Lunsford camp rounds up criticism of McConnell's ad

Declaring that "the reviews are in," the campaign of Democratic Senate nominee Bruce Lunsford continued to respond to its opponent's recent television ad by circulating negative editorial responses to the spot.

Sampling from one editorial each from today's editions of the Commonwealth's two largest newspapers, Lunsford's camp again derided the attack ad from the campaign of Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Louisville) as a "political smokescreen."

"Mitch McConnell's first ad in this year's Senate campaign in Kentucky is so silly and pointless that it seems like a spoof from a political satirist," reads an editorial cited by Lunsford's campaign from today's Louisville Courier-Journal.

McConnell's ad argues Lunsford "lobbied for automatic gas tax increases" while working as chief legislative liason for Governor John Y. Brown in 1980.

Then, Kentucky's gas tax structure was changed from a per-gallon flat rate to a rate tied to the wholesale price of gasoline.

McConnell's ad labelled that structure the "Lunsford automatic gas tax" and said it "has already cost Kentuckians hundreds of millions."

That Courier-Journal editorial denounces McConnell's ad as "irrelevant," claiming the bill changing the gas price structure "was a good one" as it allowed the tax rate to not remain stuck at 9 cents per gallon.

"And a rate that had truly been frozen at 9 cents a gallon since 1980, as Sen. McConnell knows, would have led to untenable deterioration of state roads," continued the Louisville paper's editorial.

A second editorial in the Lexington Herald-Leader took the same line against McConnell's ad.

"McConnell's commercial is essentially dishonest," read that paper's editorial commentary.

The Herald-Leader also contextualized the ad's charges, suggesting that "Kentucky's gas tax, 8 cents below the national average, is a negligible part of the price of gasoline."

"The tax is tied to the wholesale price of gasoline, which also makes sense because the cost of road-building goes up with the price of oil," continued the editorial.

The editorial also takes a strong swipe at McConnell in its closing paragraph.

"McConnell's misleading ad isn't unexpected. Manipulation has long been his strong suit, and the senior senator must be very pleased with the way his ad uses Lunsford's own words against him," concluded the piece.

Shortly after the ad's release last Friday, Lunsford's camp also suggested Lunsford was not necessarily "responsible" for the policy, noting "Bruce was a staffer at the time and his job was to implement the Governor's agenda."

In its own Friday release announcing the commencement of their attacks on Lunsford, McConnell's campaign cited "139 negative editorial and opinion pieces against Senator McConnell since he became Republican Leader" in the Courier-Journal and the Herald-Leader as part and parcel of "misleading attacks" against McConnell.