WASHINGTON  — Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., has canceled a weekend fundraiser planned at Oregon’s pricey Bandon Dunes Golf Resort.

Smith’s political action committee, Impact America, had been scheduled to hold the $5,000 per person tournament Saturday at Bandon Dunes, that is considered one of the premier golf courses in the country. The tournament would have been the seventh annual at Bandon sponsored by Impact America to benefit Republican senators and Senate challengers.

A spokeswoman for Smith said the event was canceled because of a scheduling conflict, but Democrats were unconvinced.

“As is common in all campaigns, Senator Smith’s schedule changed and the fundraiser was canceled,” Lindsay Gilbride, a spokeswoman for Smith’s campaign, said Tues-day.

But a spokesman for Smith’s Democratic opponent, Jeff Merkley, said Smith canceled the event because he did not want to be associated with the political action committee’s donations to “right-wing Republicans” such as Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe, a well-known skeptic of global warming.

Records on file with the Federal Election Commission show that Impact America has donated tens of thousands of dollars in recent years to dozens of GOP Senate candidates, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and veteran Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens.

The committee has given $10,000 to Inhofe, who has led GOP efforts to block a landmark bill to cut greenhouse gases and address global warming. Smith cast procedural votes in favor of the bill

While Smith preaches a moderate record, through Impact America, “he is funneling money to some very right-wing Republicans,” said Merkley spokesman Matt Canter.