By Bill Raack, KWMU
St. Louis, MO – A new campaign ad from Democratic gubernatorial candidate Claire McCaskill says Missouri Governor Bob Holden needlessly withheld money from school districts and has cut funding for education.
The two candidates oppose one another in the August 3rd primary election.
McCaskill says that because Holden refused to release $115 million is education funding until April, a record number of school districts raised property taxes.
"You know, taxpayer trust is a very fragile thing," McCaskill said. "And playing political games with school funding is inappropriate. And what we are trying to do with this commercial is just remind people what the facts are so they can stay focused on that when they make their decision four weeks from today."
Missouri Governor Bob Holden's re-election campaign says Democratic challenger Claire McCaskill should be ashamed of herself for a new ad that she is airing in the state.
Roy Temple, Holden's campaign manager, says the Governor has worked tirelessly to protect schools from a Republican assault.
A statement from Holden's campaign calls McCaskill's new ad "a vicious and desperate attack."
McCaskill defends the commercial.
"We can't stand by and watch when advertising is being put on the air, millions of dollars in advertising, that simply is not true," McCaskill said. "It's not factual and all we're trying to do is present the facts."
In his own ad campaign, Holden claims to have stood up to GOP lawmakers and saved $74 million for schools.