Archive for August, 2010

GOP says Conway should return state pay while fund-raising outside state

By Jack Brammer – jbrammer@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT — Kentucky Republican Party Chairman Steve Robertson called on Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Jack Conway Tuesday to reimburse the state for his salary as attorney general when he is out-of-state raising campaign funds.

Robertson, at a news conference at party headquarters, claimed Conway will be out of Kentucky 20 of the next 30 days.

“Over the next few weeks, Kentuckians are not going to see a lot of Jack,” Robertson said. “Can Kentuckians afford being without an attorney general?”

He dubbed Conway’s fund-raising trips the “Don’t Stop Spending Tour 2010.”

Allison Haley, Conway’s campaign press secretary, responded by saying the Conway “is working to protect Kentucky families 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”

McConnell credits Bush for end of U.S. combat troops in Iraq

UPDATED AT 5:45 P.M.

By Jack Brammer – jbrammer@herald-leader.com

President Barack Obama’s formal announcement of the end of American combat troops in Iraq is “welcome news,” but it was the “determination and will” of former President George W. Bush that made it happen, U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday.

McConnell, R-Ky., told several hundred Tuesday at a Commerce Lexington luncheon that the military surge late in the Bush administration, which Obama criticized at the time, ultimately made it possible to remove troops from Iraq.

“It sure makes things easier when you reject your own campaign rhetoric about how the surge — the Petraeus plan — shouldn’t happen and wouldn’t work,” McConnell said. “It makes it easier to talk about fulfilling a campaign promise to wind down our operations in Iraq when the previous administration signs the security agreement with Iraq to end our overall presence there.”

“You might recall that the surge wasn’t very popular when it was announced. You might also recall that one of its biggest critics was the current president,” he said.

McConnell agreed with remarks by Obama that “much hard work remains in Iraq.”

On other subjects during his speech at Lexington’s Hyatt Regency, McConnell said:

Conway launches his first ad in U.S. Senate race

Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Jack Conway has released his first television ad of the general election.

The 30-second spot highlights the various endorsements he has received from law enforcement groups and his efforts as the state’s attorney general.

Conway’s Republican opponent, Bowling Green eye surgeon Rand Paul, has not yet aired an ad in the general election. However, a conservative issues group, Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies, is currently running more than $500,000 worth of TV ads in Kentucky against Conway.

Campaign Watchdog: Chandler’s claim that Barr wants to privatize social security ‘mostly false’

UPDATED AT 12:00 P.M. on 8/30/10

The statement: “Meet Andy Barr, a corporate lawyer and lobbyist who wants to privatize Social Security and gamble it in the stock market, funneling your tax dollars to Wall Street while your Social Security benefits are cut.”
– U.S. Rep. Ben Chandler, D-Versailles, in a television ad that began airing on Aug. 28, 2010.

The ruling: Mostly false

The facts: Barr, a Republican lawyer from Lexington making his first run for public office, has not called for privatizing Social Security. He has opposed it in newspaper interviews and in his campaign literature.

To support its claim, Chandler’s commercials cite a July 15 interview with Barr on WVLK-AM in Lexington. But Barr did not mention Social Security in that interview. Instead, Barr was asked by a caller if he would support the conservative budget proposals of U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., ranking Republican on the House budget committee.

“Yeah, I mean absolutely. I’m not in Congress now, of course, and I don’t have an opportunity to support a particular budget,” Barr replied. “But that budget, a leaner budget, is certainly preferable to the ones that have been offered by the president and the speaker of the House.”

Ryan’s budget proposals include a plan to allow workers under age 55 to privately invest part of their Social Security withholding in personal retirement accounts. In a press release, the Chandler campaign equated Barr’s statement on Ryan’s budget proposals to an endorsement of Social Security privatization.

- John Cheves

Kentuckian calls Washington, D.C., rally ‘overwhelming’

By Jack Brammer – jbrammer@herald-leader.com

Eric Wilson of Georgetown was among several hundred Kentuckians who attended the “Restoring Honor Rally” Saturday on the front steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., promoted by Fox commentator Glenn Beck.

“It was an overwhelming feeling to participate in an event that was trying to get this country back to its foundation of liberty and freedom, back to values,” said Wilson, 40, a senior forecast analyst for a Lexington mattress manufacturer, in a telephone interview shortly after the rally.

The rally was held on the 47th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I have a Dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial.

