http://mycn2.com/politics/barr-responds-to-democrats-tv-ad-calls-arrest-as-a-19-year-old-a-dumb-mistake

Publication Date: October 10, 2012

Author: Nick Storm

Barr responds to Democrats' TV ad, calls arrest as a 19-year old a "dumb mistake"

10/10/2012 03:53 PM

Republican Andy Barr was quick to respond to an attack ad released this week by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee slamming Barr over his criminal record

Barr released his own TV ad in the Lexington market describing the arrest a “dumb mistake” and calling U.S. Rep. Ben Chandler as a “desperate politician scared of losing.”

“I made a mistake when I was 19. I tried to use a fake id. I paid a fine and did community service. It was dumb,“said Barr, a Lexington lawyer.

The original DCCC ad cites a 1993 arrest for a fake drivers license in Florida, which was first reported in a 2010 Herald-Leader profile on Barr. Barr had pleaded guilty and was ordered to provide eight hours of community service, according to court records that the Herald-Leader’s John Cheves cited.

When Barr applied for state government jobs under Gov. Ernie Fletcher, he checked ‘No’ on the sections asking if he had ‘ever been convicted of violating any law other than ‘minor traffic violations.’ Barr, at the time, said he believed his Florida conviction was “minor” and did not merit disclosure.

In 1999 Barr was charged with public drinking in Lexington, the charge was dismissed several months later, but in the article it said Barr declined to explain the circumstances behind those charges.

A campaign manager for Chandler said at issue isn’t a fake ID, but the fact that he failed to disclose a crime and guilty plea on a state employment form.

“If Barr believes his offense was minor, why didn’t he have the courage to disclose his offenses and explain them?” said campaign manager Eric Nagy in a press release. “He’s either a liar or a terrible lawyer. Andy Barr is so out of touch with reality that he can’t even recognize his problem is an inability to tell the truth, not a fake ID twenty years ago.”

The original DCCC ad below:

About Nick Storm

Nick Storm joined cn|2 in December 2011 as a reporter for Pure Politics. Throughout his career, Nick has covered several big political stories up close, including interviewing President Barack Obama on the campaign trail back in 2008. Nick says he loves being at the forefront of Kentucky politics and working with the brightest journalists in the commonwealth. Follow Nick on Twitter @Nick_Storm. Nick can be reached at 502-792-1107 or nicholas.storm@twcable.com.

Comments

  • Cumberland Gap wrote on October 11, 2012 09:54 AM :

    Barr is lucky this is a soft ad. They should have shown him in handcuffs for breaking the law. This is the end of his political candidacy. What’ more astounding is he wanted to work for the state. He says the government is the cause for all our problems and it is a horrible place dragging America in the toilet. But, he wanted to be a govt employee? HYPOCRISY!

  • Mike wrote on October 12, 2012 12:08 AM :

    Barr may have made a mistake as an older teenager; but he made a calculated choice when applying for a state job. He needs to be completely out of the political arena.

    Ben Chandler may spin on some of his ads; but I haven’t seen an outright lie told yet; and Barr’s ads are both vicious and outright lies.

    That guy is NOT a minor because he used to work in a mine as a miner and still goes into mines sometimes, any more than I am a high school student because I used to go to high school and still go INTO high schools at times.

    He apparently doesn’t like the money Obamacare is saving seniors either since he lies about the $716 savings for Medicare over 10 years as well. (No money was “stolen” from Medicare recipients, only thieves and insurance companies.)

    I hope Barr is humiliated in spite of the large amount of ignorance about his stands and Chandler’s actual votes. Chandler is too pro coal for me, for example; and that ad is just ridiculous.

  • Foolio wrote on October 14, 2012 10:23 PM :

    Y’all have some serious time on your hands to troll and spin on CN2 blogs.

  • Cumberland Gap wrote on October 15, 2012 09:37 AM :

    Yes, just like you did!

  • James Jordan wrote on October 16, 2012 11:28 AM :

    I was an udecided voter until all of this. Ben chandler has been in Congress since 2004 and the best reason he can give me as to why i should vote for him is because Andy Barr used a fake ID to buy beer when he was 19. Thats the lamest, sorriest, most pathetic example of petty politics i have ever seen. If nothing happens between now and then to change my mind, i will be voting for Andy Barr, but frankly I can’t see any case where i will actually vote for Ben Chandler now.

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