LOUISVILLE, May 13, 2008 – Bruce Lunsford did not tell the truth during the KET Democratic Senate Primary debate last night when he said he didn’t donate “tens-of-thousands of dollars” to Republicans. According to state and federal election finance records, Lunsford has given more than $60,000 to Republican candidates since 1990.
In the most heated moment of the debate, Lunsford criticized Fischer’s financial contributions to Democrats as insufficient. Responding to the attack, Fischer pointed to Lunsford’s financial contributions to Republican candidates. “Bruce has given tens-of-thousands of dollars to Republicans,” Fischer said.
Lunsford then accused Fischer of distorting the truth “I haven’t given tens-of-thousands of dollars to Republicans. In fact it’s just the opposite,” Lunsford said.
The following list of Lunsford contributions to Republicans shows that Lunsford gave $60,850 to Republicans from March 1990 to Ocober 2006. The list is compiled from records from the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance; Arkansas Secretary of State Office, New York State Board of Elections; and the Federal Election Commission.
06/10/97 National Republican Senatorial Committee $2,500.00
07/10/97 Bluegrass Committee (Sen. McConnell’s PAC) $2,500.00
07/11/97 Citizens for Bunning $1,000.00
07/30/97 New Republican Majority Fund $5,000.00
03/16/98 Bluegrass Committee (Sen. McConnell’s PAC) $2,500.00
04/24/98 Northup for Congress $250.00
07/09/98 Northup for Congress $1,000.00
10/27/99 McConnell for Senate $250.00
04/07/00 Bush for President Inc. $1,000.00
05/01/02 Lamar Alexander for Senate $1,000.00
05/15/02 Mike Huckabee $1,000.00
05/22/02 Janet Huckabee $500.00
05/25/04 Republican Party of Kentucky $1,000.00
06/23/04 Northup for Congress $500.00
03/14/05 Northup for Congress $500.00
10/13/05 New York State Senate
Republican Campaign Committee $1,000.00
10/31/05 Rep. Trey Grayson, Sec. of State $1,000.00
05/15/06 Northup for Congress $1,600.00
05/15/06 Northup for Congress $500.00
10/05/06 Northup for Congress $1,500.00
Total $60,850.00
“I don’t enjoy having to point out this discrepancy,” said Fischer. “But when a candidate for public office stands before a statewide audience on live TV and says something that’s blatently false, I think you have to point that out.”
In another misleading attack during last night’s debate, Lunsford lambasted Fischer for failing to support Democratic Congressman John Yarmuth in 2006. However, Lunsford failed to disclose that he himself contributed $4,100 to Yarmuth’s opponent, Republican Anne Northup in that campaign.
“Lunsford has a problem with the truth. He’s demonstrated a pattern of distortion when it suits his purposes,” said Kim Geveden, Fischer campaign political director. “He’s bending the truth when he describes Vencor, a company he bankrupted, as one of the greatest business success stories in Kentucky. He’s bending the truth when he defends his record as CEO of Vencor, by saying the company never admitted guilt when it paid a $104 million fine to settle Justice Department charges of fraudulent billing. And he outright lied last night when he said he hadn’t donated tens-of-thousand of dollars to Republicans.”
“The pattern is clear,” Geveden said. “When you confront Lunsford with facts he doesn’t like, he twists, distorts and hides the truth.”
Lunsford’s history of supporting Republicans is well documented. In 2003, Lunsford entered the Democratic Primary race for Governor against fellow Democrats Jody Richards and Ben Chandler. However, four days before the election, Lunsford abruptly quit the race. Then during the general election for governor, Lunsford endorsed Republican Ernie Fletcher and appeared at a press conference with Sen. Mitch McConnell to make the announcement. After Fletcher won the governor’s race, Lunsford chaired the Fletcher transition committee that re-cast Kentucky’s executive branch in a Republican mold.
