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Weekly Roundup of KENTUCKY Political News
By Judge Steve Horner, Steve Horner is a LawReader columnist with over fifty years of experience in
JUDGE HORNER'S S ROUNDUP FOR WEEK OF MARCH 6, 2010
Paul Slams Grayson in TV Ad for Voting for Clinton in 92
GOP US Senate candidate Dr. Rand Paul brought up rival Sec. of State Trey Grayson’s well-documented past in a TV ad that Grayson had voted in 1992 for former Pres. Bill Clinton when Grayson first registered to vote as a Democrat. Grayson has said he shortly after re-registered as a Republican after ascertaining that he agreed on more issues with Republicans than with Democrats. Paul’s ad says that Grayson “admitted to voting for draft-dodger Bill Clinton.”
Grayson state campaign manager Nate Hodson responded to Paul’s ad by pointing out that Paul’s father, US Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), first ran for President in 1988 as the Libertarian Party’s nominee and in 2008 for the Republican Party nomination. “Kentuckians deserve to know who Rand Paul voted for in the 1988 presidential campaign, when he was the top aide for Ron Paul's pro-choice, anti-Reagan campaign for president,” said Hodson, according to a Feb. 27 story by The Herald-Leader’s Jack Brammer. “Or, who he voted for in the 2008 Republican presidential primary, when he campaigned across the country for his dad’s shut-down-Gitmo, legalize-marijuana, cut-and-run-in-Iraq-and-Afghanistan, blame-America-for-9/11 campaign for president.”
Replying to Hodson’s remark, Dr. Paul said, “It’s hard for me to imagine anyone not voting for his own father.” Paul conceded that he doesn’t agree with his father on every issue.
Rep. Paul was defeated in 1988 by Pres. George H. W. Bush and by US Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) in 2008. Paul, having only won a handful of delegates in 2008 state presidential primaries, never withdrew to endorse McCain in the summer of 2008, but instead had his name placed in nomination forcing a roll-call vote at the Republican National Convention. Rep. Paul raised about $35M in mostly on-line contributions from right-wing conservative fringe supporters for his failed 2008 presidential run. Dr. Paul, a Bowling Green ophthalmologist, has mostly “fed” off that fund-raising base for his mostly on-line, out-of-state financial support to fuel his US Senate candidacy this year with a very small percentage of his contributions having come from KY donors.
Paul state campaign manager David Adams has now admitted producing and airing a TV ad that deliberately takes Grayson’s comments about Pres. Barack Obama out of the context in which they were said. Upon Obama’s Jan. 20, 2009 inauguration, Grayson – in his role of Secretary of State – said that he “looks forward to working with President Obama.” Paul’s ad accused Grayson of being “a friend of Obama.” But Grayson supported McCain in his race as the losing 2008 GOP presidential nominee.
“We did it once. Grayson’s done it to Rand many, many times, so the score’s not nearly even,” Adams said, according to a story by The Cincinnati Enquirer’s Amanda Van Benschoten posted on Feb. 27 at the newspaper’s nky.cincinnati.com. “I would like to get through the campaign without evening the score, and I’m confident we can.”
Elkton businessman Bill Johnson, trying to gain traction in the GOP US Senate primary, announced that he is now unemployed, is refusing unemployment benefits, and doesn’t believe that anyone should receive them. Johnson, who previously contributed over $250,000 to his campaign, refused a company transfer to Texas. Saying that he was “still standing confidently in my abilities,” Johnson said that he was spending his savings to live and to campaign. “I don’t want government help and have not taken any unemployment benefits,” Johnson continued, according to a story by WHAS-TV’s Joe Arnold that was posted on Feb. 27 at whas11.com. “I want the government out of my way so the economy will recover.”
Grayson, Paul, and Johnson declared their support of US Sen. Jim Bunning’s (R-KY) procedural four-day, one-man stand on the US Senate floor against approval of an extension of unemployment benefits which began on Feb. 27 and ended on Mar. 2. Bunning objected to taking up the bill under a so-called “unanimous consent” rule. Bunning did not want the US government to borrow the money to pay for the programs contained in the bill.
