All Entries in the "KY-4th" Category
Proposals to redraw Ky. congressional districts would bring big changes
By Beth Musgrave and Jack Brammer
bmusgrave@herald-leader.com
PDF: View the proposals
FRANKFORT — Two new proposals to redraw the boundaries of Kentucky’s six congressional districts could mean major changes for Central Kentucky voters.
Both plans appear to benefit Democratic U.S. Rep. Ben Chandler, who represents Lexington and many surrounding counties in the 6th Congressional District.
The proposals — one pushed by the Democratic-controlled House and another by unnamed members of Kentucky’s congressional delegation — would move Republican-leaning Jessamine and Garrard counties out of Chandler’s district, replacing them with counties that lean more Democratic.
Republican Andy Barr, a Lexington lawyer who narrowly lost to Chandler in 2010 and plans to challenge him again in 2012, said Tuesday that the emerging plans amount to “incumbent-protection gerrymandering for a weak incumbent.”
Census: A lot of Kentuckians will get a new congressman
By Bill Estep – bestep@herald-leader.com
A lot of Kentuckians are going to get new representatives in the U.S. House because of significant shifts in the state’s population.
The eastern and western ends of the state lost population between 2000 and 2010 while the middle third grew, according to U.S. Census figures released this week.
Three of the state’s six congressional districts fall short of the necessary population, while the other three are over it.
The national average for a U.S. House District will be 710,767.
However, the target number will vary by state; dividing Kentucky’s population of 4.3 million by six seats means a population target for each district of about 723,000.
Election Preview: Northern Ky.’s 4th Congressional District
By Halimah Abdullah – habdulla@mcclatchydc.com
WASHINGTON — The contest in Northern Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District pits a well-funded, conservative incumbent against a little-known, considerably more progressive Iraq War veteran.
U.S. Rep. Geoff Davis, R-Hebron, seems to be sailing toward a fourth term with $1.1 million raised as of the June campaign finance filing deadline. Much of that money was donated by health professionals and the insurance industry.
Meanwhile, Democratic challenger John Waltz, a political newcomer from Florence, raised roughly $250,000 during the same period.
Waltz was inspired to run for the congressional seat, he said, after he received no help from Davis’ office in seeking veteran’s health benefits.
Ky. lawmakers say Canadian plan could decimate burley market
By Halimah Abdullah – habdullah@mcclatchydc.com
WASHINGTON — Kentucky burley tobacco farmers and the state’s congressional delegation are seeing smoke over a plan by the Canadian government to ban fruit and bubble gum flavors and other similar additives in cigarettes and cigarillos.
The lawmakers and the roughly 8,100 Kentucky farmers who cultivate burley tobacco say the proposal, designed to curb youth smoking, would decimate the market for American air-cured burley tobacco, which is used to make most of Canada’s cigarettes.
“One of the biggest things it does is it effectively bans almost all flavoring used in products other than menthol,” said Joe Cain, director of national affairs for the Kentucky Farm Bureau. “Where it becomes important to Kentuckians is that American blend cigarettes are about 25 percent burley. Burley gives it texture and body, but it’s bitter and kind of harsh. It needs that flavoring to take the edge off of it.”
Many growers and their supporters feel their industry is under political assault and are still reeling from last week’s congressional passage of legislation that gives the Food and Drug Administration regulatory powers over tobacco.
Ky. lawmakers linked to lobbying firm under investigation
WASHINGTON — Several Kentucky lawmakers, including Rep. Ben Chandler, D-Versailles, helped secure millions in earmarks for clients of PMA, a lobbying firm under federal investigation for contributing to the campaigns of Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., and other lawmakers.
According to data compiled by the watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense and analyzed by Congressional Quarterly, Chandler helped PMA clients net $2.4 million in defense earmarks. Rep. Geoff Davis, R-Hebron, helped the firm’s clients receive $6.8 million in earmarks.
Outside campaign money pours into Kentucky
People outside Kentucky are keenly interested in who we send to Congress in January, to judge by the millions of dollars they are pouring into Bluegrass State campaigns.
As of Sept. 29, individual donors in other states had given nearly $5.6 million to Kentucky congressional campaigns for the Nov. 4 election, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. This sum does not include millions of dollars more given by out-of-state political action committees or the Republican and Democratic parties in Washington.
-
- Voters select finalists in three Lexington council districts
- Two in five Kentucky Democrats vote for 'uncommitted' instead of Obama
- VIDEO: Andy Barr's primary election victory speech
- Chris Girdler gets GOP nomination in 15th Senate District
- Damon Thayer defeats Ricky Hostetler in GOP primary for 17th Senate District
- Lawless, Spires are top finishers in four-way race for Lexington's District 3
