Democrat John Gregg went on the offensive last week – accusing Republican Mike Pence of missing congressional votes to attend political fundraisers.

It was the latest salvo in the race for governor, following recent stories about Pence missing 86 percent of his committee votes this year.

At that time, the Pence campaign said he had not missed committee meetings for fundraisers.

As a result, a release from Gregg on Wednesday said Pence skipped votes to raise money for his campaign on at least two occasions.

“Congressman Pence has shown that we cannot take him at his word,” said Daniel Altman, communications director for the Gregg campaign.

The problem is that while the votes and campaign fundraisers were on the same day, they were not at the same time.

One fundraiser was an 8:30 a.m. D.C. breakfast in March 2011. Later that day, at 3:30 p.m., Pence missed a floor vote on a resolution to bring the troops in Afghanistan home. And he missed a vote a few minutes earlier on another topic.

Another example was an evening yacht fundraiser in D.C. running from 6 to 9:30 p.m. in June 2009. He missed a procedural vote at around noon earlier that day.

In the end, the only thing the Gregg campaign proved was that Pence missed votes on the day of fundraisers that were at completely different times.

Altman said later the release wasn’t meant to be taken so literally.

“After finding information that showed he missed votes on the same day he hosted fundraisers, it became clear that on those days, he placed a higher priority on hosting the fundraisers than voting,” he said. “He found time to attend the fundraisers, but did not find time to vote. Congressman Pence should explain to Hoosiers why fundraising was more important to him than doing his job in Congress.”

Dead heat

Of 33 Senate seats up for election this year, Indiana’s is among only five called toss-ups at this point by the independent polling firm Rasmussen Reports.

The others are in Massachusetts, Montana, New Mexico and Virginia.

Rasmussen said the Indiana race between Democrat Joe Donnelly and Republican Richard Mourdock “remains a dead heat” according to a poll commissioned last week.

State Treasurer Mourdock was favored by 42 percent of likely voters, while Donnelly, who represents Indiana’s 2nd District in the House, was supported by 40 percent. The margin of error was 5 percentage points.

The Indiana poll of 400 likely voters was conducted July 31-Aug. 1. Forty-five percent were Republicans, 32 percent were Democrats, and 24 percent were identified as “other.”

A Rasmussen survey in late May among 600 likely Hoosier voters had Donnelly and Mourdock in a tie, with each preferred by 42 percent of those polled.

Here are some of the findings of the latest poll:

•Among women, 43 percent supported Mourdock, and 39 percent supported Donnelly.

•Mourdock enjoyed a 14-percentage-point lead among voters older than 65, while Donnelly held a 14-point margin among voters younger than 40.

•More than half of the respondents were between those ages, and Mourdock had a 10-point lead among them.

•Among income groups, Donnelly’s highest rating was 57 percent among people who earn less than $20,000 a year, while Mourdock’s best showing was 55 percent among those earning $60,000 to $75,000. But 46 percent of those earning more than $75,000 were undecided.

•Donnelly was favored by 81 percent of likely black voters and Mourdock by just 2 percent, while 17 percent of blacks said they would prefer “some other candidate.” Only 6 percent of respondents were identified as black.

•Of the 43 percent of Hoosiers who strongly favor the repeal of the federal health care law, 81 percent would support Mourdock. And of the 26 percent of respondents who strongly oppose such a repeal, 95 percent would back Donnelly.

Scathing critique

Liz Brown was never one to mince words when criticizing Mayor Tom Henry’s administration.

The former Republican city councilwoman, and unsuccessful mayoral candidate, stayed true to form in attacking the lack of financial planning by Henry in a letter written to local newspapers. It appears on Page 12A as a letter to the editor.

Brown said the city had no plan for large expenses, such as its new 911 radio system, and relied on the good fortune of a state accounting error to finance part of it. She also mocked the mayor for creating teams and task forces “complete with logos” to discuss how to spend the money from the lease and sale of the city’s electric utility.

The mayor having a local fiscal group looking into the problems can only mean one thing, Brown argued.

“They know that only the City Council can raise income taxes,” she wrote of the mayor’s administration. “Tom Henry has let the well run dry and wants City Council to bear the burden of filling it, at our expense.”

During her time on the council, Brown proposed several spending cuts, yet struggled to gain support from a council controlled by fellow Republicans.

Henry said he was unsure why Brown seemed to have so much animosity toward his administration. He said while others have since come to him offering to write a response to the letter, Henry said he wasn’t planning to do anything personally, dismissing it as politics as usual.

Journal Gazette Washington Editor Brian Francisco contributed to this column.