Akin ad hits McCaskill for federal subsidies

The ad dubs McCaskill as "corrupt Claire" and claims she is "getting rich off government." It cites an Associated Press report from earlier this week that businesses affiliated with McCaskill's husband had received almost $40 million of federal housing subsidies during her first five years in office. That report, however, did not say McCaskill's family personally pocketed all of that money.

According to an online government database, firms in which McCakill's husband, Joseph Shepard, has an ownership stake appear to have received about $39 million in federal housing subsidies between 2007 — when McCaskill took office — and the end of 2011. McCaskill's financial disclosure reports indicate that her husband received between $400,000 and $2.6 million in income from those businesses in the years in which they received government payments.

But McCaskill's campaign has said many of those businesses also have other income sources, and that none of the federal subsidies wound up in the family's personal bank accounts. Her campaign cited regulations by the U.S. Department of Agriculture — which administers one of the housing programs — requiring that the subsidies be used for operating and maintaining the housing facilities.

"It's bad enough that Todd Akin would attack Claire's family, it's worse that he is now basing his entire campaign on a lie," McCaskill spokeswoman Caitlin Legacki said Thursday. "This latest attack has been proven false and he knows it."