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http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2010/09/30/wind-farm-generates-heat-for-carnahans/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wsj%2Fwashwire%2Ffeed+%28WSJ.com%3A+Washington+Wire%29

Washington Wire

By Louise Radnofsky

A wind farm in Missouri that got a $107 million stimulus grant is generating some turbulence for two prominent Democratic candidates, Robin Carnahan, the state’s Democratic Senate candidate and her brother, Rep. Russ Carnahan.

The wind farm is a project of Wind Capital Group of St. Louis, whose president, CEO and founder is the Carnahans’ brother, Tom Carnahan.

Republican Senate candidate Rep. Roy Blunt quickly released an advertisement today attacking the stimulus as a failure and implying that the Carnahans were its only beneficiaries. The race has been tight, with the latest polling of likely voters showing Blunt ahead by an average of 5.5 percentage points, according to Real Clear Politics.


“They promised jobs. Instead we got generations of debt. Where did our money go? Ask Robin Carnahan,” a male narrator says.

The White House drew attention to the grant in a report released earlier this month highlighting 100 stimulus projects “that are changing America.” The report said that 300 jobs were created during the construction of the wind farm.

An Energy Department spokeswoman said the grants in lieu of tax credits had been awarded to all eligible applicants, and that the department had reviewed Wind Capital Group’s application in the same way it had reviewed all the others.

Russ Carnahan’s GOP opponent, Ed Martin, has also attacked him over the grant.

Robin Carnahan’s campaign hit back today, highlighting votes Blunt took as a member of Congress which the campaign said created the economic crisis by “enabling risky behavior on Wall Street, wasteful spending, and protecting tax breaks to corporations that ship jobs overseas.” The campaign also pointed out that Carnahan is not a member of Congress, and so didn’t vote for the stimulus. She has said, however, that she would have voted for it if she had been in Washington.

Carnahan has also released an ad of her own today, attacking Blunt’s earmark requests. Carnahan vows at the end of the advertisement “to ban earmarks once and for all.”


Eric D. Schwerin
Rosemont Seneca Partners, LLC
1010 Wisconsin Ave., NW
Suite 705
Washington, DC 20007
(202) 333-1880
eschwerin@rosemontseneca.com
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