Republican John Brunner’s family company is front and center again in a new ad he released Tuesday for his Senate campaign in Missouri.
A Brunner spokesman would not disclose the size of the buy, but a source tracking the ad market in Missouri said the campaign was spending about $100,000 to air the ad statewide.
Brunner, whose company produces health and cosmetic products including the anti-bacterial Germ-X, hits President Obama and Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) in the ad, but makes no mention of Brunner’s GOP primary opponents, Rep. Todd Akin (Mo.) and former state Treasurer Sarah Steelman.
“Across America, factories closed, jobs are gone,” Brunner says in the ad. “Barack Obama and Claire McCaskill’s policies have crushed job creation.”
Brunner’s ad shows him on the floor of a bustling factory as he describes the path toward jobs and prosperity.
“We don’t need more politicians, we need a citizen-senator who actually creates jobs, to get America back to work again,” he says.
Brunner
’s earlier ads have also featured his family
’s company, Vi-Jon, highlighting the central tenet of his campaign — that while he lacks electoral experience, he has the practical business experience needed to pull the country out of unemployment. Democrats have challenged the veracity of that claim, noting that Brunner
’s company
laid off 36 workers in October 2011 — the same month Brunner entered the Senate race. Brunner argued that he had stepped down as CEO and chairman of the board and was not involved in day-to-day decisions.
“A real ‘citizen-senator’ would understand this ad is an insult to the men and women recently laid off at Vi-Jon, but I guess that goes to show John Brunner is just too out of touch,” said Missouri Democratic Party spokeswoman Caitlin Legacki.
Polls show Brunner in third place in the GOP primary, but would be tied or ahead of McCaskill in a general election.
