Post updated with comments from Silverman.

A pro-business political action committee called thousands of D.C. residents yesterday, urging them to vote against D.C. Council candidate Elissa Silverman in the upcoming April 23 At-Large Special Election.

The recorded phone call was paid for by the D.C. Action Fund, a new PAC that has backed Republican candidate Patrick Mara, is run by the former executive director of the D.C. GOP and recently reported $35,000 in contributions (and $13,500 in spending), many from the same people who give to local Republican candidates and causes. In the message, the group urged voters to reject Silverman, saying that the city cannot “afford” her.

“Hello, this is Sarah with the D.C. Action Fund. Like many D.C. residents, I wrote a big check yesterday and paid my taxes. Council candidate Elissa Silverman recently said in the Washington Post, ‘I don’t think D.C. voters mind paying taxes.’ With a city that has a $400 million surplus, I do mind paying the highest taxes in the region. We can’t afford Elissa Silverman. Join me in saying no to her candidacy on April 23,” said the recorded message.

Silverman made the comment about taxes during a recent forum, adding: “What they mind are bad services, and I think D.C. voters want an honest, transparent approach to taxation.” She subsequently explained the comment by pointing a 2011 poll done by the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute, a liberal think tank and advocacy organization she works for (she’s currently on leave), that found that many D.C. residents were willing to raise taxes on the city’s highest-earners in order to preserve city services. (Silverman is the only candidate so far to release her tax returns.)

Nick Jeffress, the fund’s director and the former head of the D.C. GOP, wouldn’t say how many households were called, but he hinted that they were targeted to voters that might be open to the message.

“The call yesterday went to likely voters across the District that we believe don’t want another tax-first Councilmember like Elissa Silverman would be. We have enough of those running our city, and frankly people think it’s time for a change. The responses we received from the call reinforced that, so I’m glad we did it. In times like these, District voters can’t afford the highest taxes in the region, and it’s obvious Elissa Silverman does not understand that,” he said.

In her defense, Silverman had this to say: “They’re not accurate in what I said,” she argues, saying that she’s advocated for progressive taxation and good city services to boot. “Pat Mara tries to present himself as not of the Republican Party, [but] who supports you speaks to who you are,” she said, opining that Mara is more closely aligned to traditional Republican values than he’d like to admit. “This just makes the contrast in this election even more clear. If D.C. voters want the same ol’, same ol’, they can make a different choice [than me].”

Last week the fund paid for mailers to be sent to Republican voters in D.C. to remind them that Mara is the only Republican in the race; in his own mailers, Mara has not mentioned his own party affiliation. Mara has benefited from outside groups during his past runs for office in 2008 and 2011.

Mara isn’t the only candidate that has benefited from independent expenditures, though. A local union recently paid for mailers saying that Mara would be bad for women to be sent to female voters in various wards. The mailers did not endorse a specific candidate, but rather urged them to vote for a Democrat. (Along with Silverman, Anita Bonds, Matthew Frumin and Paul Zukerberg are running as Democrats; Perry Redd is the sole Statehood Green.)

Mara, a member of the D.C. State Board of Education for Ward 1, former lobbyist and prolific eBay entrepreneur, has presented himself as a “socially progressive, fiscally conservative, moderate Republican.” As we’ve written before, he doesn’t fit in the traditional mold of national Republicans, but he has attracted criticism among progressives for opposing an increase in the minimum wage and paid sick leave for tipped restaurant workers. (Mara has been endorsed by the Post’s editorial board, as well as the Current.) Mara has said he is opposed to tax increases; in the past, he even went as far as signing Grover Norquist’s pledge against any tax increase. (He was dinged yesterday for allegedly using his past campaign donor list as a means to help conservative-leaning groups in D.C.)

With six days to go until Election Day, a poll released Monday found Bonds with 19 percent of citywide support, with Silverman and Mara tied at 13 percent. Campaign finance reports filed yesterday show Bonds with $39,000 left to spend, while Silverman has $42,000 and Mara $82,000.