By KENNETH HART
GRAYSON — Democrats in Carter and Lewis counties will attempt to replace one Webb with another in the Kentucky House of Representatives.
At a joint meeting Monday evening in Grayson, the Democratic executive committees of the two counties selected Barry Webb as the party’s nominee to run for the 96th District House seat that became vacant when Robin Webb was elected to the state Senate in August.
Barry Webb will square off against the Republican nominee for the remainder of Robin Webb’s term in a special election set for Dec. 8.
Webb, 50, of Grayson, who is not related to Robin Webb, was chosen from a field of four hopefuls to run for the post.
In addition to Webb, the announced candidates were former Olive Hill Mayor Jim Short; Vernon Adkins, an Olive Hill construction company owner; and David Hayes, a Grayson businessman. All four had indicated prior to the meeting that they were interested in running for the office. There were no additional nominations at the meeting.
Webb, an employee of AK Steel’s Ashland coke plant, will be making his first run for elected office. He said in a speech prior to his nomination that were several factors that sparked his interest in entering the race.
One, he said, was the beating the region has taken as a result of the global economic crisis. He said he felt the region needs be “on the cutting edge” of clean coal and biofuels technology to create new jobs and spur economic growth.
Webb also said he was deeply concerned about the area’s drug problem, particularly the epidemic of prescription drug abuse and addiction.
Webb said he also felt that blue-collar workers were currently under-represented in Frankfort, with only four current members of the General Assembly being from the industrial and manufacturing sector.
Webb also said he supported casino-style gambling at the state’s horse-racing tracks because he was felt it was necessary to provide purses that will enable Kentucky’s tracks to remain competitive with those in other states.
Webb will know who his opponent in next month’s election will be after the Carter and Lewis Republican executive committees meet at 7 this evening in the Carter County Justice Center.
There are only two GOP hopefuls who have expressed interest in running — Jill York and Dallas Burchett, both of Grayson. A third, Vernon Messer, initially was said to be a candidate, but later withdrew his name from consideration.
As with the Democrats, the Republican committee members could consider additional nominees at the meeting.
According to Carter GOP Chair Mignon Colley, tonight’s meeting will be chaired by state Rep. Alecia Webb-Edginton, R-Fort Wright. Webb-Edginton represents the 63rd District, Kenton County, in the state House, and is chairing the meeting due to the resignation of 4th District GOP Chair Kevin Sell, who stepped down to run for judge-executive of Campbell County.
The 96th District House seat opened up when Robin Webb won an Aug. 25 special election to fill the 18th District Senate seat of Charles Borders, who was appointed to the Kentucky Public Service Commission by Gov. Steve Beshear.
Whoever wins next month’s special election will serve the remainder of Webb’s term, which expires Dec. 31, 2010. Borders’ Senate term also expires next year, meaning Webb also will have to run for re-election to the Senate.
KENNETH HART can be reached at khart@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2654.
