All Entries in the "Elections" Category

All Lexington lawmakers will seek re-election in 2012

By Jack Brammer
jbrammer@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT — All incumbent state lawmakers from Fayette County hope to return to office next year but a few will have opponents in this year’s elections.

The third filing deadline for state legislative candidates came and went at 4 p.m. Friday, but because of court battles it still is uncertain from what districts legislative candidates will run. And it’s possible the Kentucky Supreme Court could order another filing deadline.

What is known now is that 54 people have filed for the 19 state Senate districts up for grabs this year — those in odd-numbered districts — and 223 people have filed for the 100 House seats being contested this year.

It gets complicated after that because some of those filings are for districts drawn this year by the state legislature and some are for districts that were drawn in 2002.

Beshear signs into law new boundaries for Kentucky’s congressional districts

UPDATED AT 5:12 P.M.

By Jack Brammer
jbrammer@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT — Gov. Steve Beshear signed into law Friday a compromise plan to redraw the boundaries of Kentucky’s six congressional districts after the plan rocketed through the General Assembly on Friday.

The new map in House Bill 302 moves part of Jessamine County, including Wilmore, and all of Garrard, Mercer and Boyle counties from Central Kentucky’s 6th District to the 2nd District, which extends west to Owensboro. Lincoln County was moved to Eastern Kentucky’s 5th District.

The 6th District gained the remaining portion of Scott County, a southern strip of Harrison County, and all of Robertson, Nicholas, Fleming, Bath, Menifee and Wolfe counties.

Those changes are expected to make it tougher for Republican Andy Barr to successfully challenge U.S. Rep. Ben Chandler, D-Versailles.

House Democrats will appeal ruling that tossed redrawn legislative districts

By Beth Musgrave and Jack Brammer
bmusgrave@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT — House Democrats plan to appeal a judge’s ruling that declared Kentucky’s newly-drawn General Assembly districts unconstitutional.

After House Democrats met behind closed doors Wednesday evening, House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, emerged to say the group decided to take the issue to the Kentucky Supreme Court.

Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd ruled earlier this week that the district boundaries lawmakers approved this year in House Bill 1 were unconstitutional because too many counties were needlessly split into different districts and the population of some districts varied too much.

The judge ordered election officials to use previous district lines in this year’s state legislative elections and extended the filing deadline for legislative candidates to 4 p.m. Friday.

Republican wins special House election in south-central Kentucky

By Jack Brammer
jbrammer@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT – Republican Bart Rowland of Monroe County won a special election Tuesday to fill the unexpired term of former state Rep. James Comer, who was elected state agriculture commissioner last November.

Kentucky Republican Party Chairman Steve Robertson said Rowland unofficially captured more than 62 percent of the vote in the 53rd House District. It includes Cumberland, Green, Metcalfe and Monroe counties.

The Democratic candidate in the race was Barry Dean Steele of Metcalfe County.

Rowland will serve the remainder of Comer’s term, which runs to the end of this year.

Moffett resigns as head of Bluegrass Institute to run for state House

Phil Moffett resigned Tuesday as president and chief executive officer of the Bluegrass Institute, a free market think tank, to run for the state House of Representatives.

Moffett, a Louisville businessman who ran unsuccessfully last year for the Republican gubernatorial primary, said redistricting developments in Frankfort offered him an opportunity to run for the 32nd House District.

For-profit college bill passes House, heads to Senate

By Beth Musgrave

bmusgrave@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT — A bill that would create a new board to oversee for-profit colleges and universities passed the House 91-5.

Many who voted against House Bill 308 said the bill did not go far enough to protect students from what many say are predatory practices of some for-profit colleges. House Bill 308 abolishes the current Kentucky Board of Proprietary Education, which licenses for-profit schools that offer associate degrees and certificates in career programs. HB 308 would create a new agency, the Kentucky Commission on Proprietary Education. The industry would only hold four of 11 seats instead of the six it currently occupies on the 11-member board. The chairman can never be a member of the for-profit industry. The commission would also hire a staff person paid for by fees and dues from the for-profit industry.

