Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Executive Director J.B. Poersch released a scathing memo on Wednesday taking Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R) to task for a new campaign ad that touts the Senator’s environmental achievements for the Bluegrass State.

The attack on McConnell comes as Democrats continue to struggle to find a viable challenger.

In the Senator’s ad, which went up last week in the Lexington and Louisville markets, McConnell’s campaign cites a Louisville Courier-Journal editorial from 2005 in which McConnell is referred to as a “Godfather of green.” The ad goes on to refer to McConnell as an “environmental champion” who helped secure millions of dollars for the Louisville park system.

Citing a laundry list of what he labeled anti-environmental votes — and McConnell’s willingness to accept hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from the oil and gas industry — Poersch wrote that “it takes more than planting a few trees to be a real environmentalist.”

In the memo, Poersch even attacked McConnell for helping to stop former Vice President Al Gore from organizing a “Live Earth” concert on the Capitol lawn last year.

“It all adds up to a shocking zero percent rating from the League of Conservation Voters,” Poersch wrote. “With ‘champions’ like these, our natural environment needs all the Democrats it can get.”
— John McArdle