By Charles Wolfe
The Associated Press

FRANKFORT - An obscure health foundation finds itself in the glare of the governor's race, and it was used like a blunt instrument to knock Democrat Ben Chandler off his stride last week.

The Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky, created to administer $45 million that Chandler obtained as attorney general in a settlement with insurance giant Anthem Inc., had been little noted since its formation.

But now it is the subject of a commercial paid for by the Republican Governors Association to attack Chandler and, without specifically saying so, boosts his Republican opponent, Ernie Fletcher.

The Fletcher campaign aired an attack ad of its own at the same time - one in which an overwrought Jack Russell terrier leaps and yips ineffectually at an insurmountable picket fence. An announcer tells viewers that Chandler's bark has been worse than his bite as attorney general.

The combined effect of the ads was to put Chandler on the defensive and force him to talk about something other than the economy and joblessness, which has been his main line of attack against Fletcher, the 6th District congressman.

Chandler and his campaign people can legitimately argue that the RGA ad distorts the Anthem settlement and the work of the foundation. However, Chandler himself opened the door to an attack.

The circumstances are as arcane as they are complex. In essence, Chandler sued for-profit Anthem to recover publicly owned "charitable assets" that Anthem took out of the state when it acquired the nonprofit Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kentucky.

An attempt by Chandler's enemies in the General Assembly to grab the money was beaten back. A judge approved creation of a foundation to administer the money for health-related purposes.

The RGA ad says the money "should have gone to health care" but that Chandler "devised a foundation dominated by Chandler and Frankfort lobbyists."

It also says the foundation has lost $2.5 million on the stock market, which is true only in the sense that anyone with stock investments has seen the value of those investments decline.

The foundation, early on, gave $2 million to fund health-related research at the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville.

Chandler protests that he did not create the foundation and does not control it. However, his campaign Web site gives a different version. It features an essay, "Protecting Your Money," that says Chandler "recovered $45 million, which he used to create an independent foundation to address the unmet health care needs of Kentucky."

---

On the Net

Chandler campaign: http://www.chandlerowen2003.com

Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky: http://www.healthyky.org

Fletcher campaign: http://fletcher2003.com

Republican Governors Association: http://www.rga.org