teresa isaac

Jim Gray transition team revealed (UPDATE)

November 23, 2010

Lexington Mayor-elect Jim Gray announced his transition this morning at city hall. Here it is:

Chair- Chris Frost, UK Law professor (no city race donations)

Building a Better Government
Environmental Quality- Emma Tibbs, Independent Civic & Social Organization Professional (Gorton donor)

Finance- Merl Hackbart, Martin School professor (2010 donor to Newberry and Martin)

Information Technology- Jim Barnhart, Deputy Commissioner at Commonwealth Office of Technology (Fletcher donor in 2007)

General Services- Bob Drakeford, former city commissioner (Newberry and Gray contributor)

Law- Mason Miller, Lexington lawyer (Gray donor)

Public Safety- Glenn Brown, former corrections worker (no donations)

Public Works- Nathan Billings, Principal, Legal Consulting Group Ltd. (no donations)

Social Services- Teresa Isaac, you know her (no donations, endorsed Gray)

Building a Better City

Economic Opportunity
Team #1- Alan Hawse, VP of Cypress Semiconductor (has given to both Newberry and Gray)

Team #2- Kim Menke, Community & Government Relations at Toyota (Newberry and Republican donor)

Quality of Life
Team #1- Ben Self- Mr. Blue State Digital / ProgressLex (Gray and Kay donor)

Team #2- Lisa Adkins, President/CEO of Blue Grass Community Foundation (no donations)

There will be a total of 40-50 people working in the teams who will be named early next week when they will have their first meeting. Gray encouraged all of the Council members to be involved in the process.

UPDATE: Here’s the organizational structure of the team, plus it’s schedule:

Newberry leaves a gift for Mayor-elect Jim Gray

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November 11, 2010

By Joe Sonka

And by gift, we mean a proverbial flaming bag of feces that is a $7.2 million budget shortfall in LFUCG employee health care.

Urban County Government officials confirmed Tuesday they’re facing a projected $7.2 million budget shortfall because of higher-than-anticipated costs in Lexington’s employee health insurance program.

The news came a week after Vice Mayor Jim Gray beat incumbent Mayor Jim Newberry in the mayor’s race. Gray said he was briefed last Thursday about the problem.

“It’s a huge hole for our budget,” said Gray, who added that he has contacted state personnel officials about advice to help control health-care expenses.

Yes, I’m sure it was just a coincidence that Mr. Nuts and Bolts Jim Newberry learned about this a week before the election and chose to save the news until just after the election. Total coincidence!

Newberry liked to talk about the devastation he inherited from Teresa Isaac when he took over in 2006, but at least TI left him nothing as hideous as this.

Big endorsement day for Jim Gray (VIDEO)

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October 12, 2010

By Joe Sonka

We all knew that Teresa Isaac was going to endorse Jim Gray this morning (worst kept secret ever), but the supporting cast there to endorse him was pretty impressive, as well. Current council members Andrea James and Julian Beard (!) were there. Former council members Jennifer Mossotti and Dick DeCamp. Former Vice Mayor Ann Ross. Former Mayor Foster Petit. And former foe in 2002, Scott Crosbie.

Here’s Teresa Isaac telling the crowd why Lexington needs Jim Gray as its next mayor (and a funny interaction with Crosbie):

Here’s Crosbie introducing everybody on stage (including all 4 candidates from the 2002 mayoral race):

And here’s Jim Gray:

Along with the endorsement of the city workers, firefighters and police, and a big swing towards Gray in the most recent poll, it’s pretty clear that Uncle Mo is on Gray’s side right now.

Andrea James endorses Jim Gray

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October 12, 2010

By Joe Sonka

LFUCG 1st District Councilwoman Andrea James wants Jim Gray to be the next Mayor of Lexington. Here’s her email that went out late (?) tonight:

I’ve never had a yard sign in my yard besides my own. So, today is a new day for me.

Today, I placed a Jim Gray for Mayor yard sign in my yard.

