Posted on 10/06/2014 6:25:56 AM PDT by Red Badger
U.S. Senate candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes is lying about her support for the state’s coal industry according to Kentucky Democrats, including members of her campaign team, who were captured on a hidden camera video.
The video, produced by conservative filmmaker James O’Keefe, shows five employees of the Grimes campaign and local Democratic Party affiliates speculating that the Democratic challenger to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) is only professing her support for the industry out of political expediency.
“If we can get her elected do you think she is going to do the right thing and she’s gonna try to wipe out that coal industry and go for better resources?” asks an undercover videographer in one segment of the video.
“I absolutely think she is,” responds Fayette County Democratic Party operative Gina Bess.
The video’s release comes as Grimes works to salvage a campaign that has consistently trailed in public polling and which, according to Nate Silver’s election model, has just a 12 percent chance of victory in November.
“Let me set it straight for you Mitch McConnell. I am the pro-coal candidate in this race,” Grimes declared at a recent campaign event with former President Bill Clinton.
Grimes has used that type of rhetoric in attempts to distance herself from President Barack Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency, which has enacted regulations on coal-fired power plants that coal companies and supporters say are taking a heavy toll on the industry.
Support for such regulations is a political albatross in coal-heavy Kentucky, and Grimes campaign staffers featured in O’Keefe’s video recognize that fact.
“She’s saying something positive about coal because she wants to be elected,” said Ros Hines, a staffer in Grimes’ Lexington campaign office. “And in the state of Kentucky, if you are anti-coal, you will not get elected, period, end of conversation.”
Some Grimes supporters captured in the hidden-camera video likewise suggest that Grimes is lying about her support for the industry in order to get elected.
“She has to say that,” remarked Juanita Rodriguez of the Warren County Democratic Party. “But you know what? Politics is a game. You do what you have to do to get [elected]. … It’s a lying game unfortunately.”
Rodriguez speculated that Grimes does not in fact support the industry to the extent that she has declared publicly.
“I really don’t think her heart is 100 percent in backing coal. But she has to say she is because she will not get a high number of votes in this state if she doesn’t. But she’s got to get in there first and she’s gonna say whatever she has to say or do. And that’s the way the political game is played.”
Like Grimes, McConnell routinely criticizes the EPA’s attempts to crack down on the coal industry. McConnell has also introduced legislation to stymie those efforts. However, Senate Democrats have stymied McConnell’s efforts.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) blocked action this summer on a McConnell bill that would block EPA power plant regulations unless the agency certified that it would not eliminate jobs or increase electricity prices.
McConnell’s staff seized on O’Keefe’s video to blast Grimes’ purported dishonesty on the coal issue.
“It is absolutely shocking that Alison Lundergan Grimes’ own staff now admits that she has no intention of protecting the coal industry,” campaign spokeswomen Allison Moore wrote in an emailed statement. “The level of deception that Alison Grimes and her campaign engages in to appear pro-coal despite virulent opposition is both disturbing and dangerous.”
Neither Grimes’ campaign nor the Kentucky Democratic Party returned requests for comment.
O’Keefe’s video is the first from an offshoot of his group called Project Veritas Action. He says that the Grimes video “is the beginning of a nationwide undercover investigation into the upcoming elections.”
The original group has recently used O’Keefe’s trademark undercover video techniques to uncover controversial activities by other Democrats and allied groups.
In February, Veritas videographers caught activists with the Democratic group Battleground Texas using information from voter registration drives to bolster their database of voter information in an apparent violation of Texas law.
O’Keefe rose to prominence in 2009 after the first of his “sting” videos revealed employees of the now-defunct Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) offering to assist his (non-existent) underage prostitution ring.
“She has to say that,” remarked Juanita Rodriguez of the Warren County Democratic Party. “But you know what? Politics is a game. You do what you have to do to get [elected]. … It’s a lying game unfortunately.”
Yeah, a game that destroys people’s lives and livelihoods every day.
Spoken like a true Democrat.
A democrat that would lie? Shocking!
I hope he will also start doing undercover videos about gun control. That would kill the demonrats in any red state more than coal regulations do.
> O’Keefe’s video is the first from an offshoot of his group called Project Veritas Action. He says that the Grimes video “is the beginning of a nationwide undercover investigation into the upcoming elections.”
Can’t wait to see the next videos. Too bad he can’t get someone inside the WH to catch Jarrett plotting America’s demise kneeling on her praying rug and yelling Allah Ackbar
Can’t wait to hear her response..
The end always justifies the means for liberals since they’re so smart about giving people what they know is best for them. /sarcasm
Blue States need to wake up. The PVA’s need to start uncovering the lies of Blue State democrats ASAP...............
‘It was edited and taken out of context’...................SOP.............
O’Keefe should have videotaped Boss Hogg Barbour recruiting Black Democrats in MS to steal the primary run-off for Thad Cochran. That would have been a real knee-slapper.
Sadly, most voters cast their ballot by inertia. If they voted Democrat last time, they will this time. Glen Beck had a phone-in the other day where they ask people questions. One of the question du jour was: “What are the two major political parties in the US.” She did not know, but she later stated that she voted for Obozo in the last election. I’d love to see the following requirements added to become a registered voter: 1) photo ID, 2) a current events test on the candidates, and 3) if you didn’t pay any income taxes in each of the past 4 years, you can’t vote (nothing in the game, why should you have a say). Yeah, I know there’s no chance, but it would make me so happy.
Back in the so-called ‘Jim Crow’ days, southern states did have literacy tests for voting registration. They were declared unconstitutionally discriminatory.................
Mississippi is a ‘closed set’. Kinda hard to break in to that group undetected.................
They need to convert this to a series of TV ads, otherwise most voters will never see it.
Yeah..but the Ole Miss and Miss State football teams have sure broken into the top tier of the SEC SWest
I remain amazed by O’Keefe and his operations. He’s done more damage to the liberal institution than billions of GOP marketing dollars.
I agree. All voters should be required to have paid income tax for a substantial period since the last election cycle (maybe 6 or 8 months out of each year) or not have received government welfare assistance for more than a year. The current situation is that lazy,non-looking for work, stay at home gibsmedats are voting for more handouts and gaming the system.
If only O'Keefe could produce his own reality TV show. Dancing with the 'Rats, or something of that ilk. That is where the LIV's are, in front of their sets. Then that is where to reach them... if they are to vote, they must get the info. If they are going to be "low" info, at least with a reality show, they could become "medium" info voters.
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