Fischer camp packages Lunsford's history as 'baggage,' complete with luggage tag

Members of the Kentucky media received a package from the campaign of Democratic Senate candidate Greg Fischer yesterday. Inside was a small plastic luggage tag adorned with a sticker advertising "The Lunsford Collection.""Lunsford Collection" luggage tag distributed by Greg Fischer's campaign

"The Lunsford Collection offers a well-known brand of baggage. After years of hefty advertising investment, customers have come to know The Lunsford Collection name, but it's time they knew the features," reads the back of the tag. "It's heavy. It's dirty. And, Bruce wants Kentucky Democrats to carry it for him."

The tag is an effort by the Fischer camp to focus attention on its latest effort to hit on what Fischer claims is the unsavvory past of his primary opponent, Louisvillle businessman Bruce Lunsford. That effort is the corresponding website launched this morning: TheLunsfordCollection.com.

The site is essentially new packaging for a re-iteration of charges Fischer has been firing against Lunsford for the last several weeks – charges Lunsford also faced in his losing 2003 and 2007 bids for the Democratic gubernatorial nod.

“I’ve said it before. Bruce Lunsford has more baggage than Samsonite, and Kentucky Democrats will say ‘We’re not buying it,’ for the third time,” said Kim Geveden, Fischer’s Political Director, in a release dispatched to promote the site.

The site features two lists of “baggage,” labeled “corporate” and “political.” The “corporate” baggage section focuses almost exclusively on Lunsford’s role as CEO of Vencor, a nursing home chain that agreed to a $104.5 million settlement in-part based on "failure of care claims" and "over-billing."

These charges were also the subject of Fischer’s recent attack ad.

The “political” baggage section focuses on Lunsford’s past support of Republican candidates, financially and with regard to his 2003 endorsement of Republican Gubernatorial candidate Ernie Fletcher. That endorsement occurred after Lunsford dropped out of the Democratic side of the race against Ben Chandler shortly before the primary.

The site also has a “baggage claim” function which encourages users to submit an email “if you have some Lunsford Collection baggage to share.”

The one relatively new charge against Lunsford on the Fischer campaign’s site is the claim that “as recently as February of this year Lunsford declared Illinois as his state of residence when buying a $1.8 million golf villa in Arizona.”

That charge was culled from the right-leaning blog KYpolitics.org, which investigated the claim in late February.

Lunsford spokesperson Allison Haley responded to the site and the residency charge.

“It’s ridiculous,” said Haley. “The fact that he owns investment property in other states is no indication of residency.”

The Lunsford campaign also posted a release on their website with a point-by-point refutation of the charges in Fischer's ad.

Among the more prominent points of that release is the assertion by the Lunsford camp that the Vencor settlement entailed no admission of wrong-doing by Lunsford or Vencor.