Mayor Abramson voted for Northup

Both Newsweek and the Louisville Courier-Journal are reporting that Mayor for Life Jerry Abramson supported Tony Miller for Congress financial but voted for Congresswoman Anne Northup instead. I admit that I voted for Tony but he ran a very poor campaign. We could have won this year with our 2002 candidate, Jack Conway, instead!

Abramson cast his vote for Northup, not Miller
He campaigned for the Democratic congressional candidate and gave money to his race, but Louisville Metro Mayor Jerry Abramson, a Democrat, did not vote for Tony Miller last month.

Abramson cast his vote for Rep. Anne Northup, R-3rd District.

How do we know? The mayor's spokesman admitted it after a short line about it appeared in a story in the latest Newsweek.

"Obviously, if you look at the election results, like a lot of Democrats he voted for a Republican who happens to be an influential member of the (House) Appropriations Committee who's been able to bring a lot of dollars for a lot of important needs for the community," Abramson spokesman Chad Carlton said.

The mayor felt "we had two good choices," Carlton said.

"It's a question of ... whether to give up the ability to have such an important role in funding the many needs in our community," Carlton said. "The mayor has had a strong working relationship with Representative Northup, and I think he himself has made it clear he doesn't let party labels stand in the way of doing what's right for Louisville and Kentucky."

Carlton said Abramson voted for Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry and is proud of being a Democrat, "but he works very hard at not letting that be a litmus test for doing what he thinks is right for his community."

Northup won re-election handily. Her chief of staff, Terry Carmack, said, "We certainly appreciate the mayor's support.

As to Tony Miller's reaction, he's not talking to Mayor Abramson at all.

`Very disappointing'
Abramson's vote "doesn't surprise me any," Miller said in an interview. "He didn't help me at all."

Yes, the mayor "showed up at a couple of events I had," the Jefferson County CircuitCourt clerk said. But Miller said the only contributions Abramson made were from his mayoral political action committee, and that amounted to about $1,000 for the primary and $1,000 for the general election.

"When I asked him for help, they were always busy," Miller said.

Miller called Abramson's vote, which he had heard about, "very disappointing."

"My family and I have been very supportive of him from day one," Miller said, adding that he helped to raise about $50,000 for the mayor's PAC with a fund-raiser at his home several years ago.

Abramson called Miller "a few days after the election," according to Miller, to say how sorry he was that Miller lost.

"I told him, `It's a little late to be calling now,'" Miller said. "I haven't talked to him since, and I have no plans to talk to him."