Beshear: Chao, McConnell have conflict on coal
Gov. Steve Beshear added his name to the Democratic chorus Thursday criticizing Elaine Chao's position on the board of a foundation that is anti-coal.
While he stopped short of calling for her to resign, Beshear said Chao's involvement on the Bloomberg Philanthropies board conflicts with the pro-coal stance of Chao and her husband, U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, who faces Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes in this year's Kentucky Senate race.
"If you're going to be a champion of coal then you can't play both sides," Beshear said.
Beshear and Grimes both attended the annual Kentucky Commodity Group Appreciation Breakfast that kicks off the Kentucky State Fair in Louisville, along with at least two of the 2015 gubernatorial candidates — Republican Agriculture Commissioner James Comer and Democratic Attorney General Jack Conway.
Grimes called the Bloomberg charity issue "disappointing news," but didn't directly answer whether Chao should resign from that board.
"It raises serious questions that Sen. McConnell is going to have to answer," she said.
McConnell spokeswoman Allison Moore said in a statement that Grimes supported President Barack Obama as a candidate "after he declared his intention to bankrupt the coal industry. She can continue to attack Sen. McConnell's wife, but that doesn't change the fact that she has actively enabled the war on Kentucky coal."
Chao, who was labor secretary under President George W. Bush, sits on the board of Bloomberg Philanthrophies, an organization supporting a Sierra Club campaigning to reduce coal use.
Some prominent Kentucky Democrats — including House Speaker Greg Stumbo of Prestonsburg — have called on Chao to resign from the Bloomberg board.
McConnell said Wednesday that the attacks on Chao are "nothing new," and that she wouldn't resign.
"They do a lot of good things," McConnell said of the charity. "They do some things she does not approve of, and she does not approve of their efforts in the coal industry."
The race between McConnell — the Senate minority leader who is seeking his sixth term — and Grimes, the secretary of state, is one of the nation's most-watched races.
Both McConnell and Grimes are trying to position themselves as the candidate most supportive of coal interests.
The United Mine Workers of America has endorsed Grimes and questioned why Chao would be allied with a group whose goals are harmful to coal country. Meanwhile, the Kentucky Coal Association trade group has defended Chao, saying she joined the board after it decided to oppose coal.
After the breakfast Wednesday, talking to reporters, Beshear said, "It bothers me that Mitch's family's is making hundreds of thousands of dollars off of director's fees not only on the Bloomberg board but the Wells Fargo board that won't lend money to any companies that have done any mountaintop removal mining and things like that. It just seems inconsistent to me."
Yahoo! News, which broke the Bloomberg charity story, also reported that Chao joined the Wells Fargo board in 2011, five years after the company decided to limit financing of mountaintop removal. A company statement said the decision did not involve board members.
Reporter Gregory A. Hall can be reached at (502) 582-4087. Follow him on Twitter at @gregoryahall. The Associated Press contributed to this story.