Published: September 13, 2008 01:17 pm            

Lunsford attacks McConnell on 'process' of pork barrell politics

Erlanger — Bruce Lunsford, Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, may have settled on a message against his opponent, four-term Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell. Whether it resonates may still be a problem.

Lunsford hammered the Republican leader of the U.S. Senate on partisan gridlock, special interest legislation and pork barrel appropriations – “It’s the process, people are sick and tired of the process,” Lunsford said.

But he had trouble answering questions on foreign policy issues and entitlement programs posed by McConnell

McConnell tried to expose Lunsford on foreign policy issues, tie him to national Democratic Party Congressional leaders, and said Kentucky voters would be unwise to exchange the clout and influence of the minority Republican eader of the Senate for a freshman Democrat who would have no choice but to vote with his party’s leaders. He rattled off funding he’s secured for Kentucky universities and other programs, including money for the Bluegrass Army Depot near Richmond where chemical weapons are stored.

Lunsford responded by saying McConnell is a “porkaholic” and, “We’ve got to get this country off of pork barrel politics.” He said Republican policies and spending had created an “economic crisis, a debt crisis, a health care crisis, and an energy crisis.”

The two exchanged questions at a “Lincoln-Douglas-style debate” before the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce Saturday morning in Erlanger. Between opening and closing statements, the two men posed questions to each other with the moderator playing no role except time keeper.

Lunsford appeared to be following his previous campaign strategy, first talking of his youth on a nearby farm and then saying McConnell had been named one of the 20 most corrupt members of Congress. McConnell responded testily.

“It’s an outrage,” McConnell said. “He ought to be ashamed of himself for talking like that. I thought we were going to have a civil debate rather than calling each other names.”

McConnell then posed a series of foreign policy questions, asking Lunsford how he would respond to Russian aggression against the former Soviet-bloc country of Georgia and “rogue states” like North Korea and Iran who posses or seek nuclear weapons.

Lunsford, who said afterward he’d prepared for foreign policy questions, responded by saying policies of McConnell and Republican President George W. Bush and the war in Iraq had “limited our options” and said McConnell had voted “in lock step with the president.”

McConnell each time said Lunsford failed to answer the question and offered his own policy prescriptions. He asked Lunsford, who owned Vencor a health care company which operated 300 hospitals and nursing homes and suffered financial reversals with changes in Medicare regulations, how he would have voted on the 1997 Balanced Budget Act which created the changes in Medicare.

Lunsford said McConnell mistakenly believes voters are angered about details of legislation when, “It’s the process people want changed. You keep talking about individual bills. It’s the process. People want to see the process changed.”

“He purports to be an expert on health care,” McConnell responded. He said the changes to Medicare were the biggest since the 1960s, “and he won’t say yes or no. The people of Kentucky are entitled to know where he stands. You don’t get a ‘maybe.’ At the end, you have to vote yes or no.”

Lunsford then criticized McConnell for Republican opposition to expanded eligibility to SCHIP, a federal-state health insurance program for low-income children, referring to a McConnell aide’s inaccurate information about a child who might have been affected by the change. McConnell said Republicans opposed the changes because they would have allowed adults and higher income families to enroll in the program.

Lunsford called McConnell the “guardian of gridlock” and part of “the do-nothing Congress.”

“You forget you had control (of Congress) for six of the last eight years, and the last two years there've been more filibusters than ever,” Lunsford said. “You’re the quintessential example of partisanship. You’re in lockstep with the president.”

McConnell said compromise is necessary “to meet in the middle and get things done in the Senate,” blaming Democratic Congressional leaders for refusing to compromise.

“That’s a cop-out,” Lunsford said. “The process has got to change. After 24 years, you’ve had an opportunity and you’ve failed.”

Debating before a largely pro-business group, McConnell said Lunsford would never oppose any policy supported by the AFL-CIO and unions.

This was the third face-to-face encounter between the two. They appeared together at the annual Fancy Farm Picnic in August and at a forum in Louisville sponsored by the Kentucky Farm Bureau. Lunsford has proposed a series of debates but McConnell has formally agreed to only one more – in western Kentucky. McConnell hasn’t ruled out other debates but he also hasn’t committed to them.



Ronnie Ellis writes for CNHI News Service and is based in Frankfort, Ky. He may be contacted by email at rellis@cnhi.com.



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