“It was the grace of God that brought people together for this, not Glenn Beck,” said Wilson.

Campaign Watchdog: Rand Paul didn’t say he wants to abolish the agriculture department

U.S. SENATE RACE

The statement: U.S. Senate Republican nominee Rand Paul “wants to do away with the Department of Agriculture, the federal department that monitors the safety of the food we eat, helps open new global agricultural markets for Kentucky products and supports the rights of rural agricultural workers.”

– The Kentucky Democratic Party in mock checks it distributed Aug. 26, 2010, at the Kentucky Farm Bureau Country Ham Breakfast.

The ruling: False

The facts: Democrats, including Paul’s Democratic challenger, Jack Conway, say they base their comment that Paul wants to abolish the agriculture department on a news report last May in The Courier-Journal about an interview Paul had with the newspaper’s editorial board.

Paul maintains that he has never said he is for eliminating the agriculture department.

A videotape of the editorial board interview shows that Paul was asked what federal departments should be abolished.

He said the Department of Education, the Department of Energy and “maybe Commerce.”

Asked about the Department of Agriculture, Paul said, “Well, I’m not for the big subsidies out of the agriculture department, whether you have one or not.”

He added that it is doubtful that any federal department will be eliminated, “but we certainly have to get rid of the stuff that is bad in those departments.”

– Jack Brammer

Campaign Watchdog: Mayor and Vice Mayor speak the truth about crime

LEXINGTON MAYOR

The statements:

“My management produced fewer serious crimes in 2007-09 than any other three-year period in LFUCG history.”

– Mayor Jim Newberry in the Aug. 22 Bluegrass Politics Debate

“Crime has risen for the past two years on your watch.”

– Vice Mayor Jim Gray’s rebuttal in the same debate

The ruling: True

The facts: Although these statements seem contradictory, the facts back up both claims.

Statistics compiled by the Lexington Police Department show that the most serious crimes — such as murder and robbery — which have been trending downward since 2000, were lower in 2007, 2008 and 2009 than during any similar period since the Lexington and Fayette County governments were merged in 1974.

That means Newberry’s statement is true. Serious crimes dipped considerably in 2007, and the 11,169 reported that year were the fewest since the 10,338 recorded in 1974.

However, the number of serious crimes increased to 11,549 in 2008, and to 11,914 in 2009. That means Gray’s statement also is true.

– Andy Mead

Conservative group to pump millions into Kentucky, 7 other states

A conservative political organization plans to spend a total of $10 million in eight states, including Kentucky, to get out the vote for Republicans in November.

The group, American Crossroads, announced the effort in a news release Friday.

The group is chaired by Inez banker Mike Duncan, former head of the Republican National Convention, and has received millions from wealthy donors who have backed GOP causes.

An affiliated group, Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies, is currently running more than $500,000 worth of TV ads in Kentucky against Attorney General Jack Conway, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate.

The get-out-the vote effort by American Crossroads will benefit his opponent, Republican nominee Rand Paul.

‘Comment’ will discuss week’s news and ‘Kentucky Tonight’ will focus on elections

Joining host Ferrell Wellman on this weekend’s “Comment on Kentucky,” a public affairs show on the Kentucky Educational Television network, will be three reporters.

They are Kristin Espeland Gourlay of WFPL-FM in Louisville, Stephenie Steitzer of The Courier-Journal’s Frankfort bureau and Greg Stotelmyer of WTVQ-TV in Lexington.

The 30-minute show airs live at 8 p.m. Friday on KET1.

On Monday’s edition of “Kentucky Tonight” at 8 p.m. on KET, host Bill Goodman and guests will discuss the 2010 election.

Paul to offer different options to balance budget

UPDATED on 8/28/10

The Associated Press

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Republican Senate candidate Rand Paul hedged Thursday on his pledge to erase the federal budget deficit in a year, offering several options that he said could get it done within five if his most ambitious proposal falls short.

Paul, a tea party favorite for his limited government views, said in an interview on WHAS-AM that he’ll introduce five budget-balancing options if he defeats his Democratic opponent, state Attorney General Jack Conway.

“If you’re not willing to balance it in five years, you’re not a serious person,” he said.

Paul’s campaign later said he intends to introduce a proposal to balance the budget in a year. But it will offer alternatives that would balance it in two to five years if the one-year plan fails to pass Congress.