Greg Fischer says he's a Kentucky businessman...
Greg Fischer has described himself as a Kentucky businessman on the campaign trail as well as in a mailing sent out in late March 2008 and in a press release announcing his campaign. [Fischer mailing, 3/22/2008]
...but he took tax breaks to move jobs out of Kentucky.

Fischer took tax breaks to move jobs out of Kentucky and train new workers in Indiana. One of Fischer's companies, Medventure, which appears in his 60-second TV commercials, took $4.3 million in incentives to move from Louisville to Jeffersonville, Indiana, as well as an additional $300,000 in incentives from the State of Indiana to train new Indiana workers. [Associated Press 7/19/2005]

Fischer registered his ice machine company in Kentucky yet headquartered it in Indiana. Even though SerVend International was registered as a corporation with the Commonwealth of Kentucky, Fischer kept the business operating in Indiana. The business was operating out of a garage with two employees in Sellersburg, Indiana, when his dad bought the company. However, when it came time for the company to expand, on two separate occasions, the company built large plants in Jeffersonville and Sellersburg instead of building those plants in Kentucky. [Business filings from the Kentucky Secretary of State; Business First of Louisville, 7/1/1985 and 8/20/1990]

Fischer chose to create Indiana jobs and even though a small amount of his employees may have commuted from Louisville, his companies were providing tax revenue to Indiana instead of Kentucky. In a time when Kentucky is in desperate need of revenue as services are being cut and tuition is going up at public universities, these Greg Fischer companies are sending money to Indianapolis to help keep Indiana services running and Indiana tuition low.

FISCHER PRESS CONFERENCE:

Suddenly, yesterday, Mr. Lunsford's campaign entered a new phase when he launched what is clearly the most misleading negative ad thrust on the public since this race began. In it, he attacks me, my family and the businesses I have run.

I'd just like to say this: Thanks Bruce.

I've been looking forward to the day you'd agree that we should compare the way we've run our companies -- the way we've supported the Democratic Party.

Since this race began, I've said that our past public records were important issues for voters to consider. But you and your powerful supporters in Washington and in the political establishment back home said that good Democrats shouldn't talk about other primary candidates, because it might destroy party unity. You even signed a pledge not to be negative and now you have broken that promise to the people of Kentucky when it is convenient for you.

Now that the race is tightening up, it looks like you don't believe that anymore. And I'm sort of wondering if we'll hear anything more from the high profile politicians who last week thought that negative campaigning was bad for the party.

I've said all along that my record is an open book. Your ad even quotes me saying that... which is about the only accurate thing in it.

In the ad you say that I and my family have given thousands of dollars to Republicans, including Mitch McConnell and George Bush. Who are you talking about Bruce? My mother? My father? My brothers or my sister? My cousins? My uncles or aunts? My nieces and nephews?

I don't know who you're talking about..... and neither does anyone else. But here are the facts: I'm the one running for public office. My wife Alex and I have given a total of $850 to Republicans in our lifetime. And we haven't given one red cent to President Bush or Mitch McConnell.

Meanwhile you've given more than $60,000 to Republicans, including at least $1,000 each to Mitch McConnell and George Bush.... And when you were asked about it on the KET Debate Monday night.... You didn't tell the truth. In fact you apologized for that yesterday and claimed you didn't hear the question correctly. I'd invite anyone to watch the tape of the debate for themselves and see if you looked confused when you answered.

Also in your ad, you cite numerous safety violations at the companies I've owned and worked at. But you failed to say that in each company, the safety records improved dramatically after I became involved. At Dant Clayton, under my leadership, we reduced lost workdays due to injury 85 percent in six years. And in our 19 years at SerVend, we improved the safety record to be better than the industry average. Furthermore, SerVend was a winner of the USA Today Quality Cup for our Workplace Excellence Team and a site visit finalist for the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award - outstanding achievements by any measure. I'm proud of our record of safety achievement and culture of safety at Dant Clayton and at SerVend.... I invite anyone who wants to know the whole story to examine the records and talk to the employees who were involved in the improvements. I think you'll come away with a different impression than the one you get in Bruce's ad.

I'm happy to compare my record of leadership at Dant Clayton with Bruce's record at Vencor. What Bruce describes as the greatest business success story in Kentucky history of Kentucky Business actually ended in bankruptcy, costing many people their jobs and much of their life savings. Vencor paid $104 million to settle 1999 Justice Department charges of fraudulent billing. And the company settled a lawsuit with stockholders who claimed that Bruce kept important information from them before Vencor's bankruptcy all the while selling his own stock. These are facts that won't go away. And they are issues in this campaign.

The event in Bruce's past that has more bearing than any on this race is his strange run for Governor in 2003. Bruce competed in a tough primary that year against Jody Richards and Ben Chandler. He ran the most vicious attack ads against Ben Chandler that anyone had ever seen... then suddenly, without warning.... he quit the race four days before the election. In the general election, instead of endorsing the Democratic Candidate Ben Chandler, Bruce appeared at a press conference with Senator Mitch McConnell and endorsed the Republican Ernie Fletcher. After Fletcher's victory, Bruce chaired Fletcher's transition team and helped him re-shape the executive branch in a Republican mold.

No wonder Bruce hoped that nobody would shine a light on his public record during this campaign. If I were he, I would want it examined either. No wonder he enlisted everyone he could to criticize me when I shined a light on his past.