“He wasn’t too worried about this during the eight years of the Bush administration, when two wars were unpaid for; all these tax cuts, these 2.5 trillion of dollars,” said US Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), according to a story by The McClatchy Newspapers’ Halimah Abdullah and David Lightman posted on Mar. 2 at The Herald-Leader’s bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com.
Three other Republicans and two Democrats are running limited, poorly-funded campaigns for the seat along with the Democratic front-runners – Lt. Gov. Daniel Mongiardo and Atty.-Gen. Jack Conway, who both protested Bunning’s stance. Mongiardo led public protests at Bunning’s Louisville and Lexington offices on Mar. 1, and Conway began an on-line protest petition effort.
One of the other GOP “also-rans” does not support Bunning on the issue, according to Brammer’s story posted on Mar. 2 at the newspaper’s Kentucky.com. John Stephenson of Kenton County asked, “What would Jesus do? I know that we must bring cost into line, but the timing on this could not be worse.”
Arnold reported on Mar. 1 that Johnson told him that he is now on Cobra health insurance since he is currently unemployed – this despite Johnson’s declaration quoted above, “I don’t want government help….” However, Cobra health insurance is a part of the appropriation bill blocked by Bunning so Johnson won’t get that as long as the bill is held up, according to Arnold.
(Memo to Bill: Be careful what you ask for.)
ABC News posted on Mar. 1 a video and a story of Bunning getting into an angry exchange with some of its reporters at a Capitol Hill Senate office building and gave them “the finger,” according to another story by Abdullah and Lightman posted on Mar. 2 atKentucky.com. This is vintage Bunning who has had a long history in Major League Baseball and in politics of doing almost anything he could to irritate players/reporters.
Bunning’s action angered unemployed construction worker John Bernard of Louisville who called Bunning a hypocrite for accepting his Senate salary. “He’s getting his check every week, no matter how it gets paid,” Bernard said, according to a Mar. 2 story by The Courier-Journal’s James R. Carroll and Chris Otts. It is Bunning’s seat that US Senate candidates from both parties are now running for. Bunning, 78, declared on July 27 that he would not seek a third term this year.
The Associated Press reported – in a story posted on Mar. 4 at nky.cincinnati.com – that the Republican Party’s State Central Executive Committee passed a resolution on Mar. 4 that commended Bunning on his opposition to the unemployment benefits.
Robert Steurer, a spokesman for US Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), issued a statement on Mar. 1 in which he said that McConnell is disappointed that Bunning has blocked the appropriation, according to the story by Abdullah and Lightman. “Senator McConnell supports extending unemployment benefits and is disappointed they have expired. He believes this should have been addressed weeks ago when there was a bipartisan agreement to do so. However, he hopes this issue is resolved quickly so that Kentuckians who are out of work will have their benefits restored soon.”
McConnell said on Mar. 2 that he was working with Democrats to schedule a full Senate vote to go around Bunning’s intransigence. “We’re going to be able to work out the short-term extension in the very near future and we’re in the process of working on that now,” McConnell said, according to a story by The Associated Press’ Andrew Taylor posted on Mar. 2 at Kentucky.com. Taylor reported that US Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), when asked whether Bunning was hurting the Republican Party, said, “He’s hurting the American people.”
Later on Mar. 2, with Bunning’s own party leaders deserting him, he relented – this after apparently the vast majority of Americans were up in arms over his action, except for right-wing fringe leaders and their fellow travelers. The bill passed late on Mar. 2 by an overwhelming 78-19.
Bunning is referred to as “the angry man of the Senate” in a story by The Associated Press’ Roger Alford posted on Mar. 2 at nky.cincinnati.com. Alford continued, “Because of his ornery nature and ungovernable mouth, Bunning has come to be regarded as the crazy uncle in the Senate attic during his 11 years in Washington. And because he is retiring after this session, there isn’t much anyone can do to keep him in line.” Alford interviewed Lexington lawyer and losing 1995 GOP gubernatorial nominee Larry Forgy – a Bunning admirer – who said, “I think the older he gets, the more cantankerous he becomes.”
“He’s cruel,” said George Boyd of Louisville, who lost his job a year ago and could be affected by the impasse, according to Alford’s story. “He’s heartless. He doesn’t think about the needs of other people.”
