Vencor

A day after U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell's (R-Louisville) campaign referenced opponent Bruce Lunsford's (D-Louisville) history as head of the troubled nursing home chain, Vencor, the Lexington Herald-Leader notes McConnell has his own connection to the Vencor controversy.

John Cheves writes that McConnell's wife, and U.S. Secretary of Labor, Elaine Chao served on Vencor's board of directors from 1997 to 2001.

Cheves notes that period encompasses Vencor's bankruptcy in 1999.

Lunsford served as Vencor's CEO until January of 1999. In 2001, the company agreed to a $104.5 million settlement with the federal governmentover charges of "overbilling," "failure of care claims," and "improper" claims on Medicare reports.

Shortly after Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Bruce Lunsford hit the airwaves with a new ad painting U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Louisville) as an entrenched Washington politician, McConnell's campaign fired back by resurrecting a controversial aspect of Lunsford's business history that has been campaign fodder for the Democrat's opponents in previous campaigns.

"Here is how it works in Washington: the politicians get millions in campaign cash, the special interests get what they want, and we get the short end of the stick," saidU.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Louisville): Politicker photo Lunsford in his new ad. "Mitch McConnell is the master of this system."

An e-mailed statement from McConnell's campaign manager, Justin Brasell, mimicked the structure of Lunsford's words and targeted Lunsford's tenure as CEO of Vencor and Ventas - a nursing home chain and a healthcare investment trust, respectively.

"At least Lunsford is consistent, going back to the primary every ad he has run has been full of baseless negative attacks," said Brasell. "Here is how it works in Lunsford's world: you run a nursing home business that takes millions from the federal government and then are forced to pay record fines for poor treatment of senior citizens. Then you bankrupt the business but make sure that you walk away with millions. That's how it works in Lunsford's world."

Greg Fischer (D-Louisville)

A flood of opposition has met Democratic Senate candidate Greg Fischer's most recent attack ad against primary frontrunner Bruce Lunsford. In that ad, Fischer revives charges regarding alleged business improprieties at Vencor, a nursing home chain founded by Lunsford. Today at a press conference at his campaign headquarters, Fischer defended his campaign's tactics, and said the advertisement was justified.

"To make an informed decision, voters have to be able to compare the past performance and the record of each of the candidates," said Fischer. "A major issue in this campaign has become [Lunsford's] attempt to obscure his record as CEO of Vencor. Voters have a right to know the truth. Our advertising is an attempt to shine a light of Mr. Lunsford's stewardship of Vencor leading up to its bankruptcy in 1999."

The campaign of Democratic Senate candidate Greg Fischer launched its most direct attack ad on opponent and primary frontrunner Bruce Lunsford yesterday. Still image from Greg Fischer's attack ad on Bruce Lunsford

The ad - currently available on Fischer's website - slams Lunsford on the Vencor controversy, a series of charges of impropriety against Lunsford's nursing home management business.

The new ad features an elderly woman speaking about Lunsford amid superimposed headlines and quotes from Justice department documents concerning the Vencor charges. All the while a darkened still image of Lunsford slowly shifts in the background as sparse guitar music is played.

Shortly after Democratic Senate candidate Bruce Lunsford released a television advertisement touting his business credentials this morning, his primary opponent’s campaign fired off a press release harkening back to charges of impropriety at some of Lunsford's businesses.  read more »