Image from Byrd memorial in TV attack ad linking W.Va. gov, Obama upsets late senator’s family

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Sen. Byrd’s family denounces campaign attack ad

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The family of the late Robert C. Byrd blasted the GOP nominee for his U.S. Senate seat Sunday after he used an image from Byrd’s memorial service in a TV ad attacking the Democratic nominee.

The ad by Republican John Raese’s campaign seeks to link President Barack Obama to Gov. Joe Manchin by displaying an image of the two Democrats at the state Capitol ceremony marking Byrd’s June 28 death.

Raese and Manchin are running in a special election for what remains of Byrd’s term. Byrd was history’s longest-serving member of Congress when he died at 92.

Raese’s campaign manager, Jim Dornan, defended the use of the image.

“That’s a stock photo. We had no idea it was from the memorial service,” he said.

But Byrd’s family called for the campaign to withdraw the ad.

“This is a tasteless and insensitive act by Mr. Raese,” said a statement by the family of Byrd, who was also a Democrat. “His act is insulting to the memory of Robert Byrd and should have no place in a West Virginia political campaign.”

One of Byrd’s two daughters, Marjorie Byrd Moore of Virginia, e-mailed the statement to The Associated Press.

She later said that Raese had attacked her father when he unsuccessfully challenged Byrd’s 2006 bid for a record ninth Senate term. Among other things, she said Raese had made an issue of Byrd’s age.

Moore said Manchin contacted her about the ad.

Manchin campaign spokeswoman Sara Payne Scarbro said Sunday that the memorial was meant as a bipartisan, nonpolitical tribute.

“To use that photo just truly shows the character of Mr. Raese,” Scarbro said. “It shows what we can expect from Mr. Raese, and that is negative ads and negative campaigning.”

But Dornan dismissed the flap as an attempt to distract from the ad’s overall message: that Manchin would support Obama administration policies if elected, while Raese would not.

Obama lost West Virginia in 2008 and is not considered popular there.