An update on the KDP Chairmanship

I would have read this as soon as I checked the C-J online but, even though I have no choice to accept Jerry Lundergan as chairman, I am very dissappointed. Thanks for sending it, Jonathan! I've been citing the Lexington Herald-Leader and AP articles rather than the hometown Courier-Journal. I highly reccommend reading the C-J article as it gives a more accurate view of what happened. From what I can see, they did not quote Greg Stumbo--who benefits from a Lundergan chairmanship according to the Last Sane Man. Former Lt. Governor Steve Beshear resigned as the party's general counsel in protest, as did executive director Eddie Jacobs, and interim chairman Kerry Morgan.

Lundergan, a Lexington caterer who was elected 24-18 by the party's State Central Committee, quickly signaled his intention to move the party in a more conservative direction.

He noted during his acceptance speech that he's anti-abortion and appealed directly to Western Kentucky voters who turned out several incumbent House Democrats in November.[...]

"It's a new day at the Democratic Party," said Lundergan, vowing to make sure Democrats are always "in the face of the Republicans." The vote for Lundergan prompted former Lt. Gov. Steve Beshear to resign as the party's general counsel, citing Lundergan's 1989 conviction for violating an ethics law that bars lawmakers from doing no-bid work for the state. That conviction was later overturned on grounds that it should have been prosecuted as a misdemeanor, not a felony.

"I'm afraid our party is going to be embarrassed over the next year," Beshear said. "We have probably cost ourselves seats."

Lundergan said the complaint stemmed from his decision to back former Gov. Wallace Wilkinson over Beshear in the 1987 gubernatorial race.[...]

Some party officials — including Fred Johnson, the nominating committee's chairman — had pushed to keep looking for new candidates. But the State Central Committee turned down those efforts on a 28-18 vote.

Some activists had threatened to nominate other candidates from the floor, but such opposition never materialized.[...]

Two other Democratic Party officials also quit yesterday — vice chairwoman Kerry Morgan and executive director Eddie Jacobs. Morgan said she wanted to work on "other projects," and Jacobs said he wanted to let Lundergan name his own team.

Several top elected Democrats said they were disappointed with the choice.

State Treasurer Jonathan Miller, who served on the nominating committee and had backed Haynes, called Lundergan "very controversial" and said he wanted to heed the "hundreds" of his supporters who urged him to oppose the nomination.

"I am disappointed, but the Democratic Party has a democratic process," Miller said. "The other guy won and I accept the result."

State Auditor Crit Luallen, who also served on the nominating committee, said she opposed Lundergan but supported the party's determination to take a vote yesterday, since that's what legislative leaders wanted and they're the ones who face the next critical round of elections.

House Speaker Jody Richards, D-Bowling Green, left yesterday's meeting before it ended. When reached later on his cell phone, he hung up on a reporter without taking any questions.

I'd hang up on them to if I heard that. Oh well. Once 2007 comes around, my gut feeling says that Jonathan will run and be our nominee. For those thinking that I have inside information, I don't. I had to write an article for my newswriting class and I have been pondering publishing it here but have yet to do so.

Students concerned about Pell Grant Funding over Social Security. This does not come to me as a surprise. I don't want to be paying off loans forever. If I go into acting and comedy, I know that I will unless I get a good paying job faster than most. If I go into politics and law, that's a different story.

Congressman Ben Chandler shows how kind he is and what Democrats do by sharing tickets for the inauguration with Republicans elected by Kentucky to serve in Congress. Such a nice gesture. I'd think I might do the same--if elected.

Rep. Ben Chandler, D-6th District, already has been in the spirit. He gave up some of his allotment of tickets to President Bush's swearing-in ceremony to his Republican colleagues from Kentucky.

And his office said nothing about it; we found out because Rep. Anne Northup's chief of staff, Terry Carmack, told us.

"That was very nice," Carmack said of Chandler's generosity.

Each House member gets 200 tickets to the inauguration, and each senator gets 393.

Chandler satisfied the requests that came into his office and decided to pass on the rest to GOP members who were short, explained Chandler's press secretary, Lillian Pace.

"If Kentuckians wanted to come, we wanted to help," she said.

So five tickets each went to the 3rd District's Northup, Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., and Rep. Ron Lewis, R-2nd District. Rep. Hal Rogers, R-5th District, was given eight tickets by Chandler's office.

My condolences go out to the family of Helen Dwyer Wetherby, the wife of late Governor Lawrence W. Wetherby, the only Jefferson County native to have served as governor of Kentucky.