One of the mailers, which featured a large photograph of an especially grim-looking elderly woman, was headlined "Joe Courtney abandoned Connecticut's seniors" and said the AARP "opposed Joe Courtney's stance" on the merger of the former state Department of Aging with the state Department of Social Services.

Claudio Gualtieri, a spokesman for the Connecticut chapter of the nonpartisan, membership group formerly known as the American Association of Retired Persons, said Monday it was "very disappointed to learn" that the NRCC "disregarded our request to stop using the AARP name" in its campaign literature.

He added that despite "clear direction" from the AARP to stop using its name after an initial mailing, the NRCC has sent out a second mailer "that confuses 2nd Congressional District voters."

"Under no circumstances does AARP support or oppose either candidate running in the 2nd District, and any advertisement to the contrary is misleading," he said.

The ARRP's reprimand followed a complaint from Courtney and an explicit warning that the organization had sent to both candidates at the beginning of their campaigns, warning them not to misuse its name or logo.

The issue had arisen during the previous contest between Simmons and Courtney in 2002, when the RNCC sent out two mailings that also had criticized Courtney for voting to approve the government consolidation.

Courtney today called the NRCC's mailers "misleading" and "hypocritical" and said the "only time the AARP ever directly commented on my record" was in 1994 when it presented him with an award as an "outstanding legislator, conscientious worker, effective leader, and caring person."

He said he had initially voted to approve the government reorganization plan recommended in the early 1990s by the Hull-Harper Commission, and then again for a specific "implementation" bill the next year.

Simmons, a former state representative like Courtney, had voted against the former but for the latter, Courtney added.

"And they say 'Joe Courtney abandoned Connecticut's seniors,'" he fumed. "This is just another sleazy example of how Washington Republicans will say and do anything to hold on to power."

Simmons' campaign manager, Chris Healy, charged today that Courtney was using the AARP controversy "as a convenient diversion for him to latch onto a minor matter."

"We are upset that the AARP feels its name is being used inappropriately and since we do not communicate with the NRCC on these ads - we're not allowed to and they don't tell us - we hope that the next time they'' take more care," he said.

"But I think the overarching issue here is that Joe Courtney's positions on a variety of issues will hurt seniors," he added.