Beshear campaign responds with TV ad highlighting lawsuit over EPA regulations

Responding quickly to a series of new ads by an outside Republican group, Gov. Steve Beshear’s re-election campaign began airing ads over the weekend featuring the governor talking directly to the camera.

Beshear’s new ad comes after a new Republican group, Restoring America, has launched multiple ads saying Beshear supports Environmental Protection Agency regulations that would toughen emission standards at power plants. The Restoring America ads also seek to link Beshear to President Barack Obama, whose approval ratings are dismal in Kentucky.

Beshear’s new ad, titled “Responsibility,” shows the governor narrating the ad from a farm fence. Beshear says job creation is his priority. And he said that’s a key reason why he has joined a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency over new federal regulations.

The governor also says he’s fighting “both parties” in Washington D.C. to protect his state.

The ad started running in the Henderson, Lexington and Northern Kentucky TV markets over the weekend, according to public ad files with Insight Communications, the parent company of cn|2.

-Reporting by Kenny Colston