Between this and the dog sidebar, this campaign is getting to be about everything but the issues.
(From the Todd Akin campaign)
On Friday, a news story broke with allegations that Claire McCaskill's husband, Joe Shepard, used the Senate Dining Room to close business deals involving federal tax credits. The allegations were made by Craig Woods, who worked for Shepard for over a decade, first as Chief Financial Officer and then as Vice President and Chief Underwriter. Even though McCaskill has strongly defended whistleblowers in the past, even whistleblowers with a criminal record, she is attacking this whistleblower viciously. Today the Akin Campaign released the following statement from Todd Akin following these allegations:
"This is yet another example of Claire McCaskill using government resources for her personal gain," said Todd Akin. "McCaskill used taxpayer dollars to pay for her private plane while not paying property taxes on it. McCaskill cut billions in funding for educaiton and veterans from the stimulus, but left in the money that went to her businesses. McCaskill talked about reforming government contracting and eliminating government waste while her businesses received almost $40 million in taxpayer money. Now we hear allegations that her husband was making business deals in the Senate Dining Room. McCaskill and Shepard should immediately provide a detailed accounting of all of Shepard's meetings in the Senate Dining Room and what was discussed. If Shepard was making business deals in the Senate Dining Room, that is a clear abuse of power and privilege."
"Unfortunately, when it comes to her personal businesses, McCaskill is flip-flopping on her defense of whistelblowers," said Akin. "In the past McCaskill has strongly defended whistleblowers, even those with criminal histories, as the "first line of defense" against waste, fraud, and abuse. We now know that McCaskill will defend whistleblowers only when they don't affect her personal wealth. Missouri deserves better."
Claire McCaskill has repeatedly defended whistleblowers:
"[W]histleblowers are our first line of defense against waste, fraud, and abuse....We’ve got to do everything possible to protect them.”
"Whistle-blowers are the unsung heroes of our fight to root out inappropriate and sometimes illegal behavior in government. This is a good step toward ensuring we’re protecting them from being punished for their work to protect taxpayer dollars.”
McCaskill also publicly praised a whistleblower in a tax fraud case, Bradley Birkenfeld, who had served 31 months in prison.
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