Bruce Lunsford’s campaign for U.S. Senate is pushing an online petition that asks Kentuckians to stand against Greg Fischer’s wasted attacks. It’s based on the letter sent to Fischer from U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth, Attorney General Jack Conway, Lt. Governor Dan Mongiardo and State Auditor Crit Luallen.
Some folks who have already signed the petition:
- Former Governor Julian Carroll
- Former Secretary of State John Y Brown III
- State Senator Ray Jones
- State Representative Dennis Horlander
- State Representative Fred Nesler
- State Representative Tim Firkins
- State Representative Leslie Combs
- Lt. Col. Andrew Horne
- Bill Londrigan, President of the Kentucky AFL-CIO
- Gary K. Best, President of the United Food and Commercial Workers
- Chris Sanders, Executive Asst and General Counsel for UFCW 227, Executive Director of Change to Win Kentucky
- Steve Earle, Region 3 Director of Kentucky United Mineworkers Association
- Wanda Mitchell-Smith, Political Action Representative of AFSCME Council 62
- Robert Aiken, Treasurer of Bluegrass Central Labor Council
- Isa Shabazz, Kentucky State Director of Communication Workers of America.
- David Miracle, Kentucky Legislative Director of United Transportation Union
- John Kuzuoka, Sheet Metal Workers
You can sign the petition by clicking here.
UPDATE: John Y. Brown III just sent out an email blast urging folks to sign the petition.
From the email:
Several weeks ago, I came to you asking for you to join me in supporting Bruce Lunsford for U.S. Senate. I have known Bruce since he served in my father’s gubernatorial administration nearly 30 years ago and I know he is a man not only of great ability, but a man of personal and professional integrity.
My first legislative effort as Kentucky’s Secretary of State in 1996 was to propose a bill that would discourage negative attack ads in political campaigns. Such ads have a corrosive effect on genuine and needed political discourse. Political campaigns are trivialized, critical issues are marginalized, and voters are left feeling alienated and manipulated by the process. Although the bill failed at the time, my sentiments haven’t changed. That is why I ask Greg Fischer to stop running his personal attack ad against Bruce Lunsford. Greg is much better than that and Kentucky voters deserve better in this crucial Democratic primary.
Read the full message after the jump…
Dear Friends,
Several weeks ago, I came to you asking for you to join me in supporting Bruce Lunsford for U.S. Senate. I have known Bruce since he served in my father’s gubernatorial administration nearly 30 years ago and I know he is a man not only of great ability, but a man of personal and professional integrity.
My first legislative effort as Kentucky’s Secretary of State in 1996 was to propose a bill that would discourage negative attack ads in political campaigns. Such ads have a corrosive effect on genuine and needed political discourse. Political campaigns are trivialized, critical issues are marginalized, and voters are left feeling alienated and manipulated by the process. Although the bill failed at the time, my sentiments haven’t changed. That is why I ask Greg Fischer to stop running his personal attack ad against Bruce Lunsford. Greg is much better than that and Kentucky voters deserve better in this crucial Democratic primary.
Kentuckians feel we are on the wrong track on so many vital issues—we have a bloated healthcare system, a shrinking economy, and major educational and environmental challenges. On May 20th, we Kentucky Democrats need to nominate the best person to take on Mitch McConnell. We need to stop electing US Senators based on who can be the most negative in a political campaign, and instead start electing the candidate who can provide the most positive solutions for Kentucky’s future.
I urge you to join me and several prominent Democratic leaders and Kentuckians who have signed a petition urging Greg to stop his personal attacks.
A letter signed last week by Democratic leaders Jack Conway, Crit Luallen, Daniel Mongiardo and John Yarmuth serves as the text for a petition. It was sent to Greg Fischer and asks him to stop his personal attacks and “spend the final weeks of the primary running a campaign focused on why you are right for the job, not divisive character attacks that are part of the reason Washington needs to change.”
You can view the petition and add your name to the ever-growing list of those who have signed by clicking here.
The petition has already amassed a collection of signatures from Kentuckians who believe these divisive attacks have only one end result – to weaken the Democratic Party as we head into a tough General Election this fall.
View the list of those who have already signed here.
Let your voice be heard and add your signature to the list today. Let’s work together to bring change.
Sincerely,
John Y. Brown III
Former Secretary of State
15 responses so far ↓
1 » Lunsford Press Release: You Gon’ Git It! What’s Required: Progress in the Commonwealth // May 7, 2008 at 12:40 pm
[...] Release: You Gon’ Git It! Posted in May 7th, 2008 by Ben in Uncategorized It’s been covered already in bunches of other places, so I’ll just highlight what jumped out at me: If Fischer insists [...]
