McConnell Ad Rips GOP Primary Opponent: 'Bailout Bevin'

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky is greeting his Republican primary challenger Matt Bevin's entrance into the race with a scathing new TV ad.

The ad hits Bevin for the woes of his Bevin Bros. bell-making business in Connecticut. Bevin got $200,000 in Connecticut grants to assist his company after a fire in 2012, Politico reports.



The ad cites eight local tax liens put on his company for failing to pay $116,000 in taxes over the past several years. And the spot mentions a local news article from 2011, calling Bevin Bros. the No. 1 tax delinquent firm in East Hampton, Conn.

"Matt Bevin says he's a conservative businessman," the ad states. "But when his Connecticut businesses needed help, Bevin took $200,000 in taxpayer bailouts, even though Bevin failed to pay taxes."

The ad labels McConnell's opponent as "Bailout Bevin — not a Kentucky conservative."

Bevin is unveiling his campaign Wednesday.

Conservative blogger Erick Erickson questions McConnell's attack on Bevin for bailouts, in light of the minority leader's own support for the national bank bailout in 2008.

"I’m just not sure that's the wisest first attack from McConnell, given that McConnell authored it [the bank bailout] and pushed it through the Senate by loading it with sweetheart deals," Erickson wrote on Red State.