The Rural Democrat

U.S Senate Candidate Kenneth Stepp: "You can't buy a Democratic nomination" Surprised Horne Endorsed Lunsford

We appreciate when Kenneth Stepp leaves well thought out comments on this little blog. A comment left in our thread on Col. Andrew Horne's endorsement of U.S Senate Candidate Bruce Lunsford (D) needs to be posted. So here it is.

U.S. Senate Candidate Kenneth Stepp (D)

Like Andrew Horne, I am on the Democratic Primary ballot for U.S. Senator KY May 20, I am a veteran, I am a lawyer, and I was on the Democratic Primary ballot for U.S. House in 2006. I'm surprised that Andrew Horne endorsed Bruce Lunsford instead of me. You can't buy a Democratic nomination, as Bruce Lunsford should've learned in his unsuccessful run for Governor against Steve Beshear, and in his unsuccessful run for Governor against Ben Chandler. If Kentucky Democrats want a workhorse, they will vote for Kenneth Stepp for U.S. Senate D-KY; if they just want a showhorse, they will vote for a millionaire.

Pineville Mayor Bobby Madon: "We've been so fortunate to have wonderful black people,"

Do what?? Fortunate to have wonderful black people! I am not even going to analyze that comment because I will be the one to get it. As we reported here in March, the KKK is planning a 3 day event in Pineville called "Aryan Bash 2008" and since the first story drafted about the subject Pineville Mayor Bobby Madon's phone has been ringing off the hook. He is now singing a different tune about how welcome the KKK really is in Pineville, Madon now says the Klan will NOT be allowed to hold a three day rally.

But the last quote from Madon in today's Lexington Herald Leader article takes the cake.
"We've been so fortunate to have wonderful black people," http://www.kentucky.com/779/story/366109.html

Col. Andrew Horne Shows He is a Real Democrat

What a day to go out of town, the budget passes and goes to the governor and Col. Andrew Horne endorses Bruce Lunsford. We had heard rumors it was coming but never bothered to confirm it. I am a supporter of Andrew Horne and thought he was handed a crappy deal.

He displayed today why he is a REAL Democrat. I am a partisan hack a Democrat to the end, a party person. That fact sometimes skews my thinking toward the party line and reflects the politics of it all instead of the gut wrenching reality. I am an idealistic Democrat, I still believe this is the best PARTY and the majority of Kentucky Democrats make this state great. But towing the party line is sometimes impractical, impossible and despicable.

I listen to the old timers, the people with a few grey hairs, they have the gift of life wisdom. It pays for a young person to listen to their elders and respect them. When I first got involved in politics a old Harlan County Magistrate gave me my first real dose of political advice. He said "son if you walk in these woods"hillbilly slang for the mountains" (politics) you will have to feed the bears and kiss the snakes, if you can't handle that don't walk in these woods". I took that advice to heart and realized its significance almost immediately. Andrew Horn had to feed the bears "D.C types, the party, Beshear" and ultimately kiss a snake "Lunsford". He gets it, because it secures him a place at the table and makes certain that he will have a future in Kentucky politics. He is wise enough to know how important it is to defeat Senator Mitch McConnell (R) yet get a little for himself later.

Can Bruce Lunsford defeat McConnell? At this point I think Lunsford would get throttled but one very important factor remains; presidential politics will be in play. So anything can happen. 

Why did he run? Sounds like everyone but the Queen asked him to run and massaged his ego to the point were he had to run. I am not endorsing Lunsford but if it appears he has a shot to win, I will kiss the snake to destroy the dragon, that you can take to the bank. 

 

Complete Incompetence Describes This Session

I have to rant, again, about the need for recurring revenue in our budget Our budget process has became politicized, but isn't it always, and we have no options for revenue and the most disappointing aspect of this session, besides the fact that virtually NOTHING happened, is the fact the we had choices.

Mark Hebert has coined this budget as the "trust me budget" because House leaders are begging members to vote YES for NO projects with the promise they will create a magical bill to give them their projects later and it will magically pass both chambers of the Kentucky General Assembly before session end.

Throw casinos to the hungry wolves, its over, with KEEP going after Governor Beshear's throat we might as well declare the possibility dead. And so goes the revenue that would have been generated from the concept. We may experience another disaster in regards to the failure of casino gaming in Kentucky and that disaster is the likely deterioration of Kentucky's horse racing industry. Indiana gets it and they will probably be enjoying "Kentucky size x10 purses" in less than a year.