McConnell told Bunning in December 2008 that Bunning should not run for re-election this year, but Bunning insisted early last year that he would run and started on a series of some of the most outrageous statements of his career – including a prediction that US Sup. Ct. Justice Ruth Ginsburg would be dead by cancer before Dec. 31, 2009, a prediction he took back by autumn. Dr. Donald Gross, a UK political scientist, said that Bunning is apparently frustrated for having achieved no legislative legacy whatever in 12 years, and has essentially been forced into retirement. “He’s always been an argumentative type of person, testy,” Gross said, according to Alford’s story. “This may be his last hurrah, his last chance to take a slap at people before he leaves.”
But Bunning is not finished making headlines. “I will be back on future spending bills,” Bunning said, according to Carroll’s Mar. 3 story.
Conway featured Bunning’s objection to the unemployment bill – and the defense of Bunning by Grayson and Paul – as the topic of his first TV ad of the campaign that began airing on Mar. 3 on broadcast stations in the Louisville and Lexington TV markets. “Jim Bunning used to be a great pitcher,” Conway says in the 35-second ad, according to Van Benschoten’s story posted on Mar. 3 at nky.cincinnati.com. “Now he’s throwing high and wild, hitting working families where it hurts: stopping unemployment benefits in a recession. And Rand Paul and Trey Grayson? They are shamefully cheering him on.”
“Trey Grayson believes Washington needs to pay for new spending, not just add to the deficit,” said Hodson, according to Brammer’s story posted on Mar. 3 at bluegrasspolitics. “They love kicking Sen. Bunning around, but Jim was taking a principled stand on the debt and was not opposing the benefits,” Paul told Brammer.
Mongiardo’s first TV ad was launched on Mar. 4 – a 30-second ad also on broadcast stations in the Louisville and Lexington TV markets. Mongiardo touted the fact of his failed attempt to unseat Bunning in 2004 and the rallies he organized on Mar. 1 to protest Bunning’s one-man filibuster. “He stood up for Kentucky workers, taking on Bunning and tea party supporters,” the narrator says, according to Van Benschoten’s story posted on Mar. 4 at nky.cincinnati.com. “Bunning’s backed down. Now we need Daniel in the Senate, fighting for us.” The narrator also mentioned Bunning “and his Tea Party supporters.” As the Democratic nominee in 2004, Mongiardo lost to Bunning by only about 23,000 votes (1.4%).
Bunning’s national publicity has presented to both Conway and Mongiardo an opening to gain attention, as both have been overshadowed by the constant strife between Grayson and Paul that has daily been the prime feature of the state’s political press, according to Brammer’s story. “This is a great chance for Democrats to energize their base,” said Dr. Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics. “Everybody agrees with Bunning that government programs should be paid for but Bunning chose to emphasize this on programs that help the unemployed. Most people are sympathetic to the unemployed.”
State Senate Pres. David Williams (R-Burkesville) – under fire for years for his personal gambling while fighting proposed legislation to expand gambling – has finally declared that he has personally quit the activity. Williams acknowledged that he was called a hypocrite in the past for his own gambling when he opposed it as a state social policy. “I have been to casinos in the past, but I will tell you that I failed at that juncture in my life to connect the unbridled greed that these companies have. And I will tell you that I haven’t been to a casino in a long time.”
How long? “A year, two years, a couple years at least,” Williams said, according to Arnold’s story posted on Feb. 25 at whas11.com. “I’ve made a conscious decision that I do not want to contribute money or I do not want to contribute my stamp of approval to an activity that has been so invasive and destructive unto the body politic.”
Williams’ view is that, if slots-at-tracks were authorized by statute as Gov. Steve Beshear, many lawmakers, and the state equine industry have been promoting, it would have negative consequences in cities like Louisville. “People wouldn’t have the inconvenience of having to cross the river and drive down the road if it was right there on the bus line, right in the neighborhoods where the poorest of the poor have access to it, there would be an extremely higher incidence of gambling and gambling related problems in the city of Louisville,” Williams said. “Even on the racetrack if it was there, the folks on the backside who already have tremendous financial difficulties would be put into extremely difficult circumstances and the folks that are in the greatest poverty in Jefferson County live in South Louisville urban area and in West Louisville. And I just don’t see how anyone can think it would be a good idea of putting the crack cocaine of gambling right down there.”