As you know, for the past four years, I have served on the Urban County Council. I have been privileged to work with nearly all of the elected representatives on the Council and others in Lexington and Frankfort on particular issues and am honored to have been able to do so. Working with District representatives, the at-large and the Vice Mayor have been an amazing journey for me, my district, my self-growth and my professional career.

My endorsement of Jim Gray is about the next four years, not the past four years. Today’s endorsement is my statement of what I believe to be the essential characteristics needed in leadership to get to that level of civic engagement, wisdom, critical collaborative thinking and strong communication that will move Lexington into her next phase. Dreaming, visioning, studying, asking, confirming AND doing…I believe it takes all of those qualities to effectively lead the city of Lexington.

The candidate I have chosen to endorse is a person with whom I’ve had some very tough conversations, but we’ve had the conversations. He’s a proven leader with whom I have seen evolve, not revert, as we have served our terms together. A leader whom I believe will continue the characteristics I admire about him even when the going gets tough. A legislative leader, yet administratively capable to lead in a way that is productive, creative, attentive, collaborative, and in a way that strengthens others around him.

I’m an insider with the experience of working with both candidates, I know Lexington needs new leadership for the next four years.

I choose Jim Gray as the next Mayor of our city. And I encourage you to do the same.

Please join me tomorrow at 10:00 AM at the corner of Race and East Third Street for a special announcement with Jim, and Mayor Teresa Isaac. I hope to see each of you there.

Thanks for your support,

Andrea James

First District Councilwoman

Nice.

And here’s some more from The Key:

Several people at the James endorsement gathering had not made a decision about their vote for Mayor and appreciated her advice.

“I hadn’t thought much about the Mayor’s race but I will vote Gray now because I trust Andrea,” said Angie Walker.

Veronica Edmonds said, “I listened today and the face to face meeting with Gray helped. It made a difference. I’m now leaning toward him.”

Oh, and follow along tomorrow morning around 10:00 AM on the Twitter Contraption, same Bat Place, different Bat Hashtag (#TI). T.I. Fever, I’m tellin ya…

A special announcement from Teresa Isaac

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October 10, 2010

By Joe Sonka

I guess we’ll settle this once and for all in 48 hours:

She also sent out the message to her email list.

Be there or be square?

Teresa Isaac Watch update

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October 8, 2010

By Joe Sonka

The rumblings about Teresa Isaac running as a write-in candidate for Mayor of Lexinton so that she can swing the election to Jim Newberry continue. Here’s what Tom Eblen just tweeted:

If she posted this, it’s now deleted from her FB wall.

Also, I just talked to the Fayette County Clerk and they said that she has neither filed papers or picked up the papers necessary to file as a write-in candidate.

Stay tuned for the latest update from Teresa Isaac’s damaged but still massive ego.

Teresa Isaac Watch update

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September 29, 2010

By Joe Sonka

As of 1:00 this afternoon, Teresa Isaac has not filed to be a write-in candidate for Mayor of Lexington.

I do have this interesting update, though. Remember how TI posted her campaign page and video on her Facebook wall on Friday? Well, she’s now removed those from her wall.

I can’t even begin to understand what’s going on in her mind, so take from that whatever you choose.

Teresa Isaac Watch update (UPDATE)

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September 28, 2010

By Joe Sonka

County Clerk’s office just told me that she hasn’t filed, but the word on the street is that she’s preparing to “run”.

ALSO- you have exactly 6 days to register to vote, so get on it slackers.

UPDATE: And the beat goes on. From her FB page:

So maybe Teresa Isaac is running for mayor as a write-in…

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September 27, 2010

By Joe Sonka

When I posted on Friday that Teresa Isaac was bizarrely posting her mayoral campaign page and videos on her Facebook page, I said that this was odd since the deadline already passed.

Well, I was wrong. The deadline to run as an independent has passed, but the deadline to file as a write-in candidate is October 22nd. So she can still run.

And this morning, Jake finds this tweet, which she also put on her Facebook campaign page:

Unbelievable. I just called the County Clerk’s office and they say that she hasn’t filed yet. But unless she’s deliberately punking her 2,000 supporters, it’s hard to interpret this any other way.

Is she trying to extort her way into a job, or has she just officially lost her friggin’ mind?