Illinois Senate candidates spar over BP ties
SPRINGFIELD -- Senate rivals Alexi Giannoulias and Mark Kirk attacked each other Wednesday over ties to unpopular oil company BP and which candidate is less trustworthy.
With both candidates carrying heavy political baggage, attack ads are likely to play a big role throughout the campaign for the seat once held by President Barack Obama.
A day after publicly apologizing for exaggerating his military accomplishments, Kirk released two attack ads.
In one, the Republican focuses on BP, using images of the Gulf of Mexico oil leak and an oil-covered pelican. Kirk notes that as a member of Congress he spoke out against a 2007 BP proposal to release more pollution into Lake Michigan.
Kirk also says a Giannoulias political adviser once lobbied for a division of the oil company, and he criticizes Giannoulias for raising the possibility of higher energy taxes.
The ad doesn't explain that the reference to energy taxes is about a "cap-and-trade" anti-pollution law, something Kirk supported before launching his Senate campaign.
Two major environmental groups, the Sierra Club and the League of Conservation Voters, have endorsed Giannoulias despite backing Kirk in past races.
Another Kirk ad notes Giannoulias was a loan officer at his family's bank, which loaned money to criminals and later went out of business. It also criticizes Giannoulias, the state treasurer, over losses in one part of a college-savings program.
"Alexi Giannoulias -- trust him with your money?" the ad asks.
In response, a Giannoulias ad repeatedly says Kirk lied about his military record, from claiming an award he didn't win to claiming Pentagon duties Kirk doesn't have.
"What is it that makes people think they can get away with lying about their record?" says a voice in the ad, apparently a newscaster or commentator.
The Giannoulias campaign also criticizes Kirk for taking money from a law firm representing BP, from Rep. Joe Barton, who recently apologized to BP and then retracted his apology, and a small amount from BP itself.
The campaigns did not say where the ads will air or how much they'll spend to run them.