In an interview with a South Bend, Ind. radio station,  Rep. Brad Ellsworth (D-Ind.) described the difference between his ties with special interests groups and his opponent’s work as a Washington lobbyist. (Interview audio here).

Ellsworth and his Republican opponent, former Sen. Daniel Coats (R-Ind.), are both running for the Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.).

Ellsworth claims that his opponent is suffering from conflicts of interest with his lobbying career:

“Mr. Coats has a conflict of interests.  Lobbying in itself isn’t a bad thing but going through that revolving door and coming back to the Senate after you’ve purchased a $1.8 million house in North Carolina, you’ve lived off that income.  If he was on a jury or [were] a judge…it would be a conflict of interest to now decide cases and or make laws that involved over the [hundreds] of lobbying clients that his firm represented.”

In the interview, Rep. Ellsworth argues that donations from special interests groups fund campaigning while Coats’ work with special interests provided personal gain.

This is in response to a video from Sen. Coats “fact-checking” Rep. Ellsworth’s claims about Coats’ Washington ties. (Coats claims that Ellsworth has received the most campaign contributions of any Senate candidate nationwide.)