Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., on Wednesday lambasted The Louisville Courier-Journal for publishing last month a front-page "2,400-word liberal smear of my record of fighting for Kentucky" by a writer for a pro-environmental website.
"Once again, this shrinking paper has confused its news and opinion pages," McConnell said in a Courier-Journal op-ed, adding that the "partisan hit job" was by James Bruggers, a writer for Inside Climate News "who previously editorialized about 'problems with coal.'
"Not surprisingly," McConnell said of the Sept. 24 report, "he tried to dismiss my achievements for coal workers and communities with misleading assertions. I had to respond."
The majority leader, 77, in his sixth Senate term, then detailed how his meetings with Kentucky coal miners undergirded his battle against former President Barack Obama's "war on coal" and similar pledges by 2016 Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
He listed other accomplishments, including securing millions in federal aid to re-train unemployed coal workers, extend health benefits to retirees and black-lung victims, and improve Eastern Kentucky's economy and infrastructure.
McConnell noted that the United Mine Workers of America have praised his efforts, concluding: "Even if this partisan writer and The Courier-Journal disagree with me, you can't ignore these results for Kentucky families.
"As long as I have the privilege to represent the commonwealth, I'll keep delivering for them."
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