I felt compelled to speak up because of Dan Coats’ recent attack ad – an ad that I believe is dishonest and hypocritical.  As someone who spent a quarter-century in uniform serving our country, there are two things I can’t stand: terrorists and hypocrites. 

The facts are clear: Shortly after Dan Coats parlayed his Capitol Hill experience into a high-paying job as a lobbyist, his firm, Verner - Liipfert, took on the Republic of Yemen as a client. 

Yemen has been and remains on the radar because of its role as a safe haven and training ground for Al Qaida.  It’s been called “the next Afghanistan” and remains one of the most urgent threats to U.S. national security interests.

And despite all of this, as his pocketed a lavish salary at Verner – Liipfert, I never once heard Dan Coats voice any objections. For a former Senator to sit back, pocket the money, and not say a word, suggests to me a man who puts personal profit ahead of principle. 

The same was true at his second firm, King & Spalding, where Dan Coats led one of the firm’s major divisions.
 

King & Spalding had been and continues to represent six suspected terrorists in custody at Guantanamo, something it did with much fanfare throughout the time Dan Coats was on the payroll as a senior member of the firm.

I know that for a fact because I was the chief prosecutor at Guantanamo for a couple of those years and I saw their efforts firsthand. To my knowledge, not once in all those years did Dan Coats express any reservations about his firm’s involvement on behalf of these suspected terrorists.

So for Dan Coats to now stand in front of the flag and feign outrage when he’s running for office suggests to me that this is someone who is focused more on his own political security than on our national security.

Not only is this ad hypocritical, it is an attempt to smear the record of Brad Ellsworth; someone who has spent decades serving and protecting the people in his community right here in Indiana rather than pandering for profit in Washington like Dan Coats.

Washington has a history of politicians just like Dan Coats who play these political games, spin whatever tale they need spin to get elected, and put principles on the back burner.  Indiana and America need a principled leader, a genuine public servant, like Brad Ellsworth—someone who, like me, got up every morning for a quarter century, put on a uniform, and went out to protect and defend his fellow citizens.  What Indiana and America don’t need is a lobbyist like Dan Coats with a vote in the Senate.

This morning, Brad fought back; calling out the Washington lobbyist for his firm’s ties to Yemen and suspected terrorists at Guantanamo.

You see, while Dan Coats says he is opposed to closing Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility and providing suspected terrorists with legal representation, his own
lobbying firm, King and Spalding, has been working to release six suspected terrorists from the facility.
In fact, this isn’t the first case of Dan Coats’ lobbying firms taking on clients with terrorist ties. When he was special counsel at Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard, McPherson and Hand, the firm took on the Republic of Yemen as a client and lobbied for Yemeni interests throughout Coats’ tenure at the firm.

Coats has repeatedly said that he stands by every client that his former lobbying firms represented.
As Brad said today, “You can’t move back to Indiana and tell us you’ll be tough on terrorism, but line your pockets from two separate lobbying firms that represented Yemen, a country known for its terrorist activity, and six suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay .”

The ad is a transparent attempt to distract voters from the fact that Dan Coats’ own lobbying firm is defending not one, not two, but SIX Guantanamo Bay detainees accused of terrorist activity against the United States. And the fact that this is what Coats wants to talk about in his first ad of the general election proves his campaign is running scared.

This is hardly the first time that Dan Coats has tried to cover up his activities at two high-priced Washington, DC lobbying firms.  But his insistence on impugning Brad Ellsworth’s commitment to keeping America safe is simply outrageous.

Brad Ellsworth spent 25 years in law enforcement, and no one in this race is better prepared to protect Hoosiers. But in politics, even the most baseless accusations can do serious harm. We need to fight back right now.

Help us spread the word on Coats’ hypocrisy and set the record straight.

Together, we will hold Dan Coats’ accountable for these negative tactics and send Brad Ellsworth to the US Senate.

Wherever Brad goes, members of our staff aren’t far behind, and we put together a short video so you can hear directly from them about their favorite moments on the campaign so far.

Thanks so much for all you do.

This is a sharp contrast with our opponent in this race. On Monday, Dan Coats told the Courier & Press that plans to privatize the program were “sensible” and “very attractive.” Slashing seniors’ benefits and requiring the taxpayers to bailout Wall Street every time the market falls may be very attractive to Wall Street, but it’s not to seniors here in Indiana.

That’s some Birthday present, maybe next time he can just send a card.

Just 24 hours later, Dan Coats came up with his own plan. That is, if you call protecting the status quo a plan.

The current system enables ex-members to use the influence and connections they gained in Congress to make millions lobbying for special interest clients. And Dan Coats should know because that’s exactly what he did—lobbying for clients like Wall Street and companies who shipped Indiana jobs overseas. Now he’s fighting to protect the system that financed his retirement home in North Carolina—a system that has put the needs of special interests over the needs of everyday Hoosiers for far too long.

Check out this story from WLFI about Brad’s fight to change the broken system in Washington and Dan Coats’ fight to protect it.

One day later, they’re at it again. Senate Republicans blocked the Small Business Jobs and Credit Act.  This piece of legislation, which Brad voted for in the House, provides aid with expanded loan programs and tax breaks to help small business grow, hire and put Hoosiers back to work.

It’s time to change the way Washington works.

Brad supported the DISCLOSE Act in Congress, saying: “This legislation is a common sense way to restore every Hoosier’s right to know who is trying to influence their elections. To be clear, this bill in no way infringes on the rights of individual Americans or groups to speak their mind and advertise for their preferred candidate. But it is a critical tool to ensure that Americans, and not foreign interests, decide the outcomes of American elections.”

With 97 more days until the election Brad and the hardworking people of Indiana call on the Senate to move forward on these critical reforms and return the power of elections back to where it belongs, with the people.

Over a year ago, Brad was one of only 44 Democrats to oppose Cap & Trade legislation because he was concerned about the impact it would have on our economy. He reiterated those concerns in Fort Wayne yesterday. As he said, “In these tough economic times these proposals place undue burdens on Indiana families and businesses and would stack the deck against Indiana and our economic recovery efforts.”

Meanwhile Dan Coats is railing against Cap & Trade on the campaign trail, but he lobbied for those very same policies when he was in Washington, D.C.

WFFT covered Brad’s visit yesterday and summed up the issue much better than I can. Check it out:

Take this weekend for example.  Not only were Brad, Beth and their daughter Andrea out in full force at July 4th parades, but thanks to volunteers who donated their time this holiday weekend, we staffed two dozen events across Indiana and introduced thousands of Hoosiers to Brad’s brand of common-sense leadership.

We put together a photo album of some of our favorite moments, and I wanted to share them with you.

Click here to view the photos.

Thanks so much for all you are doing.  And if you haven’t yet signed up to volunteer, please do so after you’ve had a chance to flip through the photos.  This campaign is about you, and we’re counting on your help to make our voices heard on Election Day.