Democratic congressional candidate Melissa Bean and the League of Conservation Voters have been using quite similar issues in their allegedly uncoordinated TV ad campaigns against GOP oldster Phil Crane. Bean says he’s out of touch with his constituents, and so does the LCV’s ad. The LCV blasts Crane for wanting to allow oil drilling in Lake Michigan and then Bean issued this statement today.

For Immediate Release  
October 25, 2004  

LAKE ZURICH – Melissa Bean, candidate for U.S. Congress in Illinois’ 8th District, will hold a news conference to discuss Congressman Phil Crane’s hostility towards the Great Lakes.  Crane has refused to support the Great Lakes Restoration Act, a common sense and urgently needed proposal to ensure clean-up and the long-term protection of the Great Lakes.  Bean supports the legislation. 

Beach closings along Lake Michigan are more and more common, mercury levels are rising and agricultural wastes threaten the source of drinking water for 28 million people.  Lake Michigan is the Eighth District’s primary source of fresh drinking water.  Action is needed to protect the Great Lakes for future generations.   

The bill has strong bipartisan support.  Congressmen Ray LaHood, Don Manzullo and Mark Kirk (whose district borders Lake Michigan) support the Great Lakes Restoration Act.  Why doesn’t Phil Crane?

It’s obvious that Crane is out of touch. And we drink the water out of Lake Michigan so we all want it to be as clean as possible. These are no-brainer issues that anyone devising a campaign against Crane would use. But Bean’s message and the LCV’s message are similar enough that they could be opening themselves up to charges of collusion. Crane is just desperate enough to use something like that, too.