McConnell camp rebuts Lunsford’s post-bailout ad

The campaign of incumbent U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Louisville) labeled opponent Bruce Lunsford's (D-Louisville) latest ad as "dishonest" this evening after the ad hit the air today.

"It is the height of arrogance for someone who has made a fortune playing the Wall Street game to now say that he does not like the system," said McConnell's campaign manager Justin Brasell in a statement.

Lunsford's newest spot highlights over $4 million in campaign contributions from financial, insurance, and real estate industries to McConnell over the course of the Republican's Senate career as well as McConnell's votes on legislation removing some regulations on consolidation between banking and insurance interests.

McConnell's campaign fired off a release first contesting the notion that the bailout package for which the incumbent voted last Wednesday was a "Wall Street" bailout. Instead, the Republican's camp cited sentiment from Democrats like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Cali.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) that referred to the bailout as "a bailout for our country" and a "buy-in."

"Worse yet is that Bruce can't even offer an opinion about how we should work to help Kentucky's families navigate these difficult times," continued Brasell. "Bruce is no leader.  Rather, he is the poster child for the greed and excess that led to the mess we are in."

The McConnell camp also suggested Lunsford had not "taken a position" on the bailout bill, though Lunsford did comment on the bailout legislation yesterday after meeting with union workers in Louisville. He described the package as a "band-aid" and criticized the process whereby it was passed, suggesting there should have been more protection for taxpayers in the bill.

The Republican response also defended the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, a 1999 bill which was the subject of one of the new ad's assertions that McConnell "got rid of government regulations" the financial industry did not approve of.

McConnell's camp said that legislation passed with bipartisan support and cited comments by Clinton-era Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin who suggested that act had "zero" impact on the contemporary crisis, though that was not explicitly an assertion in the Lunsford ad.

The McConnell campaign also objected to the inclusion of a photo featuring McConnell and Bush during the ad's discussion of that legislation, claiming it was "dishonest" ad the bill passed during the Clinton administration.

The ad's final assertion - that McConnell "is allowing fat cat CEO's to stuff their pockets with billions - was contested by the Republican's camp with references to McConnell's support for provisions curbing executive compensation in the bailout package, which his campaign says were included at the Senator's "insisitence."

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