I would like to give a big congratulations to Spencer County Elementary School, especially all the teachers, for exceeding their CATS goal by 11.4% last year.

Secretary Grayson Has Earned a Second Term
October 2, 2007


Four years ago I met Trey Grayson at a Republican Party event here in Jefferson County and was immediately impressed. I had planned on voting for the late former Jefferson County Commissioner Russ Maple, I had worked in a neighboring commissioner’s office and had come to know him personally. That changed as soon as I shook Mr. Grayson’s hand. As a political science geek I tend to ask candidates tough questions and Mr. Grayson answered them all; I agreed with everything he wanted to do as our Secretary of State more importantly everything he wanted to do was something he could do if elected. That is the most important thing to me when I vote for administrative offices like SOS, Treasurer and Auditor.

That November the majority of Kentuckians agreed with me and voted to elect Trey Grayson our Secretary of State and he hasn’t let us down. His accomplishments are far too long to list here on the blog; I invite you to go to his website and see them in their entirety. He has pushed for more civic education in the schools, something extremely important to me, and has been a strong and vocal advocate for a regional presidential primary system. His office is an office that provides many bureaucratic services to voters, municipalities, and businesses in Kentucky. He has made these services more accessible by revamping his official website. The website was hard to navigate and could confuse those who aren’t very computer savvy; now you can click on the large buttons and they take you directly to the page you need.

You would think a politician with a record like Secretary Grayson would be re-elected by a landslide. Unfortunately that isn’t the case this year; an anti-Republican wave could wash Mr. Grayson out of office. Mr. Grayson has had nothing to do with the scandals that have led to the anti-Republican feelings of voters, in fact the only thing he has in common with those who are hanging like an albatross around the GOP’s neck is that he is a member of that party. Think about this as KY’s Secretary of State, he has had nothing to do with the mishandling of the war in Iraq, the bad behavior of the Republicans in Congress, and he certainly hasn’t had anything to do with the piss poor performance of our scandal prone current governor, Ernie Fletcher.

Democrats hope that the problems of Governor Fletcher and President Bush will trickle down to Secretary Grayson and result in their election to one of our state’s highest offices- We can’t let this happen! The Democratic challenger, Bruce Hendrickson, is the complete opposite of the man he wants to unseat. Go look at his website, the link is at the bottom of this posting, his platform is ridiculous. Please tell me, Mr. Hendrickson how exactly do you propose to reduce taxes for small businesses? He also says that he will work to reduce voter fraud and the disenfranchisement of Kentucky’s voters; I think he has our state confused with Florida and Secretary Grayson confused with former Florida Secretary of State, Katherine Harris. I don’t think there has been any effort to purposefully disenfranchise any voters here in Kentucky;haven’t wrongly purged minority voters from the rolls like other states. I would once again ask Mr. Hendrickson to tell me if the Grayson Administration has been directly responsible for any case of malicious voter disenfranchisement in Kentucky?

On his website he lists an endorsement from an organization that pushes to protect Kentuckian’s second amendment rights. Nothing against those folks, but why is that relevant to the office he is currently seeking? The Secretary of State’s office has absolutely nothing to do with gun control in any way. You don’t even get a gun permit or a hunting license from the Secretary of State's office. I am also unaware of a movement in Kentucky to usurp our right to form a well organized militia and to bear arms. That is nothing short of pure political pandering to shore up votes from gun aficionados and sportsmen: don’t fall for it.

You can see the clear difference between the two candidates; Trey Grayson knows what he can do as Secretary of State and what he can not, his opponent does not. Secretary Grayson does not make wild promises or mislead voters into thinking he can affect an issue that he has no control over. Most importantly Trey Grayson has a long record of success and delivering for Kentucky. I beg you not to punish Mr. Grayson for the bad behavior of his Republican peers, he doesn’t deserve it- he deserves the second term he is seeking. Mr. Hendrickson claims that if he is elected, Kentucky will have a “true public servant” as Secretary of State: too late that position has already been filled. Please join me in voting to keep Trey Grayson our Secretary of State this November.

Candidates web sites:
http://www.treygrayson.com/
http://www.hendricksonforsecofstate.com/

Over the next few weeks I will be endorsing candidates in all of the state wide elections and also in the judicial election(s) in Jefferson County this year. As always these are my recommendations and only mine, I invite you to make your own decisions before voting in November.

A Big Harrumph for Steve Nunn!