Tighten that belt! This concept is a red herring, meant to distract conservatives into thinking we are saving your cash. Fletcher did a masterful job and played that shell game like a pro, he juggled departments and combined departments and declared the Commonwealth saved, and most fell for it. Now we know better. There has to be a comprehensive plan to "tighten the belts" of the state financial machine, I have yet to hear one, from any one.

Cut Services; now this is likely the result we will all have to live with. Public and media pressure is resulting in a legislative double take or a hesitation if you will in regards to the immediate destruction of responsible and needed state services. We have no problem slashing $50 million from the retarded and the poor, but we pound the dirt over a meaningless increase in a dilapidated cigarette tax, conservatives in this Commonwealth are hypocrites, plain and simple.

Raise the DAMN cigarette tax by at least 50 cents. The ironic fact about this tax is the likelihood that it will save the Commonwealth money in the long run. For ever low income smoker that quits an amazing amount of cash could be saved because that low income smoker will be dependent on state health-care when they get sick, from....thats right smoking. But we are not allowed to talk about that are we? We are also not allowed to talk about the fact that Kentucky conservatives think they are saving us from the standard run of the mill higher taxes by not entertaining a higher cigarette tax. It is called, please save the people from something, its an election year.

As the Commonwealth slides further and further down the crapper please remember we had a chance, mistakes have been made by both sides but at the end of the day the only group that suffers in the people.

Not So Fast Stumbo, House Speaker Richards Says Budget Will Pass House

House Speaker Jody Richards (D) is predicting the holy moly tooth picks and glue budget patched together by politics instead of reality will pass the State House but Rep. Harry Moberly (D) says he will NOT vote for it. Moberly did not say why he just said NO. Richards also said he is ABSOLUTELY running for speaker next year and is not concern about Stumbo, if one reads between the lines, it means Stumbo is creating a faction in the House and word is spreading. Who will win? Do I care? I will say this, Stumbo would at least fight back against King David Williams and that is a step up in my book.

Brereton Jones Slams Governor Beshear

This could get ugly fast and if this situation is not tamed quickly it could create yet another rift in the ever growing fault-line for casinos in Kentucky. Former Governor Brereton Jones (D) told Bloodhorse.com that Beshear's handling of this years casino legislation was improperly handled.

As we had said before, we heard some rumblings within KEEP in regards to the casino legislation and had no reason to believe it would go all the way to the top. But now it appears the gloves are off and Jones is ready for a fight. If KEEP thinks they can lead the charge for casinos in Kentucky without the leadership of Governor Beshear, they might as well pack up and move because it will never happen.

Also Governor Jones slammed Beshear over the debacle that was the 30th Senate District special election and again has shown that people outside of this region have NO IDEA what they are talking about. The issues here ran a lot deeper than Beshear backing the Democratic candidate, a lot deeper.

If this is truly a growing crisis and it appears the war has begun between KEEP and Governor Beshear you can kiss casinos in Kentucky goodbye. Say hello to higher taxes!

From Bloodhorse.com

We’re very disappointed,” KEEP chairman Brereton Jones said March 28. “I think we’ve thought for some time that it was improperly handled. I think the governor made a big mistake in not introducing the bill immediately as House Bill 1, and calling the Democratic leadership together and saying, ‘This is what I ran on, this is what I told the people I would do, this is what they said they wanted. We’ll pass this bill first, and then I’ll help you pass your bills.’

“But he chose not to do that, and didn’t introduce it until at least 30 days into the session, and by that time, the bill was already defeated. I really don’t know why he wouldn’t go ahead with it. When he gave his State of the Commonwealth address, he didn’t even mention it, and that sent a real negative signal. And then he sent some negative signals in dividing the Democratic Party in the 30th senatorial district. When they got behind a candidate, it was not the one many of the Democrats wanted down in the Democratic district, so they lost that Senate seat.

“So it was all blown up a long time ago, quite frankly. I think it’s going to be much more difficult (to pass in the future). I think it was extremely doable with a new governor showing the proper leadership, but for whatever reason, he chose to take a different approach, and I think it was the wrong approach.”

Is Rep. Greg Stumbo Making His Move?

