors, it is concerned about Hagan's support for a bill that would make it easier to unionize.

After the jump, the script.

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A robocall attacks Kay Hagan on state spending.

The Associated Builders and Contractors' Free Enterprise Alliance is making the automated calls to North Carolina voters arguing that the Democratic Senate candidate included costly projects in the state budget.

"In the state Senate, Hagan set out securing earmarks, state funding for theater programs," a woman says in the calls. "Her pet projects cost us hundreds of thousands of dollars."

The call makes a link between state spending and earmark reform, an issue being pushed nationally.

As a budget writer from 2003 to 2007, Hagan was known for bringing home the bacon: $1.5 million for an International Civil Rights Museum, $500,000 for Greensboro's Center City Park, $500,000 for the International Furnishings Market in High Point, and $10 million for a joint Millennium campus being developed by the UNC-Greensboro and N.C. A&T State University.

Technically, state legislators do not refer to their spending projects as "earmarks," although the concept is the same.

After the jump, the script.

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A builders' group sponsoring robocalls against Kay Hagan is fighting a bill making it easier to unionize.

The Associated Builders and Contractors Free Enterprise Alliance, a Washington-based contractors lobbying association, paid for automated calls to North Carolina residents criticizing the Democratic Senate candidate's record on spending.

The calls are ostensibly issue-oriented, asking listeners to call Hagan about state spending.

Chris Singerling, director of political affairs for the alliance, said that "fiscal restraint at all levels of government" is a key issue for the commercial and industrial contractors in its membership.

At the national level, the group is also concerned about the Employee Free Choice Act, a bill that would make it easier to unionize companies by allowing a "card-check" system rather than a private ballot.

Singerling argued that would make it easier for pro-union employees to pressure coworkers.

"It's absolutely un-American," he said. "You can go and vote for your elected officials on Election Day privately, and no one would know how you voted. But when it comes to your own job, you wouldn't have that right."

The card-check bill passed the House in 2007 but failed narrowly in the Senate.

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole voted against the bill, while Hagan told the News & Record's editorial board that she would look on the idea "favorably" but stopped short of a full-throated endorsement.

Update: Hagan spokeswoman Colleen Flanagan said that she supports the bill as a way to "level the playing field for working families."

"Right now, employees can unionize by either a secret ballot or a card check, but the employer is essentially allowed to decide which method will be officially recognized," she wrote in an e-mail to Dome. "This bill simply allows the workers, not the employers, to decide which method to use, and stiffens penalties for intimidation."

A robocall criticizes Kay Hagan over the state budget.

The automated call by the Associated Builders and Contractors' Free Enterprise Alliance, a Washington-based advocacy group for construction companies, attacks the Democratic Senate candidate over her handling of the state budget.

"Kay Hagan doesn't mind spending your tax dollars — after all, it's your money not hers," a female voice with a slight Southern accent says on the call. "Since Kay Hagan became an influential member of the North Carolina budget committee, our state budget has grown by more than $3 billion."

Hagan was a co-chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations committee from 2003 to 2007.

The ad actually understates the budget growth. The 2003 budget was $14.7 billion, while the 2007 budget was $20.4 billion — an increase of $5.7 billion.

However, as other third-party ads attacking Hagan have noted, state debt increased by about $3.4 billion during Hagan's tenure as budget writer.

Substitute the word "debt" for "budget" in the ad, and it makes more sense.

After the jump, the script.

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Freedom's Watch is calling North Carolina voters about Kay Hagan.

The Washington-based conservative lobbying group is making automated calls to North Carolina voters that say Hagan is soft on illegal immigration.

As with some other third-party efforts, the calls are not legally allowed to be coordinated with either Hagan's Senate campaign or U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole's. They also do not mention the campaign, instead focusing on the issue and encouraging voters to call Hagan.

Greensboro blogger Ed Cone has reported receiving the calls, as has the Dole campaign's headquarters.

Update: Dome readers report receiving calls from the Change to Win Federation, a coalition of the Service Employees International Union and other unions, that promote Hagan.

Second Update: A BlueNC blogger and an N&O staffer report receiving a robocall from the Associated Builders & Contractors Free Enterprise Alliance criticizing Hagan.