Missouri Senate hopeful Todd Akin is up with a new ad attacking Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill as a corrupt Washington insider.
In the ad, provided exclusively to The Daily Caller, ominous music plays in the background as the narrator calls out McCaskill’s “arrogance and corruption.”
“It’s been revealed: Claire McCaskill’s husband was caught cutting business deals in the Senate dining room, selling tax credits tied to Obama’s stimulus money — money Claire McCaskill voted for,” the narrator says.
“McCaskill uses her position and power to cash in. It’s no surprise McCaskill thinks she’s above the law. She didn’t pay her taxes, but voted to raise ours,” the narrator says as a picture of a jet appears on screen, referencing McCaskill’s failure to pay taxes on a private jet she and her husband owned. “The arrogance and corruption of Claire McCaskill: Dealing herself in, selling us out.” (RELATED: McCaskill used private plane to campaign for Obama)
McCaskill has denied that her husband used the Senate dining room to cut deals, an allegation first reported by The Daily Caller. The charges, according to McCaskill, were made by a disgruntled former employee with a criminal background and little credibility. (RELATED AUDIO: Whistle-blower claims McCaskill’s husband made business deals in Senate dining room)
The Associated Press first reported that companies in which McCaskill’s husband, Joseph Shepherd, had stakes had received around $40 million in government funding during McCaskill’s time in office. A report released Thursday by the National Legal and Policy Center found another $20 million in stimulus funds that benefited businesses in which Shepherd has a stake.
The McCaskill campaign has pushed back on the AP report, saying that she voted for some bills that gave subsidies to low-income housing businesses, and against others, a record that the campaign says showed no consistent intention to send money to her husband.
McCaskill has not yet publicly commented on the NLPC report.
“Every day in the campaign brings a new scandal with Claire McCaskill,” said Akin senior advisor Rick Tyler.
In sum, he said, “Claire McCaskill took $60 million in six years, while one in six Missourians was in poverty.”
The McCaskill campaign dismissed the ad as untrue.
“This is a desperate, 11th hour effort by a failing campaign,” said spokesperson Caitlin Legacki. “The ad is completely misleading and false.”