Sen. Dole calls Burns flap ‘silly thing’

WASHINGTON – North Carolina Sen. Elizabeth Dole, on the campaign trail Wednesday in Montana, defended Republican Sen. Conrad Burns’ recent comments about immigrants and said that voting him out of office would be a “disaster.”

Dole, who is head of Senate Republicans’ campaign arm, was in Missoula raising money and attending public events with Burns, who is in a tight race for re-election against Democrat Jon Tester.

Tester’s campaign this week released video of Burns referring to his house painter as “a nice little Guatemalan man” and suggested that worker as well as employees of a roofing company he hired might be in the country illegally. Burns’ campaign said the worker is a legal citizen and the senator never doubted that. They also said the worker, Hugo Reyes, is small in stature.

In a telephone interview, Dole called the flap over Burns’ comments “a silly thing.”

Dole called Tester a “classic liberal” and criticized his positions on energy and gay marriage, among other issues. Tester opposes drilling for oil in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, while Burns supports it. He opposed a constitutional ban on gay marriage, which Burns supports.

“I don’t think he’s ready for the Senate,” Dole said.

Tester spokesman Matt McKenna fired back.

“The only one of Burns’ Washington friends that hasn’t been hauled out here to help save his job is Jack Abramoff, and he’s on his way to the Crowbar Hotel,” he said.