A much tougher bill that would impose even more restrictions and more oversight on for-profit colleges passed the House last year but failed in the Senate after of aggressive lobbying by the for-profit industry. Rep. Carl Rollins, D-Midway, one of the sponsors of the bill, told House members Tuesday that the bill was a good start and brings more oversight to the industry. Although many wanted more teeth in the bill, the bill will likely pass both chambers, Rollins said.

But Rep. Reginald Meeks, D-Louisville, said that that the legislature needed to do more to protect students and that the bill makes the industry as transparent as a “Fort Knox safe.” Meeks has pushed for more oversight of the industry in past years in light of a state audit that showed that the current board was an inattentive watchdog that fails to protect the interest of students. Meanwhile, lawsuits and investigations in Kentucky and elsewhere have raised questions about deceptive marketing and the quality of educations sold by the schools.

No compromise on congressional redistricting; issue probably headed to court

By Beth Musgrave
bmusgrave@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT — State lawmakers failed to redraw the boundaries of Kentucky’s six congressional districts before Tuesday’s candidate filing deadline, which means the issue probably will end up in court.

House Majority Leader Rocky Adkins, D-Sandy Hook, told House members about 20 minutes after the 4 p.m. filing deadline that a compromise agreement between the Democratic-controlled House and the Republican-controlled Senate could not be reached.

The House and Senate had delayed the original deadline from Jan. 31 to Feb. 7 to give the two sides more time to reach an agreement.

House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, had worked with members of congress on a possible compromise that late last week looked promising, House leaders said. But Senate Majority Leader Robert Stivers said Tuesday afternoon that the two sides appeared to “agree to disagree.”

Stumbo said congressional candidates will run in the state’s existing districts. That means someone — either a candidate or a national political party — will probably challenge the constitutionality of Kentucky’s districts.

Judge tosses new boundaries for state legislative districts

By Jack Brammer
jbrammer@herald-leader.com

PDF: Read the injunction

FRANKFORT — A judge has declared Kentucky’s newly-drawn legislative districts unconstitutional and has ordered election officials to use previous district lines in this year’s state legislative elections.

Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd on Tuesday tossed out boundaries that lawmakers approved and Gov. Steve Beshear signed into law last month. The ruling was a victory for House Republicans and Democratic state Sen. Kathy Stein of Lexington, who challenged the constitutionality of House Bill 1.

Shepherd also extended the filing deadline for legislative candidates to 4 p.m. Friday, which gives legislative leaders time to decide whether to appeal to the Kentucky Supreme Court.

House panel approves bills to cut cost of special elections, require electronic filing

By Beth Musgrave
bmusgrave@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT — A measure that would allow county clerks to open limited precincts in uncontested special elections passed a House committee Tuesday and is now headed to the full House for a vote.

Also on Tuesday, the House Committee on Elections, Constitutional Amendments and Intergovernmental Affairs passed a bill that would require candidates for statewide elected office to file campaign finance reports electronically.

Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes told the committee Tuesday that a recent special election in Whitley and Laurel Counties for former Rep. Dewayne Bunch’s seat cost a total of $47,000. Voter turnout in the uncontested special election was less than 2 percent in Whitley County and 1 percent in Laurel County.

Regina Bunch, Dewayne Bunch’s wife, ran unopposed in the election. After reimbursement from the state, the special election cost Whitley County $33,000. It cost Laurel County $6,000, Grimes said.

Judge will rule on request to delay candidate filing deadline by end of Tuesday

By Jack Brammer
jbrammer@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT — A judge said he will rule by the end of business Tuesday on the House Republicans’ request for a temporary injunction to delay Tuesday’s filing deadline for state legislative candidates.

Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd also allowed Sen. Kathy Stein, a Democrat whose Lexington district was moved to northeastern Kentucky, and several Fayette County residents to intervene as plaintiffs in the GOP lawsuit. The suit challenges the constitutionality of newly-drawn legislative districts that Gov. Steve Beshear signed into law earlier this month.

After a hearing of more than two hours Monday, Shepherd said he wanted to review the records before ruling.

If the court does grant the injunction, Shepherd said, it would be temporary and he would set hearings on the issue within a week to 10 days.

The suit affects all of House Bill 1, which also redrew boundaries for state Senate and Supreme Court districts.