Ditty raises $26,720 for special state Senate election

[podcast]http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/files/2009/07/radio1lord.mp3[/podcast]

FRANKFORT – Republican Jack Ditty‘s campaign for a state Senate seat reported raising $26,720 for the Aug. 25 special election.

Meanwhile, Democratic candidate Robin Webb reported no funds in the 32-day pre-election reports filed with the state Registry of Election Finance. However, her campaign has launched a 60-second radio ad.

Ditty’s financial statement covered July 18 to July 29. Webb’s was only for July 22 to July 24. Independent candidate Guy Gibbons Jr.had no report because he did not enter the race until July 27.

All three candidates will have to file a 15-day pre-election report next month. There also will be reports due 30 days and then 60 days after the election.

The three are seeking the 18th Senate District seat that became vacant when Republican Charlie Borders of Grayson accepted an appointment to the state Public Service Commission by Gov. Steve Beshear.

Beshear called a special election for the district, which includes Bracken, Carter, Greenup, Lewis, Mason and Robertson counties.

Ditty, a Greenup County dermatologist, reported raising $3,000 from the Senate Republican Caucus in Frankfort; $1,000 from Bluegrass Committee, a political action committee in Washington, D.C.; and $1,700 from 22 persons who contributed $100 or less.

He and his wife each contributed $1,000 to his campaign. Other contributions to his campaign included $1,000 from Murray tire executive Robert Rudolph, $1,000 from Maysville Realtor Doug Hendrickson, $1,000 from Ashland coal executive Nick Carter, $1,000 from Lexington attorney Larry Forgy, $150 from Republican state Sen. Damon Thayer of Georgetown, $500 from Republican state Sen. Dan Seum of Fairdale, $100 from Dan Seum for State Senate, $100 from Damon Thayer for State Senate, $100 from Republican state Sen. Jack Westwood of Crescent Springs, and $100 from Campaign Fund of Katie Kratz Stine, a Republican state senator from Southgate.

Ditty reported $3,759 worth of debts and obligations in loans to himself and a balance of $20,210.

Webb is a state representative and attorney from Grayson and Gibbons is a former member of the Flatwoods City Council in Greenup County.

Webb said she will be “financially competitive” in the race. Ditty “was a candidate before I was,” she said of the first campaign finance reports.

State Republican Party Chairman Steve Robertson said it was “curious” that Webb closed her campaign report on July 24 instead of July 29.

The reports were due July 24, but the state registry gave the candidates a five-day grace period to file them.

“It makes you wonder what she is trying to hide,” Robertson said. “Doesn’t she want people to know who’s given to her campaign and how much from gambling interests?”

Webb’s campaign consultant, Dale Emmons, said Democrats did not nominate their nominee for the race until several days after the Republicans.

“Steve Robertson needs to worry about something else,” Emmons said. “Republicans always are focused on money. The real issue in this campaign is not money, but who is the most capable to bring about change, and there’s only one candidate, Robin Webb, who can do that.”

It’s probable that a new independent political committee formed by leaders in the state’s horse industry will help Webb in her campaign, said Patrick Neely, who is on leave as executive director of Kentucky Equine Education Project to work with Keep Our Jobs in Kentucky Inc.

Keep Our Jobs was formed July 15, a day after Borders resigned from the Senate, to educate Kentuckians about the horse industry. Its directors are horse breeder William S. Farish of Lane’s End Farm, Bill Casner of WinStar Farm and Lowell Nicholas Strong, president of a Lexington company that sells horse insurance.

Webb voted for a bill in a recent special legislative session backed by the horse industry to allow video lottery terminals at race tracks. Ditty opposes the slots bill.

Keep Our Jobs is a 527 group, a reference to the section of the Internal Revenue Service Code that creates them. It must work independently of any candidate it supports and can accept contributions of any size.

“We have made no decision yet on any political activity,” Neely said.

Webb started this week a 60-second radio ad in the district that mentions her early career as a coal miner and an accident in which she was involved.

Her Web site also includes a video of celebrity Miley Cyrus singing “The Climb.”

Webb said she had her campaign staff contact lawyers of the singer’s father, Billy Ray Cyrus, for permission to use the video in her campaign.

Meanwhile, Ditty has started a radio ad. It features U.S. Rep. Geoff Davis, R-Hebron, speaking on his behalf.

–Jack Brammer

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