The one word she didn’t say during her 11-minute speech: 'coal.' Grimes mum on coal

Alison Lundergan Grimes’ campaign insisted last week that she’d use a high-dollar fundraiser with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid as a forum to promote Kentucky’s coal industry and demand action to protect the use of fossil fuel.

That didn’t happen, according to an audio recording of the 45-minute affair obtained by POLITICO through a source at the event.


Instead, when the Kentucky Democrat spoke at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill last Thursday, she stuck to a partisan script, railing against Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s record on jobs, the minimum wage and women’s issues.

( Also on POLITICO: Grimes' miner? A European model)

The one word she didn’t say during her 11-minute speech: “coal.”

“Make no mistake, the hill that we are climbing … it is steep, but I will continue to run circles in my heels around Mitch McConnell,” Grimes told the donors, who paid as much as $2,600 a plate to attend. “It is going to take a nation to help Kentucky rise up to do this, and Alison’s army. And as I look out today, amongst the quality that is here, Leader Reid, I know this is the army that will help to get it done.”

It’s a notable omission for a campaign that went out of its way last week to say that Grimes would “use the event” to raise concerns about environmental rules that are unpopular in Kentucky. After she was criticized for holding a fundraiser with Reid — whose views against coal are unpopular in her state — her campaign said the event would offer a chance to highlight opposition to newly proposed rules from the Environmental Protection Agency to dramatically cut carbon emissions.

( Also on POLITICO: Obama expands student loan repayment break)

“Alison is absolutely livid about the new rule and plans to use the event to share the stories of how Kentuckians are hurting and demand that the Senate take action to invest in clean coal technology,” Grimes spokeswoman Charly Norton said in a statement last week ahead of the fundraiser.

On Saturday, Grimes’ campaign manager, Jonathan Hurst, told The Associated Press that the candidate spoke to Reid and the donors at the fundraiser where she “offered real stories of Kentuckians struggling to make ends meet and stressed that we need a comprehensive, balanced approach that reins in the EPA, invests in clean coal technology and keeps foreign markets open for Kentucky coal.”

The Grimes campaign hasn’t disputed the authenticity of the recording and says she had a “private conversation” with Reid about coal and energy.

A Washington consultant who attended the event said “there is no way” Grimes could have privately had a discussion with Reid at the event because he arrived late and left before the Kentuckian.

( Also on POLITICO: Reid, wife moving to Las Vegas area)

Grimes is in a tight battle to topple McConnell in November in one of the few Senate races that presents Democrats an opportunity to oust a sitting Republican. Running in a conservative state where the coal industry maintains potent political power, Grimes has sought to distance herself from President Barack Obama and Democrats like Reid who have decried the use of the fossil fuel.

On Monday, the Grimes campaign said it stands “100 percent” by its previous comments and argued there was no inconsistency in statements before and after the event.

“Alison had strong words [with Reid] with regards to the EPA ruling,” Hurst told POLITICO. “We definitely did exactly what we said we were going to do.”

Reid spokesman Adam Jentleson said Grimes “made her strong opposition to the president’s proposed EPA rules extremely clear” to the majority leader, saying she “shared stories” to the Nevadan about the impact the rule would have on Kentuckians.

Jentleson said the conversations occurred “before the event and in conversations since then as well.” But he did not offer more details. A Democratic source said the two spoke by phone about coal and energy after the fundraiser.

The revelation that she failed to raise those concerns at the event despite her vow to do so could play into McConnell’s hands, giving the GOP leader fresh ammunition to undercut a central premise of her campaign: that she is a moderate, independent-minded Kentucky Democrat willing to take on her party in Washington.

Other campaigns have had to grapple with secret recordings of private events. Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign was famously rocked in 2012 when he mused about the “47 percent” who are “dependent on government.” In 2008, it was Obama who said at a San Francisco fundraiser that voters in small town Pennsylvania “cling to guns or religion.”

Grimes most likely skirted the coal issue because she was in front of a crowd of some 60 people who were largely supportive of the administration’s policies.

