BY GREGORY A. HALL
The Cincinnati Enquirer
FORT WRIGHT -- Democrats are attacking a second Republican Party advertisement that favors U.S. Senate candidate Jim Bunning.
The Republicans' latest ad says Mr. Bunning "wants to use the budget surplus first to keep Social Security safe."
That caught the attention of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in Washington, which labeled the commercial's account of Mr. Bunning's voting record in Congress as "hypocrisy."
Democrats cited votes in July 1997 and on April 29 that they say don't support the Republicans' claims about Mr. Bunning.
Mr. Bunning's campaign manager, however, said the Democratic committee's news release was wrong. One of the votes cited would fund an environmental conservation program for the Department of the Interior.
"They ought to be more concerned about stupidity," said Kyle Simmons, Mr. Bunning's campaign manager.
Kerin Polla, a spokeswoman for the Democratic committee, said Mr. Bunning did vote twice against Social Security. Because of a typographical error, one of the vote numbers cited was wrong. The date included was correct.
"The fact is that he still voted against Social Security on the 29th of April," Ms. Polla said.
The votes in question called for not spending the federal budget surplus until the Social Security program is safe. Another called for $100 billion of the surplus to be used to prevent the program from becoming insolvent.
Social Security is expected to experience serious funding problems around 2011, as many baby boomers begin to leave the work force.
Mr. Simmons and Randy Kammerdiener, the Kentucky GOP's executive director, said the votes were procedural and defended Mr. Bunning's record on the issue.
"It looks like the Democrats in Washington are digging through the trash to find some obscure, meaningless procedural vote to knock Jim Bunning off his well-deserved perch as the leading protector of Social Security," said Mr. Kammerdiener.
Mr. Simmons said Mr. Bunning has introduced a bill that would prevent the surplus from being spent until the future of Social Security is secure.
Mr. Bunning, a Southgate Republican, is chairman of the House subcommittee that deals with Social Security. He is opposed by Scotty Baesler, a Democratic congressman from Lexington, in the race for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Wendell Ford, who is retiring.
The ad doesn't make reference to the fall election, but the future of Social Security has already been a recurring theme early in the campaign season.
During campaign speeches so far, Mr. Bunning has said the surplus will be used to protect the Social Security program and lessen the federal debt.
The ad was produced, paid for and placed on the air by the Republican Party of Kentucky. It began running this past weekend across the state, but not on Cincinnati television stations.
Another Republican advertisement was attacked last week because it used a picture of Mr. Bunning with Owensboro Roman Catholic Bishop John McRaith from the Aug. 1 Fancy Farm political picnic.
The state's Catholic lobbying organization, the Catholic Conference of Kentucky, called for that advertisement to be pulled off the air.
Mr. Kammerdiener said that the advertisement was already finished running.
