Hal Rogers and Ed Whitfield are throwing their towel in with Mr. Romney, says the Politico:
EXCLUSIVE – HAL ROGERS AND ED WHITFIELD TO ENDORSE ROMNEY: The two Kentucky congressmen, both establishment heavyweights, are signing with the frontrunner today. Rogers chairs the House Appropriations Committee, and Whitfield chairs the Energy and Commerce Committee’s powerful Energy and Power subcommittee. Rogers says he’s impressed by the comprehensiveness of Romney’s economic plan, and the depth of his private sector experience. Whitfield plans to praise two elements of Romney’s Massachusetts record: balancing the budget with no tax increases and leaving the state with a Rainy Day Fund. “They share my goals of lessening the regulatory burden on small business and getting our exploding deficits under control. They also share my goal of making our country energy independent,” Romney says in a statement that will go out later.
Hal and Ed also have deep respect for Romneycare and Romney, likewise, has the utmost respect for Hal’s big pork spending ways.
Coal operators with a reputation of using their money to influence elections have been keeping their wallets closed this year in Kentucky, even though mining has been an overriding issue in the governor’s race.
Pro-mining Republican David Williams has received about $24,000 from employees of the state’s largest coal companies, according to reports filed Wednesday with the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance. Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear, a coal advocate who is seeking re-election to a second term, picked up about $14,000.
….Phil Osborne, executive director of the mining advocacy group Faces of Coal, said Kentucky miners and coal operators haven’t been as financially engaged this year because they consider both of the major candidates friendly to their industry…. Osborne said most coalfield voters see Beshear as “a staunch advocate for the industry” because he has stood against federal regulations that he says are costing jobs in the coal industry, which now employs about 18,000 Kentuckians.
Steve’s such a great friend of the coal industry, he’s saving them money in campaign contributions!
So the next time someone tells you Steve Beshear’s bought and paid for by King Coal, you can tell them that’s not true at all… he’s just pointlessly sold out to King Coal because he doesn’t care about the environment or the whiny Democrats who keep voting for him.
Apparently the three dudes running for governor debated each other this week. Steve finally showed up, Gatewood and David tried their best. It was fun. (Was it? I was reading a book.)
In their closing remarks, Galbraith said Beshear, if re-elected, would leave office in two years and turn over the reins of government to his running mate, former Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson.
Beshear’s campaign said that assertion was preposterous and that Abramson was chosen because of his record.
Williams noted that Beshear did not deny that scenario during the debate.
That actually does sound fun.
A few weeks ago, Al Cross pondered why Steve’s running up the score and while he didn’t touch explicitly on a Beshear two-year plan, he did write of the Abramson-succession:
A re-elected Beshear could not run again in 2015, but he clearly wants his running mate for lieutenant governor, former Louisville mayor Jerry Abramson, to succeed him. That’s probably why he’s had Abramson spend so much time in Western Kentucky, so the urbanite and that politically pivotal region can get better acquainted — and Abramson can learn to like, or at least tolerate, talking about roads and coal.
Republican Secretary of State candidate Bill Johnson is on the warpath, churning out fantastical stories of homeless people and poor people usurping our elections by the tens of thousands, all controlled by shadowy forces bent on enslaving the rest of us under socialist tyranny.
Bill Johnson’s scaremongering is ridiculous, it’s funny, it’s insane. It’s also dangerous.
In case you’ve missed it, Bill Johnson is convinced that homeless veterans are being bussed in to our cities to illegally vote for Democrats. Bill Johnson believes that a non-existent organization with a supposedly anti-White army is secretly acting behind the scenes to commit election fraud on the grandest scale. (You can view highlights from Johnson’s recent debate below.)
So now Kentuckians for the Commonwealth are getting involved. KFTC has a long history of standing up for and protecting voter rights. Broadening and strengthening Kentucky’s democracy is at the core of their mission — so the fact that they’re pushing back against a Secretary of State candidate who is claiming that same passion for democracy should make it quite clear who’s side you are on.
This letter is hitting mailboxes statewide. It reads:
Kentucky’s Demucracy is under threat and I’m writing today to ask for your help in turning things around before Kentucky’s statewide election on November 8th.
For years, Kentuckians For The Commonwealth has worked to make our Democracy stronger. We help ordinary people become strong leaders, help citizens lobby their government, and educate the public on issues affecting them. We’ve registered tens of thousands of Kentucky voters and have championed legislation to make it easier for everyone to vote. We do all this because we believe our Democracy works better if all its citizens have a vote and a voice.
We’ve made a lot of progress, and our work has made Kentucky’s Democracy broader, deeper and stronger.
But now that progress and much more is under serious threat from a man named Bill Johnson. He’s running for Secretary of State, Kentucky’s chief elections officer and he’s leading his campaign with a platform that will disenfranchise homeless voters, make it harder for elderly people and others without photo IDs to vote, and prevent former felons from regaining their right to vote.
The letter is written by a mother, grandmother, former Lady Cat who is also a former felon — she has served her debt to society and she has turned her life around. And she has gotten her voting rights restored. Which seems common sense enough — and of course, that’s reason #1 why Bill Johnson might be opposed to it.
The letter continues:
We have to do something. Let’s tell Bill Johnson that we will not allow him or anybody else to silence the voices of hundreds of thousands of Kentuckians. Let’s remind him that everyone has a right to be involved in choosing our leaders and making decisions affecting out lives.
KFTC and its members are now planning a targeted media and field campaign to challenge Bill Johnson’s plan to limit democracy in Kentucky. You can help.