In recent years, I have grown to respect former State Representative Steve Nunn. He was the first, and I think only, Republican to return to the house chamber after the entire caucus walked out in protest of the Democratic leadership’s handling of the 2004 anti gay marriage amendment. He later apologized for his childish behavior. After he lost his seat in the legislature in 2006, he blamed no one but himself. I remember reading last fall in The Courier Journal that he had said he took his race for granted and didn’t try as hard as he should have to get re-elected. He along with another great former state representative, Bob Hellringer, added a great deal to the 2003 Republican gubernatorial primary. They brought a voice of reason and moderation to the race that could have been mistaken for a race for president of a church’s deacon board rather then for governor. I did not vote for Mr. Nunn then, now I wish I had.

I should say before I write any more, I haven’t been that fond of Governor Ernie Fletcher. I have told a friend who works in state politics that if the governor is as good of a doctor as he is a governor, I wouldn’t go to him for a hang nail! Almost from the beginning, I regretted voting for Dr. Fletcher in November 2003. I did like how he trimmed down the ridiculously large executive cabinet. Other then that, I would have to say he has been a big disappointment. I am not alone, even my maternal grandfather, a man who, has until recently voted straight Republican in every election, has said that he wouldn’t vote for Fletcher if he ran for dog catcher! Trust me, that is an insult coming from him.

In yesterday’s issue of the Courier-Journal (September 18, 2007), I read that on Monday three prominent Republicans endorsed Democrat Steve Beshear in this fall’s race for governor, former state Rep. Steve Nunn was one of them. He joined former U.S. Congressman Larry Hopkins who held Kentucky’s 6th District seat in Congress and was the GOP’s 1991 gubernatorial nominee, Fletcher also used to represent the sixth district. Lexington-Fayette Urban County Councilman David Stevens also endorsed Beshear; the council is non-partisan, Stevens is a registered Republican.

Nunn was critical of Fletcher’s handling of the merit-hiring investigation/scandal that has haunted him since 2005 and resulted in Fletcher, himself, and many of his top administration officials being indicted by a Franklin County Grand Jury. He first fired several officials that were involved in the scandal and then pardoned them before they were convicted of anything. Nunn also blasted the governor for his lack of leadership throughout the 2004 legislative session. You may remember that the General Assembly failed to pass a budget that year as they were constitutionally obligated. Nunn summed it up best when he said, at the news conference held yesterday in Lexington, That Fletcher’s record shows his is, “…not the kind of leadership we need in Kentucky”.

Yesterday’s press conference showed what our state is missing now that Nunn has left office. Nunn went one step further then his fellow detractors and said that he will only vote for two Republicans running this year for state wide office: Secretary of State Trey Grayson and Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer. He went so far as to say that the nominee for Attorney General, state Rep. Stan Lee’s extremely right wing views are inappropriate for the office he is currently seeking. In my opinion, nothing could be closer to the truth.

I personally would like to give former Representative Nunn a big harrumph and ask him to please consider running for elected office once again; I know of a certain senior senator that could use a good primary challenge. Also, I would like to add my voice, for what it is worth, to the hopefully growing number of Republicans who plan on voting for Steve Beshear this November.

Source(s) used for this posting:

Steitzer, Stephanie; “Hopkins, 2 others in GOP back Beshear”, The Courier-Journal, September 18, 2007; Metro Section, page B6

Welcome!

Earlier today I was watching “Fox and Friends in the Morning”, on obviously, the Fox News Channel. The three hosts were discussing a recent comment crooner Barry Manilow made about ABC’s “The View”,’ co-host Elizabeth Hasselbeck. Apparently Mr. Manilow, a liberal, strongly disagrees with Mrs. Hasselbeck’s conservative political positions and has said on his website he will not appear on the show today. Mr. Manilow wanted to be interviewed by the girls at “The View” sans Hasselbeck; when the producers would not “accommodate this simple request” he canceled his appearance. I got to thinking why this is news and why should Barry Manilow, Elizabeth Hasselbeck, and “The Fox and Friends” crew opinion’s matter more then mine?

I have played with the idea of joining the ever growing “Bloggersphere” for about a year. I do not think the majority of American’s are represented in the commentary community. I am a pretty much a true centrist and as such I am tired of the commentators, talk show hosts, and bloggers who are so one sided and really don’t look at the issues as deep as I do and will here. Most American’s fall somewhere in the middle of the political spectrum and most Americans look at issues individually not in a left versus right or red versus blue fashion.

Here at Conway’s Commentary I hope to blend my practical experience and academic knowledge of politics to bring a perspective that is currently lacking from the current discourse. I do not plan on making this a political soap box; I plan on keeping the conversation light and lively. Please let me know what you think, I have a pretty thick skin and a set of steel balls, so don’t worry about hurting my feelings. I hope you enjoy reading this as I think I will enjoy writing it.

Sources used in posting:

http://www.eonline.com/news/article/index.jsp?uuid=7930a03e-1707-41fe-a3e2-74bd0b0dc540&sid=fd-news