St. Louis Elected Officials Question Misleading Talent Campaign

Cite Talent's "F" Rating From The NAACP And Long Record Of Voting Against African-American Interests

ST. LOUIS -- Today, the Chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus, State Representative John Bowman and State Senator Rita Days questioned recent campaign ads for Jim Talent's U.S. Senate campaign that seek to portray him as an advocate for African-American issues. Citing his "F" grade from the NAACP and long record of voting against African-American interests, Bowman said that these ads were nothing more than an attempt to conceal Talent's shameful record on civil rights.

"Jim Talent's new campaign ads can't conceal his poor record on African-American issues," said Bowman. "When Jim Talent had the chance to stand with our community by raising the minimum wage, protecting Medicaid, and cracking down on predatory lending, he instead turned his back on us and voted with George Bush 94% of the time."

Even though the minimum wage has not been increased since 1997, Jim Talent cast his 11th career vote against raising the minimum wage as recently as June 2006. Coupled with his 2005 votes to cut billions of dollars in funding for Medicaid and against discouraging predatory lending, Talent has consistently voted against the African-American community, siding instead with Washington lobbyists.

"This election is too important for Missourians to be misled by Jim Talent's empty rhetoric," said Days. "At a time when our community is facing setbacks from Republicans at the state and national levels, we deserve a Senator who will do more than pay us lip service in an election year. That's why we're supporting Claire McCaskill -- she will always be a Senator on our side."