In the eyes of many Kentucky Democrats, U.S. Rep. Ben Chandler’s endorsement of Bruce Lunsford is as important to Lunsford’s race against four-term U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell as Hillary Clinton’s endorsement of Barack Obama is in his race against John McCain.
Just as Obama must win the support of former Clinton supporters to win the presidency in November, Lunsford needs the backing of a united Democratic Party to unseat McConnell, the Senate minority leader. Just as Clinton supporters have reason to be upset with Obama, many Chandler backers still blame Lunsford for the then-state attorney general losing to Ernie Fletcher in the 2003 governor’s race.
While Lunsford withdrew from the governor’s race just days before the May 2003 primary — virtually assuring Chandler of his party’s nomination — the agressive, negative campaign Lunsford had waged against Chandler had already done its damage. Fletcher didn’t have to spend a lot of time and money telling voters why they should not vote for Chandler because Lunsford had already done it for them.
As if to add salt to the wounds, Lunsford openly endorsed Fletcher during the fall campaign. Five years later, many long-time Kentucky Democrats still are angry at Lunsford — a millionaire Louisville businessman who has never held elective office — and question his loyalty to the party.
Of course, Chandler recovered quickly from his loss to Fletcher by winning a special election to fill the Sixth District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives that Fletcher vacated to become governor. Today, Chandler is a popular member of Kentucky’s House delegation in a reasonably “safe” seat, while Fletcher’s failure to fulfill his campaign promise to “clean up the mess in Frankfort” assured him of serving only one term.
Until this week, Chandler had remained silent while Lunsford — who was encouraged by Gov. Steve Beshear to run against McConnell — won the primary in May and began his uphill battle to unseat one of the the most influential members of the U.S. Senate. But he ended that silence during the opening night of the Democratic National Convention in Denver by endorsing Lunsford.
Whether Chandler’s support will enable Lunsford to upset McConnell on Nov. 4 remains to be seen. But one thing is certain: Without the support of Democrats who still blame Lunsford for Chandler’s deafeat in 2003, the odds of Lunsford defeating McConnell are slim to none. Lunsford needs Chandler like Obama needs Clinton.
Editorials
An endorsement — 08/29/08
Lunsford needs Chandler like Obama needs Hillary Clinton
- Editorials
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Charles Chattin
Before it merged with Ashland Community College to form Ashland Community and Technical College as a result of the 1997 Higher Education Reform Act, the Ashland Area Vocational-Technical School compiled an impressive record for teaching job skills to young adults and placing more than 85 percent in jobs for which they were trained.
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Try again
It is time for Kentucky Speaker of the House Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, and Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, to cease playing political games and redraw district lines that are compact and are based far more on population changes during the first decade of this century than on partisan politics.
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'Asset poor'
More than one in four Kentucky households are “asset poor,” meaning that they are living from paycheck to paycheck with little or no financial cushion to fall back on should they suddenly lose their jobs or have another emergency resulting in a temporary loss of or delcine in income.
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Safer mines
The head of the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) says coal operators throughout the country are improving their operations and, as a result, mines are becoming safer. However, MSHA chief Joe Main said too many coal operators still “don’t get it” and are continuing to cut costs by ignoring safety. That’s why MSHA plans to continue targeting mines with a history of repeated violations for additional inspections.
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Not far enough
For the past three sessions of the Kentucky General Assembly, bills that would raise the minimum dropout age from 16 to 18 have been approved by the Kentucky House of Representatives by wide bipartisan margins only to die in the Senate without even a vote.
Now the Senate Education Committee has unanimously approved a dropout bill hailed as an alternative to the House bill, but it does not go nearly far enough. It is a halfway measure that would have only a limited effect on preventing teenagers from quitting high school before graduation and virtually assuring themselves of lives on the lowest rungs of the economic ladder.
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Not their job
The local government committee of the Kentucky House of Representatives has wisely killed a bill — dubbed “Cooper’s Law” — that would have allowed the family of the Lexington toddler with cerebral palsy to have a playhouse on their property despite a deed restriction that apparently prohibits such structures.
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Keeping FADE
Despite an increase in cost to the department, Carter County Sheriff Casey Brammell told the Carter County Fiscal Court that his department will continue to be active in the FIVCO Area Development Drug Enforcement (FADE) Task Force — at least for now.
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Needed changes
The soaring enrollment that Kentucky’s community and technical colleges have experienced in recent years could come to a sudden end — or at least be slowed — as about 5,500 students in the statewide system that includes Ashalnd Community and Technical College are expected to lose their financial aid under new rules being implemented by the federal government.
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Released early
While it is disappointing that 75 of the 952 prisoners granted early release in January have violated the terms of their releases, the good news is that none of the former inmates have been charged with new felonies. That’s an early, but positive, indication that the nonviolent felons released before their sentences were up have been carefully selected and are among those least likely to return to a life of crime.
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Obese children
Almost a decade after former Gov. Ernie Fletcher called childhood obesity an “epidemic” in Kentucky, a majority of Kentucky adults still think that there are too many overweight children in the state and they place the bulk of the blame squarely on the shoulders of their parents.
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Charles Chattin
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