LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Millionaire Senate candidate Bruce Lunsford said Monday he can relate to economic hardships experienced by Americans because he once “looked down the gun barrel” of bankruptcy.

The Democrat trying to unseat Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell spoke in personal terms of overcoming financial adversity during a meeting with the editorial board of The Courier-Journal of Louisville.

“I think I can be an example of somebody who’s been down those tough times,” said Lunsford, a former corporate CEO whose health-care business rose to Fortune 500 status, then plunged into bankruptcy protection.

McConnell, who is seeking a fifth term, also was invited to meet with the newspaper’s editorial board but did not participate, campaign spokesman Scott Jennings said.

The Lunsford interview focused on a range of topics — from the $700 billion financial industry bailout to foreign policy — and was streamed on the newspaper’s Web site, www.courier-journal.com.

Lunsford said he would have been “hard-pressed’ to vote for the rescue plan, which McConnell helped shepherd through the Senate. Lunsford said Congress rushed to pass the bill, missing an opportunity to get the nation’s credit system under control. He said it appeared taxpayers would get “the short end of the stick.”

“There were very few penalties; there’s not oversight,” he said of the bailout.

McConnell campaign manager Justin Brasell said Lunsford’s comments show “he’s not ready for prime time, again refusing to take a stand on an important issue.” Brasell said the rescue plan will provide tax relief for tens of thousands of Kentucky families, sparing them from the alternative minimum tax.

Earlier in the day, Lunsford heard concerns from workers about job losses and the availability of health insurance as he met with organized labor representatives during a roundtable discussion.

Lunsford later told the newspaper editorial board that voters are looking for candidates who understand what they’re going through while facing troubled economic times.

“I grew up with nothing; I worked hard; I almost faced nothing again,” said Lunsford, a Kentucky farm boy who went on to start Louisville-based Vencor Inc., a nursing home and hospital company.

The company grew to include several hundred facilities across the country but later went into a financial tailspin and sought protection under the Chapter 11 bankruptcy code.

The company reorganized and emerged from bankruptcy with a new name, Kindred Healthcare.

Lunsford and others blamed Vencor’s bankruptcy filing on government cuts in medical reimbursement rates.

“Like much of the public, I looked down the gun barrel of personal bankruptcy,” Lunsford said, adding that he worried about putting his daughters through college and recovering from his financial setback.

Lunsford never went into personal bankruptcy. His business partner, Ed Hart, said in an interview earlier this year that Lunsford is wealthy today because “he had confidence in his own judgment.”

Lunsford was reminded during the newspaper session that some people he’s asking to trust him today lost money in Vencor. Lunsford responded that jobs he created were saved, and shareholders who stuck with their investments saw the value of their shares rise. Lunsford said he followed the law during the episode.

“I’m someone who’s never been accused in any way, shape or form other than by innuendo of anything beyond a traffic ticket,” he said. “I didn’t even smoke a joint in college.”

Before the bankruptcy filing, Lunsford split Vencor into two companies. He said he did it to protect patients, shareholders and employees.

Meanwhile, Lunsford said McConnell contributed to economic woes by supporting the Iraq war, tax cuts for the rich and the 2005 bankruptcy law, which set new limits on personal bankruptcy filings and prohibited most filers with above-average income from filing Chapter 7 petitions that allow debts to be wiped out.

Lunsford said those developments were responsible for the nation’s mushrooming debt.

 

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