Heath Lovell, Coal Executive, Poses As Miner In Ad For Republican Congressional Candidate Andy Barr
FRANKFORT — An official with the United Mine Workers of America union lambasted a new TV ad by Republican Andy Barr on Monday because it features a Western Kentucky coal executive who appears to be speaking as an Eastern Kentucky miner.
In the ad, Heath Lovell, the vice president of River View Coal in Union County, accuses Democratic U.S. Rep. Ben Chandler of trying to destroy the coal industry. Lovell is wearing a t-shirt, bib overalls and a coal miner's helmet. He is identified by name only.
"I've never seen anything so appalling and deceitful from the coal industry and in a campaign," said Steve Earle, a regional vice president of the UMWA in Kentucky. "You have a pencil pusher acting like a coal miner."
Barr, a Lexington attorney, is the Republican nominee this year in Central Kentucky's 6th Congressional District race. He is trying to unseat Chandler after losing to the incumbent by only 647 votes two years ago.
In the ad, Lovell talks about the decline of coal trains in Ravenna in Estill County, which is in the 6th District. Lovell claims that Chandler, President Barack Obama and the federal Environmental Protection Agency "are destroying us.
"They are putting the coal industry out of business, and it's just devastating," he says
Lovell, who has contributed $2,500 to Republican Mitt Romney's presidential campaign, said in an interview that the ad is not misleading.
More here: http://laborspains.blogspot.com/2012/09/heath-lovell-coal-executive-poses-as.html
Originally Posted: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/09/17/2340777/miners-union-criticizes-barr-ad.html
Video here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/20/heath-lovell-coal-executive-andy-barr-republican-congressional-candidate_n_1899738.html
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