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Four prominent state Democrats signed a letter to U.S. Senate candidate Greg Fischer on Thursday asking him to stop running a negative ad against his rival.
The four -- state Auditor Crit Luallen, U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth, Attorney General Jack Conway and Lt. Gov. Daniel Mongiardo -- described themselves as "concerned Kentuckians."
They urged Fischer to "remove your personal attack ad from the air immediately, take the high road, and spend the final weeks of the primary running a campaign focused on why you are right for the job, not divisive character attacks that are part of the reason Washington needs to change."
Fischer faces Bruce Lunsford, a Louisville businessman, in the May 20 Democratic primary election.
Instead of fostering a competitive primary, the four Democrats said Fischer's ad helps Republican incumbent Sen. Mitch McConnell, who is running for re-election.
Fischer's ad highlights past business problems of companies founded by front-runner Lunsford -- specifically improper billing to Medicare and Medicaid by Lunsford's nursing home companies.
"Your campaign is playing right into Senator McConnell's hands and is endangering the opportunity for change this November," the four said in the letter.
Luallen said her action is not an endorsement of Lunsford's campaign.
"I just want a Democrat to win in November and I think negative advertising among Democrats is not healthy for the party," she said.
She declined to say who initiated the letter.
Dick Brown, press secretary for Gov. Steve Beshear, could not be reached for comment regarding why Beshear didn't sign the letter.
Fischer, also a Louisville businessman, said at a news conference Thursday afternoon that it is obvious Lunsford would prefer that his business practices not be discussed.
"The fact that we're airing them has clearly struck a raw nerve," Fischer said. "His campaign has accused us of false and misleading advertising -- a charge we flatly deny."
Fischer said voters must have information "to be able to compare the past performance and the record of each of the candidates."
Ken Shapero, a spokesman for Fischer, said the campaign "will continue to talk about Mr. Lunsford's record."
The Fischer ad in question has focused on Vencor, a company co-founded by Lunsford.
Vencor was a multimillion-dollar health care corporation that went through bankruptcy reorganization in 1999. In 1998, some of Vencor's nursing homes began turning away Medicaid patients to make room for private-pay patients.
Lunsford said he did not know that staff members at the nursing home were evicting poor patients. He apologized and flew to Florida, where one of the publicized evictions was taking place.
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