2 Steve Magruder (I, not D or R) // May 7, 2008 at 1:08 pm
While the ads may not be 100% accurate, there appears to be a lot of actual facts in these attack ads by Fischer. Sure, Fischer is fighting a lost battle, but I think it’s disingenuous for anyone to claim Fischer isn’t telling a somewhat truthful story.
3 jake // May 7, 2008 at 1:11 pm
First, I’m not claiming Fischer isn’t telling a somewhat truthful story.
I’m claiming is a lost cause and Fischer has known that since day one.
4 Steve Magruder (I, not D or R) // May 7, 2008 at 1:13 pm
Jake, there’s no need to be so reactionary. I’m not pointing fingers at any specific person, but there seems to be some who are saying that Fischer is lying in the ads, even though on balance, they are rather factual.
5 jake // May 7, 2008 at 1:17 pm
Reactionary? I’m just stating that *I* am not claiming Fischer isn’t telling a somewhat (and only somewhat) truthful story– in case anyone reading the comments thinks otherwise.
(It’s not reactionary when like 10k people constantly read the comments. It’s inevitable that I receive 120-130 emails a day based on comments alone. Ha. Just staving off a flood of messages.)
6 Oscar // May 7, 2008 at 1:32 pm
If the claims in the ad are factual, why have they been called inaccurate by newspapers, untruthful by a former Governor (and friend of George Fischer), and misleading by many many others?
7 Not My Real Name // May 7, 2008 at 1:37 pm
Where were these people when Ben Chandler did the same thing to Lunsford five years ago?
8 jake // May 7, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Oscar: Good point.
It probably would have done Fischer well to have fully researched Vencor before hacking together an ad with that old woman. Insinuating that Bruce himself threw old people out in a ditch somewhere is ludicrous. (It’s just as crazy to talk about Vencor without talking about the other companies that suffered the same fate, proving it’s not Bruce who is the devil.)
9 jake // May 7, 2008 at 1:41 pm
Not My Real Name: Chandler started his attack at a time when there was no time to respond. Literally days before the election.
Fischer has been doing this for weeks now.
10 UK_Alumni // May 7, 2008 at 1:50 pm
What a waste of time- and Lunsford will have even less luck with his petition to get McConnell to quit saying the same things in the general. House of Cards or House of Glass- take your pick; they both describe the Lunsford campaign on this issue- and I don’t know why we keep pretending otherwise.
I predict a real bloodbath; the real question is whether McConnell will be able to stir up enough questions to maybe even get some sort of actual investigation started during the election.
11 Steve Magruder (I, not D or R) // May 7, 2008 at 4:24 pm
Oscar: Because I think all of these entities are frothing at the mouth to get rid of McConnell (who is certainly rotten), at the expense of honesty about who is really a somewhat crooked presumptive Democratic nominee. I lean Democratic in my voting, but the C-J editorial board is well-known for their frequent non-journalistic personal attacks against Republicans, including McConnell, when they could have just stuck to the issues. In fact, I would go as far to say that the C-J editorial board as a lot are *worse* than hacks.
UK_Alumni: You are totally correct. McConnell will attack Lunsford in a far worse way, and he’ll never apologize or cut back. Lunsford is politically dead already.
12 jake // May 7, 2008 at 4:29 pm
Steve: You’re correct that the Vencor issue will haunt Bruce in the general election. But it’s naive to say he’s politically dead.
You never know what could happen or what information could come out about McConnell.
(Just like it’s politically naive for me to say that Greg Fischer is finished in politics. You never know where he could turn up.)
13 E PLURIBUS UNUM // May 8, 2008 at 6:47 am
Naive to say Bruce is politically DEAD?
Mitch the Bruce-Slayer awaits, whereas there is no Mitch the Truth-slayer
That is why Fischer with his”somewhat” truthful story…is far better to oppose McConnell than Lunsford.
Also you all are not in the field…if you were you would actually see and experience the enthusiasm and support at the grassroots level that abounds in the Fischer campaign…
If it were not so, why is Lunsford so preoccupied with these “negative” “attacks”?
Surprises coming, folks.
14 jake // May 8, 2008 at 8:13 am
We’re not in the field? Haha. What? We’re in the field every single day. That’s why we know what’s going on.
15 Mike Bailey // May 8, 2008 at 3:16 pm
Signed. Even though many Change for Kentucky local chapters have endorsed Fischer, negative attacks that consist primarily of negative spin are not productive.
I have also been guilty of speading negative spin about Lunsford (in a KOS post and email blast in January 2008) but the hard facts do not support the majority of the things I wrote or the majority of the claims Fischer is making.
I’d like Fischer to stay positive and run a campaign that builds his own name ID and image for a future race, assuming he is unable to close the gap in this one.
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