UK billboard features state legislative candidate
The University of Kentucky has put up a large billboard along New Circle Road that features Ryan Quarles, a student who is now a Republican candidate for the state legislature. Photo by Charles Bertram | Staff
FRANKFORT – Republican Ryan Quarles of Georgetown got some help from the University of Kentucky in his bid to become a state legislator.
But UK says a billboard it put up on Lexington’s New Circle Road with Quarles’ photo on it was not a move to help his political career and that it will be removed.
The Quarles billboard is part of a statewide series of billboards highlighting some of UK’s most successful students, said UK spokesman Jimmy Stanton.
It is part of UK’s “See Blue” promotional campaign that focuses on telling success stories of UK student, Stanton said. The Quarles billboard is one of 11 billboards in the advertising campaign.
Stanton said the campaign “was produced and space purchased long before we knew that Ryan was a candidate.”
Quarles, a third-year law student at UK, filed for the state House seat now held by Democrat Charlie Hoffman of Georgetown on Jan. 22. He announced last October in the Lexington Herald-Leader that he would be a candidate to represent the 62nd House District.
Stanton said UK would produce another billboard to replace the one featuring Quarles and remove it as soon as possible.
Quarles, 26, said he signed a release with UK to use his name and photo in promotions after he won a prestigious scholarship. He said he knew UK was planning to use him in promotions but he did not know about a billboard until a few weeks ago.
Quarles stressed that he’s one of several students in the promotional campaign. “I was honored,” he said. “I’m a proud Wildcat and happy to help my university.”
A liberal-leaning blog, Blue Bluegrass, began urging readers on Monday to ask UK President Lee Todd to remove the billboard, saying it was an improper use of tax dollars to benefit a political candidate.
–Jack Brammer
Filed Under: Education • Elections • KY General Assembly
About the Author: 
This is really much ado about nothing, but I’m not surprised that the Herald-Liar using left leaning blogs as news sources. I think this is more about the Dems being nervous about Ryan being a much stronger candidate than Hoffman. I’m sure if it was a Dem candidate on the billboard you wouldn’t hear a peep from the H-Liar
yUcK!!
It’s a sad day when a politician is consideered one of UK’s most successful students
Terren, I am sorry you said that, but I would call a student who has completed 3 undergraduate majors and 2 Masters degrees in a matter of four years a success. This young man also won a FULL-RIDE to Harvard to obtain another Masters degree in higher education and will graduate from UK College of Law this May. I would be hard pressed to find anyone who would not think that these characteristics describe a successful student.
If you look at his resume, no matter which way you lean politically, you\’ll see how impressive he is. He was a Truman Scholar, which is awarded by Congress, and had a full ride to grad school at Harvard. He also got several degrees in four years at UK. I wouldn\’t describe him as a politician. I\’d say this is an outstanding young Kentuckian who happens to be running for office.
this is much ado about EVERYTHING…a university appearing to support a candidate for a State seat, when the university gets it’s funding from the state?! of course it’s a big deal…
I don’t care how many degrees he has, or how good a student he is, or how left leaning the Herald Leader is, it’s wrong for a candidate for office have a UK billboard unless the University supports his candidacy, which they cannot do as a publicly funded institution. Let his campaign buy his own billboards. This is so wrong that only a republican would try to convince someone that it’s not.
This issue is simple: the billboard is a wrongful use of taxpayer dollars and needs to be taken down. If the candidate was a Democrat, I would feel the same way.
Also, Harvard does not give merit scholarships – aid is based entirely on financial need. In other words, there is no such thing as a “full ride”. There’s no doubt the young man’s achievements are great, but please make sure to get your facts straight.
Will someone please explain UK’s new brand slogan “See Blue” to me? It makes no sense whatsoever. UK administration / no sense? Oh, I repeated myself.
When I looked at the photo I didn’t see anything about voting for him. In my opinion, it’s just a coincidence. The story even says it was part of a campaign running across the state featuring other great students. Bad timing, maybe, but I find it hard to believe an institution like UK would purposely endorse any candidate. I also think there are far more important issues to talk about than this, so I’m going to move on after posting this comment.
I forgot to respond about Harvard–I didn’t state it correctly. I just did a search and found that this guy had to compete for the Zuckerman Fellowship, which was tuition plus a $30,000 stipend and was merit-based, according to Harvard’s web site. “Zuckerman Fellows are selected on the basis of:
* leadership abilities
* intellectual and academic achievement
* commitment to public service.”
Now moving on.
getting caught up in the hysteria Newsgal?
it is bad timing but it does look like a “silent” endorsement…they said they’d replace it, so no big deal…
Very impressive guy. I can see why they put him on the billboard. On the other hand, he is a declared political candidate, so he should be removed.
I read some comments from some right-leaning posters saying this was the wrong decision, but if this was a Democrat, they would be livid. You can’t have it both ways people!
Just what we need, another Harvard Yard RINO.
This is outrageous, everyone knows the only acceptable use of UK for political purposes is when KY Democrats use UK basketball for unofficial campaign purposes.
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