Cyberhillbilly says his sources are indicating that this could be the Coup de' ta we have been anticipating and the bear-trap we knew House Speaker Jody Richards (D) would step in. Cyber's sources suggest that Rep. Greg Stumbo (D) is leading a group of bipartisan house members against the inadequate budget forced upon us from the Senate majority.

If Greg Stumbo manages to defeat this budget in the State House, he would be in a perfect position to challenge Richards for the top spot in the House majority. Many mountain legislators are unhappy about the elimination of all coal severance projects in this budget. All projects would appear to be under the command of GOLD and that could start small civil wars in many coal house districts among the representatives and the county judge executives.

Governor Beshear is rumored to be starting a charge of his own and has already voiced his displeasure for this so called budget, a budget with no reoccurring revenues. I smell a special session coming.

House Speaker Richards Whipped Again, Budget full of Funny Money

As we expected House Speaker Jody Richards has been whipped again by Senate Republicans and mainly Senate President David Williams in regards to the our Funny Money Budget. While lawmakers will apparently enjoy a 5% increase in the legislative budget the rest of the Commonwealth is slashed. The revenue that is included in this budget is mysterious to say the least. First the budget will be funded by a so called savings from some 3400 state employees that are scheduled to retire at the end of this year and as said before our legislators couldn't wait to claim the money. But does anyone out there actually believe those jobs will go unfilled? I would predict that 3/4 of those jobs will be filled by mid-2009 so 3/4 of some $85 million would evaporate. That is called funny money. More funny money was created by squeezing $7 million from our state lottery, Mark Hebert had a wonderful analysis in regards to what it would take to increase those revenues from the state lottery. We would have to cut prizes and jobs and thus less people would play and finally in a couple of years the state lottery would likely lose $7 million. That is called funny money. The 25 cent increase in the cigarette tax proposed by the State House was apparently axed by the big dogs in the State Senate. So NO NEW revenue generating line items are included in this state budget. ONLY funny money and slashed services. While the state certainly needs their belt tightened, we need revenue and the responsible thing to do is to increase the cigarette tax. I predict this political ploy by Senate Republicans will backfire as many Kentuckians are becoming more concerned with their health, especially seeing that we are the most unhealthy state in America. Governor Beshear would be wise to create a new Governor's task force on state health and include increasing the cigarette tax as a means to decreasing Kentucky smokers. This is a little extreme but I would hope Governor Beshear vetoes the shit out of this budget and calls a special session and demands an increase in the cigarette tax and demands the deletion of the so called $85 million the General Assembly claims they will save via retirements. Now it is time for our Governor to stand on the side of common sense and to shelf the hat of politics.

Barack Obama Wins Texas Delegate Race

Even though Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by a very narrow margin in the Texas Democratic primary, Barack Obama has edged her out in the total delegate count according to the AP. If you remember, once the Democratic primary was complete the state went into caucus mode and Texas has pretty much been in total chaos from then on.

The Associated Press has award some 9 remaining delegates and Obama is the delegate winner in Texas. Obama leads Clinton 1,631 to 1,501 in the delegate race. Clinton is in big trouble.

Greg Fischer's Trainwreck of a Campaign Could be in Trouble, it is time to go Greg

Page One has apparent proof of yet another snafu for Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate Greg Fischer as they may have clearly violated Kentucky's Charitable Gaming laws. I have a close friend that runs a charitable gaming operation and I will tell you this, if you don't dot every I and cross every T you are in for it and it appears Greg Fischer is in for it.

What moron would run a raffle and not know Kentucky laws in regards to raffles!

Page One

Fischer’s manager, A.J. Carrillo, outlines an opportunity for the supporter that is able to raise the most $25 contributions by midnight tonight (March 31) to win two tickets (valued at $1,500 for the pair) to attend the event. Individuals donating $100 are given the same opportunity to receive one of five pairs of tickets and if you’re one of 20 high-rollers and contribute $1,500, the campaign will also give you a pair of tickets.

And to beat it all Greg Fischer is being destroyed in a recent SurveyUSA Poll, he is not only being popped by 36% by Bruce Lunsford he is being drip dried by David L. Williams! Yea that David Williams. It is time for Greg Fischer to drop out and STOP embarrassing his family and himself. Most of all it is time for certain national bloggers to get their heads out of their bongs and STOP calling Fischer a viable candidate!