A Democratic group is under sharp criticism for controversial online messages about
A Democratic group is under sharp criticism for controversial online messages about Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell’s wife.
For months, the liberal super PAC Progress Kentucky has attacked McConnell and held demonstrations at his offices and home.
Recently, the group turned its attention to McConnell’s wife, former Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, with a focus on her race.
In a Feb. 14 Twitter message, Progress says: “This woman has the ear of (Sen. McConnell)—she’s his wife. May explain why your job moved to China!”
The Tweet links to a website run by conspiracy theorist and radio host Jeff Rense, alleging Chao, who was born in Taiwan, discriminated against American workers during her tenure.
Progress Kentucky spokesman Curtis Morrison says the group’s leaders do not review every Tweet and initially denied any had mentioned Chao superficially. But he later told WFPL that a group volunteer had sent out the messages targeting the former secretary.
“It’s not an official statement. It’s a Tweet. And we will remove it if it’s wrong,” he says. “I follow Ashley Judd on Twitter and she removed a Tweet the other day, she Tweeted to you Phillip. People make mistakes in Tweets. It happens. Inferring that Elaine Chao is not a U.S. citizen was not our intention.”
Other messages from Progress’s social networking account about Chao have run for the past several days, saying her “Chinese (money)” is buying state elections. According to campaign finance records, members of Chao’s family donated $80,000 to the Kentucky GOP last year.
The super PAC has also posted vocal support of their criticism, one of which said “not many know McConnell’s wife is Chinese.”
Team Mitch campaign manager Jesse Benton called the comments “disgusting” and demanded an apology from the group.
Chao emigrated to the U.S. as a child where she eventually became the first Asian-American woman to be appointed to a cabinet-level White House position. McConnell and Chao married in 1993, and he has received hefty contributions from family, friends and business leaders in the Chinese-American community ever since.
In years past, opponents have questioned McConnell’s relationship with his father-in-law, James Chao, who owns Foremost Maritime Corp., a New York-based shipping company. The business has trade connections to China and Chao’s father has ties to its government.
Progress Kentucky has issued an apology over the incident