Redstate

By Erick Posted in 2008 | Kentucky | Mitch McConnell — Comments (8) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

In 1994, the GOP ousted House Speaker Tom Foley at the ballot box. In 2004, the GOP ousted Democratic Leader Tom Daschle from the Senate. Contrast that with the Democrats, who have never been able to oust a Republican congressional leader at the ballot box. The Democrats M.O. has been scandal, real or imagined.

They are at it again with an imaginary scandal involving Mitch McConnell. And, as usual, the media is directly complicit in the deal. Dan Riehl has the best overview. In essence, the Democrats are accusing Mitch McConnel of spreading false information about the 12 year old that did the Democratic address on SCHIP.

Who is spreading the information? A guy named Matt Miller. This is the same Democrat hack who leaked the Mark Foley story to the media, after having the knowledge for a year.

So, let's review:

The media is accusing McConnell of smearing Graeme Frost. The paper quotes Matt Miller. The evidence is an email from McConnell staffer Don Stewart. What did the email contain? Links to blog that recounted the SCHIP debate, some of which mentioned Frost.

WHAS-TV got McConnell on video saying there was no leak from his office about Graeme Frost. Now the lefties are saying McConnell is lying. He's not.

Now, let's go to the Lexington Herald-Leader. They are hitting McConnell on another fake scandal, completely misrepresenting the facts. The reporter, John Cheves, did a series of hit pieces on McConnell last year with research provided by a lefty interest group.

When McConnell wrote a letter to complain and set the record straight, the Herald-Leader edited the letter down to nothing. We've put Senator McConnell's letter below the fold.

Elephants in the Blue Grass has up a post showing that, not only is the story false, but John Cheves is channelling lefty blogs to write his story.

Oh, and naturally, John Cheves spent last year working for Ron Wyden (D-OR). That might be helpful for readers to know.

Below the fold, Senator McConnell's unedited letter.

Reporter John Cheves, the man who did a series of lengthy articles last year attacking me, is at it again. Shortly before those stories appeared in the Herald-Leader, it came to light that the research had been funded by a liberal, out-of-state special-interest group. Once that news broke, the owners of the Herald Leader insisted that the paper return the funds that had been provided to the reporter. Now, the same reporter who was tarnished by the out-of-state special-interest funding, and who recently returned from spending the last year on the staff of one of the most liberal United States senators, takes issue with my longstanding support for the work performed in Kentucky by United Defense (which in June 2005 was acquired by a British company, BAE Systems).

Though the reporter left it out of the story, my effort to keep these good jobs in Kentucky began in 1995. I worked hard with the local community to secure the long-term commitment of then-United Defense and the Navy to Kentucky. In so doing, I provided approximately $336.5 million to underfunded Navy budgets for national security projects in our state. These efforts included work to build, modernize and maintain several Navy and Coast Guard gun systems.

In 1995, Kentucky faced serious job losses following the closure of a major military facility, the Naval Ordnance Station. Shortly thereafter, United Defense came to our state to set up a modest and uncertain presence at the same site. The problem was that the work done by United Defense, while important to our national security, was conducted on a small scale and was underfunded by DOD. There was no guarantee that United Defense would remain in the Commonwealth; the livelihood of scores of Kentuckians was in jeopardy.

The work done by Kentucky’s employees of BAE Systems is good for our national security and good for our state. One of the Navy guns built in Kentucky, for example, prevents our sailors from coming under future attacks as occurred in the 2000 terrorist attack on the U.S.S. Cole. That same gun system also has proved to be an invaluable intelligence asset in the Persian Gulf through its advanced night vision technology.

The additional funding I secured is responsible for just under half of the 320 high-paying jobs at the Kentucky plant. Without these funds, the company would have slashed its workforce or left our state.

Using innuendo, the reporter attempts to link an investigation of BAE Systems sales of British-built aircraft to Saudi Arabia to the Navy/Coast Guard gun work currently performed in Kentucky—despite showing no connection with the employees in Kentucky. Nor does he report that the Kentucky work began nearly 10 years before the Kentucky-based company was purchased by the British company. If the reporter has uncovered any evidence linking the work performed in Kentucky to alleged corporate malfeasance with Saudi Arabia, he should come forward with it—rather than attack the integrity of the hardworking Kentuckians employed by BAE Systems in our state.

I am proud of the work that these men and women perform in the service of our nation and I will not apologize for helping to secure good jobs for the people of Kentucky.