Indeed, the recording portrays an upbeat Grimes spending the first part of last week’s breakfast fundraiser mingling with the guests. As she worked the room before the speech, Grimes told an attendee that she’d be “waking everybody up, talking about my favorite subject: Mitch McConnell.” She advised another attendee at the breakfast event: “Don’t turn your stomach sour talking about Mitch McConnell.” She quipped to another about how she uses blue pens to sign “everything.”

The crowd went silent after Reid entered the room and delivered his opening remarks.

The Nevada Democrat began with a riff about the Democratic prospects of keeping the Senate, saying “we would have the majority for sure” if the election were held today. He bluntly called the GOP Senate candidate in Colorado — Cory Gardner — a “real loser.” Michigan Senate candidate Terri Lynn Land “fell on her face” in recent weeks, Reid said. And he said that “everyone is pulling for” tea party favorite Chris McDaniel to win his runoff fight against GOP Sen. Thad Cochran in Mississippi, a scenario that the Democratic leader believes would make the general election even more competitive for his party.

Reid spoke effusively about Grimes, calling her the “perfect candidate” and saying that he was “so proud of her campaign.” He noted that he’s spoken not only with Grimes but also with her father, Jerry Lundergan, a longtime Kentucky Democratic bigwig.

“After I met her, talked to her on a number of different occasions, she is as good as her father says she is,” Reid said.

Reid called Grimes “something special” and predicted that Democrats “are going to win” in Kentucky. And he argued that she is “tough” and that “nobody should take her femininity for weakness.”

Unlike other campaign fundraisers where he ducks out early, Reid said he would stay and listen to her remarks because he “can’t miss this.”

“So Alison, I’m not only depending on you, and my 54 Democratic senators are depending on you, but our country is depending on you,” Reid said. “I say that as unequivocally as I can.”

When she took the floor, Grimes was gracious to Reid. She referred to him as “leader” several times and made no effort to hide their closeness, referring casually to how often they speak on the phone.

“The leader always tells me that when we talk, as you all know, there are a lot of friends in this room who have been with this campaign before it was cool to be with this campaign,” she said. “And he always says when we talk on the phone, ‘Alison, it is quality not quantity.’”

She later made light of Republican attempts to tie her to Reid and Obama.

“You didn’t know this, but I apparently am the right hand to the president and to Leader Reid; they call me before they make any decision. Y’all did not know that, did you?” Grimes joked.

For Grimes, publicly associating with Reid presents a tricky dilemma.

In 2008, Reid said “coal makes us sick” and that the U.S. needed to “stop” using fossil fuels. Last week in an interview, he largely stood by those remarks and said coal use is a “problem,” though he admitted he could have phrased his comments in 2008 a “little differently.”

Grimes is at times cagey on the campaign trail when she’s asked about whether she’d back Reid for leader if she wins her race against McConnell. But Reid is heavily invested in the midterms and is making an aggressive push to unleash his fundraising network and funnel big bucks to the handful of competitive races.

In her speech, Grimes directed all her criticism toward the GOP — not Reid. Grimes’ remarks were filled with quips lashing out at at McConnell and the National Republican Senatorial Committee — which she said stands for “Notoriously Repeating Sexist Comments.” That was a reference to an NRSC spokesman’s description of her as an “empty dress.”

Grimes dubbed McConnell the “senator of yesterday” and blamed him for stagnant income growth and for failing to focus on job creation. And she sounded confident that she will prevail in November over McConnell, saying that Kentucky voters are ready to tell the GOP leader that “you are the senator of yesterday. You are fired; we’ve got a new hire.”

“I had the opportunity to drive by the Capitol, Leader [Reid]; I just like to give Mitch McConnell a heart attack every time I come to D.C. to check out where my new office will be next year,” Grimes said. “I stand here today where no individual has ever been before. And that’s with over 18 polls that have been taken, the majority of which show we run even or ahead of the minority leader.”

Reid had instructed donors to grill Grimes about her campaign because “she can answer the toughest question you can think of.” But as Grimes concluded her remarks and encouraged attendees to ask a question, no one piped up.

After a 10-second pause, Reid was ready to call it a wrap.

“Let’s cash our checks and go home,” Reid said.