By KENNETH HART - The Independent
RACELAND — Several hundred gathered in an auditorium at Raceland-Worthington High School on Saturday to catch a glimpse of a rare sight.
Four of Kentucky’s six living former Democratic governors were gathered together on the same stage.
Governor No. 54 Julian Carroll (1974-79), No. 55 John Y. Brown Jr. (1979-83), No. 58 Brereton Jones (1991-95) and No. 59 Paul Patton (1995-2003) all showed up for a rally in support of Robin Webb, the Democratic candidate for the 18th District seat in the state Senate.
Wendell Ford and Martha Layne Collins, the commonwealth’s two other surviving former Democratic governors, also were scheduled to attend, but neither was able to do so. Collins had a family emergency, according to Webb. There was no mention of why Ford, who retired from the U.S. Senate in 1999 and who turns 85 next month, didn’t make it.
The rally essentially served as an 11th-hour energy booster for Webb’s supporters. Webb, who currently represents Carter and Lewis counties in the state House of Representatives, faces Republican Jack Ditty, a Bellefonte dermatologist, in a special election Tuesday for the Senate seat that opened up last month when Gov. Steve Beshear appointed Charles Borders to the state Public Service Commission.
According to Jones, Tuesday’s vote is the first of 12 special elections that will be in Kentucky prior to the 2010 election cycle. He said it was particularly critical that Democrats seize momentum by winning.
Democrats need to win four of the 12 elections, plus hang onto the seats they already hold, in order to take control of the Senate, he said.
Jones also invoked the other key issue in the race — expanded gambling at horse-racing tracks, which is Beshear’s signature issue. Webb voted in favor of the slots bill in the House, but it failed to make it out of committee in the Senate.
“She (Webb) voted for a bill that would not have put a single slot machine in this district, but would have put $60 million into the schools in this district,” he said.
Patton said passing the slots bill could help Kentucky get some of the $600 million that’s currently spent by its residents in neighboring states where casino-style gaming is legal.
“There’s evils in gambling, sure,” he said. “But, in Kentucky, we already have five forms of legal gambling, most of which we’ve voted for. Adding one more isn’t going to make anymore addicted gamblers, just like putting another liquor store in Lexington isn’t going to make anymore alcoholics.”
All four of the ex-governors took shots at Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, blasting him for what they said was his iron-fisted control of the chamber.
“The General Assembly has just locked up Frankfort and made it impossible to get anything done,” Brown said. “David Williams, he’s really the acting governor, and we need to change that.”
Carroll, who’s currently a member of the state Senate, said Kentucky had gone from being $3 billion in debt at the beginning of Williams’ tenure to currently being $8 billion in the hole.
“He (Williams) doesn’t believe in income,” he said. “He just believes in spending it.”
Carroll also warned Webb’s supporters that complacency was the enemy in Tuesday’s election.
“Low turnout,” he said, “is dangerous.”
