Archive for the 'Jody Richards' Category

Has Anybody, Except Chuck Shumer, Seen Bruce Lunsford Kentucky’s Candidate For US Senator.

Jim Pence April 12th, 2008

(Cross posted at Hillbilly Report)
I’ve traveled all over Kentucky, on my own dime, doing my best to shoot video of all the Democratic candidates so folks here in Kentucky can view the candidates on Youtube and get a feel for who best represents them. All of the candidates have been very cooperative and respectful of what I am trying to do. They seem to understand the importance of attending events and trust me to shoot video of them so folks here in Kentucky can make up their own minds.
Further more I have, on my own dime, videotaped numerous protest against Senator Mitch McConnell and these protest and the videos of these protest have made Senator Mitch McConnell vulnerable.
The problem is this, Bruce Lunsford has been absent from the events I’m speaking of and the only video information the voters receive from Bruce Lunsford are his commercials, commercials that he can buy with his unlimited personal fortune.
Here in Kentucky we already have a Senator, Mitch McConnell, that refuses to appear before regular folks and it’s beginning to look like Bruce Lunsford is of the same mold.
There’s a reason why Senator Mitch McConnell doesn’t speak to groups of folks he has no control over here in Kentucky, he knows he will get booed out of the place and he’s scared shitless that I will put that on Youtube for the world to see.
I suggest that Bruce Lunsford has the same fear and I challenge him to stand up like a man and start attending events like all the other Democratic candidates do.
Chuck Shumer might think this is OK for Kentucky, but this Hillbilly is here to tell you that shit won’t flush!!
So I put together the video below, so there would be no doubt as to how I feel about what appears to be a chicken shit Democratic candidate for the US Senate!!!!!
Jim Pence

KY GOP: A Real Class Act

Terri Whitehouse July 11th, 2007

Via the Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer, Joe Biesk reports that the KY GOP is making robo-calls to Kentucky residents criticizing the House’s decision to adjourn after Governor Ernie Fletcher called a special session.

The House claimed that issues including tax incentives for power companies, more than $400 million in projects and a ban on domestic partner benefits at public universities were not urgent enough to justify the approximately $60,000 per day cost to operate the legislature. The Senate disagreed.

Yes - how dare they adjourn when there is corporate welfare to dole out and people left undiscriminated against!

But as Fletcher was making his public plea for compromise, the state Republican Party was launching a telephone offensive of between 150,000 to 180,000 phone calls to voters across the state criticizing House Democrats for their actions. The calls, which Fletcher’s campaign knew about, started in the afternoon and carried into the evening night.

The Kentucky Republican Party on Monday night targeted more than 40 members of the state House — mostly Democrats representing coal constituencies — with automated phone calls, state GOP Chairman Steve Robertson said.

I especially like this part of the article:

State Rep. Jeff Greer, D-Brandenburg, said calls to his constituents near Fort Knox claimed he was antimilitary. The Senate passed legislation Monday that would give an income tax break to members of the military.

Because, you know, the Republican Party has such an outstanding track record for giving a flip about military personnel.

As for KY Democratic Party Chairman Jonathan Miller, kudos for stating the obvious:

Nevertheless, Miller said the calls were evidence that Fletcher’s motivation for calling a special session was an attempt to spur his re-election campaign. Fletcher, a Republican, is seeking a second term against Beshear in the Nov. 6 election.

Dang, Fletcher. You’re about as transparent and substantive as a piece of saran wrap.

House Democrats put a stop to Governor Ernie Fletcher’s bid to blow taxpayer dollars on frivolous special session

Matt Gunterman July 5th, 2007

Speaker Jody Richards (D) and the other Democratic leaders in the House deserve much praise for calling the hand of Governor Ernie Fletcher (R) on this wasteful and unconstitutional special session, a move that Fletcher hoped would prop up his flailing reelection campaign. Short and sweet: Fletcher called this session to provide political welfare to his waning candidacy.

I am proud of the House Democrats for what they did today.

In dramatic fashion, Richards addressed the House from the floor of the chamber. From the Herald-Leader’s PolWatchers blog:

[...]

“I take the unusual step of rising to address this body on a simple but important question: has the governor justified calling the General Assembly into special session at a cost of $60,000 per day to the Kentucky taxpayer?” he asked rhetorically. “Anyone who has followed events since the governor first threatened to call a special session knows that the answer to this question is a clear, resounding and unequivocal, ‘No.’”

Richards said it was “simply not good stewardship of the taxpayer money,” he said, sparking applause at 4:25 p.m.

He argued that the revelation that the plant Fletcher’s administration has been referring to is a coal-to-natural gas facility, which Richards said undermines the governor’s argument that the project could help reduce dependence on foreign-produced oil.

It would “not produce a single gallon of transportation fuels.”

“When gubernatorial politics are taken out of the equation, we all know that the legislature will be able to timely address this and all other important issues when we convene the regular session in January,” he said.

He continued his speech saying that none of the 67 items Fletcher called the General Assembly into special session to consider rise to the level of emergency.

“Not only does this show no concern for the enormous daily cost of a session, it also flies in the face of the constitution,” Richards said. “The framers did not intend for governors to identify a single emergency issue as a pretext to shoehorn myriad non-emergency issues in an extraordinary session. Rather, they specifically warned against lumping in dozens of local projects, which would unduly lengthen the session at taxpayer expense.”

He called Fletcher’s call for a session “ill-conceived” and called upon the Senate to adjourn as well and forfeit their legislative salaries, he said, sparking scattered applause.

“We have a duty to protect the Constitution from being manipulated for the sake of political expediency,” he said.

[...]