Brown’s decision to skip ‘It Gets Better’ video brings a wave of criticism

In a statement, spokesman Colin Reed offered an explanation.

“Scott Brown has a strong record at the state and federal level against bullying and believes that all people regardless of sexual orientation should be treated with dignity and respect,’’ the spokesman said. “His main focus right now is on creating jobs and getting our economy back on track.’’

The facts, though, belie that answer.

A week earlier, for example, Reed and Brown himself were promoting the senator’s views on a distinctly non-economic subject: the recent shooting deaths of six seals on Cape Cod.

Brown announced plans to file legislation more than doubling the penalties for intentional violations of the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

“It’s an environmental issue that affects everyone,’’ he said during an interview with the Cape Cod Times. “I mean, who doesn’t love seals?’’

The same question might be asked of suicidal teens, and two Democratic organizations were quick to ask it.

In the process, they politicized an ostensibly apolitical public-service video. They also highlighted a challenge Brown faces as he seeks his first full, six-year Senate term in November 2012.

With malice or not, the Democratic establishment is going to expose differences in their priorities, eager to rally supporters caught napping when Brown won the 2010 special election to replace a party icon, the late Edward M. Kennedy.

Massachusetts Democratic Party chairman John Walsh has a standard stump speech in which he criticizes Brown for overt acts, such as budget votes last year that held up summer job funding and unemployment benefits.

In the latest instance, though, Brown was condemned not for his position on a piece of legislation, but a social statement foisted upon him by members of a rival political party.

And the criticism for his absence from the video was louder than the words delivered by his delegation colleagues on screen.

The state party pounced moments after the first story about the video was written, noting the selectivity of the senator’s declared focus on job creation.