Archive for the 'fundraising' Category

Sluuuuuuuurp!

Terri Whitehouse June 18th, 2008

QuickHit: “Dubya Campaigns for McConnell Tonight” at PageOne, because I just don’t have any snark left in me right now. Wonder if the oil men will be wearing their tuxedos.

Weekend Quick Hits Open Thread

Terri Whitehouse January 5th, 2008

Gov. Steve Beshear appointed Eleanor Jordan as executive director of the Commission on Women. Bill Stone, former Jefferson County GOP chairman, opined:

Stone said he does believe that a separate commission for women is part of “government silliness.”

“I personally, and I think conservatives think, the Commission on Women is another wasteful government department,” he said.

Stone, however, said that he knows Jordan and that if there has to be a commission she is a “probably a perfect fit for that job.”

I guess being in the bottom third in just about every indicator of stability, health, and well-being, is A-OK with some bourgie city folk.

Sen. Mitch McConnell has shitloads of money. I know our readers must find this absolutely shocking. The Public Campaign Action Fund gets it right:

No one in Kentucky ought to see McConnell’s fundraising as anything but his mastery of a corrupt political system that places the interests of donors ahead of all Kentuckians.

Finally, Rep. John Yarmuth puts his money where his mouth is, donating his whole first-year congressional salary to the Louisville community as he promised. MediaCzech provides the Republican response.

What other interesting things have you read in the last few days?

Councilman Jim King (D) attended McConnell fund raiser to speak to senator, says he didn’t donate, admits it was a mistake

Matt Gunterman November 28th, 2007

WHAS’s Mark Hebert spoke with Metro Councilman Jim King (D) about his appearance at the fund raiser of Sen. Mitch McConnell (R) last night. King’s defense of himself rings true, especially considering that he admits that his presence there was “dumb” and “politically naive”. You don’t hear politicians admitting that about their actions too often, even when what they’ve done is blatantly so.

UPDATE (1.21am): As Judy notes from the comments, the war protest was a success. I thank all the people who were there protesting and making all our voices heard by doing it. I thank you for your message and I thank you for your time. And, furthermore, without you there, we wouldn’t have known about Councilman King.

PageOneKentucky has a post up on the King incident and it has an email statement from him. I think we’re all in agreement here that King’s biggest mistake was not taking the time when he was first identified by the protesters to explain the situation. That would have saved him a lot of trouble and grief, and there wouldn’t be questions today about whether he can ever be mayor. In short, if he was willing to go through all that trouble to speak to Mitch McConnell, then he should have been just as willing to speak to his constituents outside.

From Hebert:

Demo. Councilman King at McConnell Fundraiser

Oops. A democratic Metro Council member who wants to someday run for Louisville Mayor was spotted at a fundraiser for republican U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell last night.

According to Louisville realtor Gregg Wagner, Jim King was at the McConnell fundraiser with three other gentleman. Wagner was one of about 20 war protestors who gathered outside the fundraiser which was held at the Cherokee Place home of republican businessman Larry Bisig. According to Wagner, when King left the fundraiser he walked past the protestors refusing to answer their question “what are you doing here Jim.” Wagner says he and the other protestors were “livid” that a democratic Metro Council member would attend a fundraiser for McConnell then ignore the mostly democratic crowd of protestors out front.

Wagner says he called King today and King returned it. According to Wagner, King said he’d been trying to get a meeting with McConnell for more than two years. King told Wagner he wanted to discuss an “FAA issue” with the senator but couldn’t get his ear. King claimed he rode along with a few friends who were going to the fundraiser so he might get a chance to finally talk to McConnell. King told Wagner he did not donate to McConnell’s campaign.

I’ve placed a call to King’s cell phone to hear the rest of the story.

UPDATE: Just talked to King. He admits is was “dumb” and “politically naive” on his part to walk into a McConnell fundraiser with a bunch of Iraq war protestors out front. King says he talked to McConnell about pressing the FAA to change the main runway at Louisville Int’l Airport from the east runway to the west runway so planes would fly over industrial areas, not the Audobon Park and Germantown neighborhoods in King’s Metro Council district. McConnell told King he wasn’t aware of the issue but would now look into it. King says he didn’t contribute any money to McConnell and plans to back the democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in ‘08. He also says he’s an opponent of the war in Iraq and didn’t realize how his appearance at the republican fundraiser would look like a snub to the protestors.

T.G.I.F.

Terri Whitehouse August 3rd, 2007

The DM-KY team has a jam-packed weekend, and while I won’t be attendance at Fancy Farm, my posting, too, will be sporadic. Don’t let that stop you from checking in, though, as I know that I am looking forward to hearing about YearlyKos and Fancy Farm from some of my favorite bloggers. (I’m not just saying that, I promise.)

To kick things off, check out Sam Youngman’s national coverage of Kentucky’s governor’s race and the impact it will have on the 2008 U.S. Senate campaign. I think all this interest will make for a very interesting picnic!

Sen. Mitch McConnell Is a Heckuva Busy Man!

Terri Whitehouse August 2nd, 2007

Between hiring a stealthy campaign strategist for his 2008 reelection campaign, working to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, and reluctantly voting for greater transparency in government, how on earth does Sen. Mitch McConnell find the time to draft some b.s. anti-family and anti-children legislation and find the nerve to call it the “Kids First Act”?

Being a literary sort of person, I should probably recognize this whole nonsense of cleverly naming legislation so that Americans will not be outraged at what the legislation really says and does as an ironic device. Fortunately, my low-brow aesthetic most always trumps my literary one, and from here on out I will refer to this practice (system, manner, or condition) as it occurs in politics, as “oppositism.” The noun “oppositicity” will describe the state or quality of being of an “oppositist” mindset. An “oppositist” shall henceforth refer to any politician who insults my intelligence by engaging in oppositism.

Speaking of Fundraising, Beshear is Kicking Ass

Joe Sonka July 28th, 2007

(crossposted at BlueGrassRoots)

Remember how everyone was talking about Fletcher still having a chance to make a comeback and beat Beshear? The poll that showed a close race last month? The predictions of Fletcher raising a tidal wave of cash that would be converted into a tidal wave of attacks ads on Beshear that would overwhelm him?

Well folks, those days have come and gone.

Last week, Stamper reported that in July, Beshear outraised Fletcher in primary election account contributions with $78,000, compared to Ernie’s pathetic $6,000.

And remember when Beshear told us in the Progressive KY blogger conference call that he was hoping to raise $4-5 million? Well, I’ve received word that Beshear has already raised over $2 million for his campaign and is right on pace to meet its goals.

And you all know that the poll showing a close race a month ago was an anomaly, as the latest SUSA poll showed Beshear stomping Fletcher in absolutely epic proportions, 59-36.

I think this poll pretty much convinced everybody that Fletcher is a lost cause, and their money might be better spent on a candidate that actually has a snowball’s chance in hell of winning. So if you’re a rational conservative bigwig, intent on sucking up to the next Governor, you’d be better off either ripping up the check to Ernie, or sending it over to Steve’s campaign.