And by supporting KFTC, you’re not just supporting their work to protect democracy, you’re helping to protect Kentucky’s enviornment, its future and its working people.
BlueBluegrass hit the Kemper/Edelen debate for State Auditor last night and has some thoughts on Kemper’s fellow travelers (including two Constables in full dress). Check it:
So, not only does Kemper have the sense of humor to ask for votes for an office that insures funds are managed wisely, after mismanaging his own business into bankruptcy not once, but twice. Not only does he have a guy in pajamas walking in front of him providing some sort of bizarre security function, and not only does he have a dog walking behind him, but in between, he’s raised the question of whether he’s having public resources misused as part of his election efforts. On the bright side, at least Richie Farmer must be happy that someone else is capable of actually drawing the public’s attention away from his stunning conduct…
Adam Edelen, the Democrat, against John Kemper, the Republican. The Herald-Leader’s John Cheves takes a closer look at the race for Kentucky State Auditor which, in classic Kentucky fashion of course features this…
Kemper, 47, is in personal bankruptcy after the failure of his home-construction business in Lexington. He said he takes responsibility for his mistakes and he’s obeying a debt-repayment schedule administered by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, which court records confirm.
“I’m living under the thumb of the federal government for five years,” Kemper said.
Ain’t that just the most succinct encapsulation of the defining philosophy of the 21st century Republican party?
Guy fails at business, blames the government, lambasting the feds for their oppression, and then runs for office for a party that claims it stands for fiscal order and personal responsibility.
Kemper’s uphill struggle to win a taxpayer pay check for the next four years so that he can get out bankruptcy while on the dole (which would make him a ‘Welfare Queen,’ I believe) also piqued the interest of the Associated Press:
The winner of the Nov. 8 general election will oversee an office that has more than 130 employees, controls a $10.5 million budget and churns out hundreds of annual audits.
“The taxpayers of Kentucky need somebody who has weathered the storm … and taken responsibility for the things that have happened,” said Kemper, a 47-year-old residential developer from Lexington.
Edelen, a 36-year-old Lexington business consultant and former chief of staff to Gov. Steve Beshear, said his opponent’s bankruptcy “goes to the heart of having a demonstrated record of competence.”
“It’s an awfully far stretch to go from being in personal bankruptcy to be making the case to the people of Kentucky that you should be the taxpayer watchdog,” Edelen said.
The winner in the November election will succeed current state Auditor Crit Luallen, a Democrat finishing her second term, the limit allowed by law. The state auditor makes just more than $110,000 a year.
Rove’s Crossroads GPS groups and the Koch Brothers’ Americans for Prosperity groups are sniping at each other. The two conservative slush-funders poured tens of millions into the 2010 mid-terms, coordinating their attacks with each other and with the Republican Party, a seamless and well-oiled machine with obviously successful results. But now — as the 2012s approach — the two groups may be falling out, with Kochs’ $200 Million and Rove’s GOP/RNC possibly working at cross-purposes.
The fault lines revealed themselves this summer, when the camps split on the highest-profile conservative movement issue of the day: the biggest groups in the Rove-Gillespie network supported House Speaker John Boehner’s bill to increase the debt ceiling and the Koch brothers’ primary political group, Americans for Prosperity, pressured conservatives to oppose it.
They also have spent big on seemingly competing infrastructure. The networks recently launched similar initiatives to woo Hispanic voters. And their allies are spending millions to build dueling voter files to help their respective camps get out the vote. The Republican National Committee recently partnered with associates of Rove and Gillespie on a privately run database, which could give them an advantage over the Koch-backed data project.
….Some Koch allies blame what they contend is the Rove team’s win-at-all-costs mentality for the decay of fiscal conservatism under former President George W. Bush. And they roll their eyes at Rove’s high media profile. In turn, some in the Bush-Rove axis accuse the Kochs of clinging to free market zealotry, even if it backfires on Republicans. Others in Rove’s orbit believe the Kochs are too focused on control, and not enough on coordination.
Read on for how they worked the 2010s (everyone came over to Rove’s place and did as they were told) and how the 2012s are shaping up (AfP/Koch claim they aren’t partisan, and they don’t care who’s in the majority… which just means they’re tired of Rove and the RNC insisting a handful of useless Republicans should stay in office).
David Williams, hopeless romantic, spent an hour on WFPL yesterday taking questions from people on telephones. Give it a listen here.
As you listen, you may want to check out Sonka’s review of the episode and the ensuing dust-up between Williams and knives-out Tea Party marauder David Adams who all of a sudden seems dead set on driving even more votes away from little bullied David Williams. Here’s a Sonka preview but read it all for all its glory:
The first half of the show was rather cordial, as he detailed why it’s necessary to end busing in Jefferson County, for the kiddies’ own good.
Then, a caller said that Williams — when it came to his policies on education and taxes — was “full of crap.” That’s the point where Williams started to turn a little green.
The next caller criticized him as a shill for the coal industry. Williams rebutted him, saying “sir, if you’ll look at the contribution records, Steve Beshear is the one that’s received more money from the coal industries and the coal operators. You have selective memory.”
David Williams is 100 percent correct, the caller does have selective memory, and Beshear is the preferred candidate of King Coal to continue polluting Kentucky’s air and water with fewer restrictions, at the cost of the health of Kentuckians.
Look, I ain’t no Hollenbach boy, but it deserves attention that yesterday the Crosbie campaign posted this to the facebook:
That’s the Jefferson Davis Memorial there. Davis, of course, was the Kentucky-born head of the band of pro-slavery advocates who declared war on the United States of America.
SHE WON'T GO!
KentuckyElection.org
BONNIE PRINCE BILLY
