All Entries in the "Governor’s Race" Category

Williams, Beshear launch new TV ads

By Beth Musgrave
bmusgrave@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT — The two main rivals in Kentucky’s gubernatorial race have new television advertisements out this week.

Democratic incumbent Gov. Steve Beshear’s new ad uses news clips showing Beshear touring the state after major disasters, such as an ice storm that knocked out power to much of the state in 2009. The advertisement also uses a moderator who says Beshear has been a calm presence during the state’s natural disasters over the past three years.

Beshear has said that 10 federally-declared states of emergency have been declared since he took office in December 2007.

Senate President David Williams features his running mate, Richie Farmer, the agriculture commissioner and former University of Kentucky basketball star, in his ad. The 30-second spot tries to tie Beshear to President Obama, who is unpopular in Kentucky. Farmer claims that Beshear cannot support Obama and be pro-coal.

“A vote for Beshear is a vote for Barack Obama’s war on coal,” Farmer says in the ad.

Beshear has said in interviews that he supports Obama but does not agree with him on all issues. His administration has sued the Environmental Protection Agency over coal regulations.

After leading Louisville, Jerry Abramson wants job in Ky. Capitol

By Beth Musgrave
bmusgrave@herald-leader.com

LOUISVILLE — They took the trash can. Again.

Louisville city workers were supposed to dump the trash from the wicker-wire trash can near the Abramson’s grocery store on Preston Avenue and put it back. But frequently the can would disappear.

One day, a 12-year-old Jerry Abramson turned to his exasperated father, Roy, and said: “Don’t worry Dad, someday I’ll be mayor and I will have that can bolted down.”

Roy Abramson, now deceased, loved to tell that story about his son, Louisville’s longest-serving mayor. But Jerry Abramson, 65, who spent much of his childhood working at his father’s three-aisle grocery store in Smoketown, said he doesn’t’ remember that conversation or having aspirations for public office at that age.

Yet, 50 years later, Jerry Abramson has become almost synonymous with the city of his birth.

Abramson’s long tenure as Louisville’s mayor, three terms as mayor of the city and two terms as mayor of the merged city government, is on trial as he seeks his first statewide elected office. Rather than run again for mayor he decided in 2009 to join Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear’s campaign as his pick for lieutenant governor.

Claim that Abramson’s friend didn’t show up for work much at city job true

By Jack Brammer
jbrammer@herald-leader.com

The Herald-Leader will fact-check statements made by candidates and their surrogates leading up to the Nov. 8 election.

The statement: “Turns out Abramson used tax dollars to pay his friend 85 grand for a job she hardly showed up for.”

— David Williams’ campaign for governor in an online video ad.

The ruling: True

The facts: A video posted on YouTube this week by Republican David Williams’ campaign for governor focuses on Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear’s running mate, former Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson.

Candidates for governor on ‘KY Tonight’ for 90 minutes

The three candidates for governor — Democrat Steve Beshear, Republican David Williams and independent Gatewood Galbraith– are scheduled to appear in their second and final debate Monday night on Kentucky Educational Television’s “Kentucky Tonight.”

The show will begin at 8 p.m. ET on KET and at www.ket.org/live and run for 90 minutes. Bill Goodman will host.

Kentucky viewers with questions may send email, including name and town or county, to kytonight@ket.org or use the message form at www.ket.org/kytonight.

The phone number for viewer calls during the program is 1-800-494-7605.

Viewers may also submit questions on Twitter to @BillKET or #kytonight, or on Kentucky Educational Television’s Facebook page.

Democrats allege collusion between Williams and outside political group funded by father-in-law

By Jack Brammer
jbrammer@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT — The Kentucky Democratic Party filed a complaint Friday with the state alleging that Republican gubernatorial nominee David Williams has illegally coordinated and cooperated with his father-in-law, Terry Stephens, and an outside political group that Stephens is funding.