Williams asked, “The problem is where does the money come from?” Then he answered his own question. “That money comes from somebody’s milk money, somebody’s child support, someody’s rent. Somebody’s tuition.”
In June 2009 at a special legislative session called by Beshear, the House voted 52-45 to authorize slots-at-tracks by statute. After Williams referred the bill to an unfriendly Senate committee, the bill was disapproved 5-10 and never made it to the floor of the full Senate.
The bill provided that most new revenue would go to the state’s general fund budget, but that some of it would go to increase winning purse amounts at state tracks. Some of the new revenue would also go as bonuses to horses bred in Kentucky who would win certain races – an incentive that tracks in other states use to promote thoroughbred breeding in their own states. Kentucky purses are low, and many former Kentucky owners and trainers are moving their stables to other states to race – taking jobs with them. Now, Kentucky thoroughbred breeders worry that in-state breeding operations will eventually flee to other states that give bonuses to foals born in their states that eventually win races there.
As reporters and candidates alike keep dredging up Paul’s past comments – some of which border on the extreme – Arnold posted on Mar. 1 at whas11.com Paul’s reaction to Williams’ agreement last year to a state tax increase on tobacco products and on alcoholic beverages that the General Assembly passed to deal with an ever-decreasing state revenue base.
“When Republicans act like Democrats, who is the taxpayer to trust? Recently, Senate Republican President David Williams has agreed to go along with the Democrats and raise taxes.
“Williams apparently drank the Democrat Kool-aid and accepts their argument that Kentucky has a budget shortfall. One would think with all the years Williams has spent in Frankfort he would understand the gamesmanship involved in budget numbers...
“…We need to have two parties in Kentucky. We need to hear opposing arguments. David Williams’ capitulation on the budget simply gives up the fight and shows that perhaps there is not that much difference between the political parties. Or that Senator Williams is perhaps carrying water for the wrong team.
“Rand Paul
“Chairman “Kentucky Taxpayers United” Mar. 2 – The Herald-Leader: “Bunning’s callous grandstanding”
“As long as Republicans were in charge, Sen. Jim Bunning was OK with trading a surplus for a deficit. He voted to put two wars, tax cuts and a Medicare drug benefit on the nation’s credit card.
“Now that Republicans are no longer in charge, Bunning is drawing the line on deficit spending. He’s doing it in a way that shows callous contempt for the more than one in 10 working Kentuckians whose jobs disappeared in the economic meltdown
“We’ve become accustomed to bizarre, egocentric behavior from Bunning…
“To those who know him, it’s not surprising that Bunning answered a Democratic colleague’s complaint with a crude profanity. Or that he joked about missing a basketball game while pushing some unemployed Kentuckians into homelessness or bankruptcy.
“What is surprising is that Trey Grayson and Rand Paul, the leading Republicans to succeed Bunning, jumped on his one-man band wagon.
“Both of them applauded Bunning’s actions. Paul’s campaign even announced that it will hold a rally supporting Bunning’s blockade of aid to the unemployed.
“Maybe Grayson and Paul think this plays well with the conservatives who vote in Republican primaries, though Republicans also lose jobs in a bad economy.
“It doesn’t say much for Grayson’s and Paul’s judgment, however. Voters could justifiably conclude that they too would be prone to ideological grandstanding, something of which Washington already has far too much….”
Mar. 4 – The Courier-Journal: “An embarrassment”
“…There has been a lot of talk about how Mr. Bunning’s stand was one of principle, how it was all about pay-as-you-go and not driving up the deficit.
“That’s hooey.
“Mr. Bunning, and all Senate Republicans, voted against the pay-as-you-go legislation, which was signed into law last month by President Obama. The legislation contains some exemptions, including emergencies like this one, and it grew out of a need created by the spend now-pay later mindset of the Bush years, during which the Republican-dominated Congress’ rubber stamp thumped overtime….”
JUDGE HORNER ROUNDUP FOR WEEK OF AUGUST 15, 2008 JUDGE HORNER'S ROUNDUP FOR WEEK OF DEC. 6, 200 Judge Horner's Roundup for Week of Nov. 28, 2008
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