Stephens has acknowledged being the sole contributor to Restoring America, which has spent $1.365 million on television ads that criticize Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear and compliment Williams.

“He now claims … it is mere coincidence that the group is spending every dime supporting his son-in-law and attacking his opponent,” Democratic Party Chairman Dan Logsdon said in a news release announcing the complaint with the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance.

Documents shed no new light on 2002 investigation of David Williams

By Jack Brammer
jbrammer@herald-leader.com

FRANKFORT — Attorney General Jack Conway released several documents Tuesday that shed no new light on a decade-old investigation of a woman’s allegations that Senate President David Williams sexually abused her while representing her in a criminal case.

Williams has always denied the allegations and the attorney general’s office closed the case in April 2008 after finding no wrongdoing by Williams.

Franklin Circuit Judge Thomas Wingate last month ordered the release of some of the records from the 2002 investigation at the request of the Lexington Herald-Leader and The Courier-Journal. He kept closed a summary of an interview with the woman.

State media reported in 2002 that Lori Radford Sandlin, a former client of Williams and a state prisoner, alleged that Williams had asked for sexual favors in exchange for legal representation.

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At debate, candidates for lieutenant governor disagree on tax reform

By Jack Brammer
jbrammer@herald-leader.com

With two weeks to go before the Nov. 8 general election, the three candidates for Kentucky’s second-highest political office — lieutenant governor — appeared in their first and only debate Monday night before a statewide television audience.

Democrat Jerry Abramson, Republican Richie Farmer and independent Dea Riley argued issues ranging from taxes to coal but maintained a mostly civil tone throughout the hourlong debate on Kentucky Educational Television’s Kentucky Tonight.

The sharpest disagreement came when host Bill Goodman asked the candidates their opinions on the need for tax reform.

Campaign Watchdog: Beshear’s claim about Restoring America’s ads mostly false

By Jack Brammer
jbrammer@herald-leader.com

The Herald-Leader will fact-check statements made by candidates and their surrogates leading up to the Nov. 8 election.

The statement: “These ads attacking Steve Beshear are not just misleading, they are in clear violation of Kentucky law, and the court ordered them off the air as an illegal attempt to influence the election and help David Williams.”

— Gov. Steve Beshear‘s re-election campaign, in a television commercial that started airing Thursday

The ruling: Mostly false

The facts: Beshear’s new TV ad misleadingly implies that an outside political group’s commercials were taken off the air because their content was illegal.

David Williams wants a new bully pulpit

By John Cheves
jcheves@herald-leader.com

This is the third in a series of stories about the candidates for governor.

FRANKFORT — As the Republican nominee for governor, David Williams pledges to tame an out-of-control state bureaucracy.

“Government has gotten too large, too intrusive, it costs too much and it’s stifling job creation,” he says in “Tough,” one of his television commercials.

What Williams doesn’t advertise is that he’s been one of the three most powerful men in state government for more than a decade. Governors and House speakers come and go, but Williams is a fixture. As the only president of the Kentucky Senate since 2000, he knows how to steer the statehouse and enjoys it.

After his father suffered a stroke, Williams spoke to doctors about the quality of medical care and sponsored a law that set standards for Kentucky hospitals to be certified as Primary Stroke Centers.

Campaign Watchdog: Claims about Beshear’s record on pardons half true

By John Cheves
jcheves@herald-leader.com

The Herald-Leader will fact-check statements made by candidates and their surrogates leading up to the Nov. 8 election.

The statement: “When Steve Beshear became governor, one of his early actions was to grant pardons to convicted felons. Governor Beshear has granted partial pardons to at least eight convicted murderers and 14 rapists, allowing them to vote and even run for office.”

— Restoring America, an outside group supporting Republican gubernatorial nominee David Williams, in a television commercial airing this week.

The ruling: Half true.

The facts: The commercial misleadingly implies that Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear has pardoned criminals and set them free from prison.