Democrats Jockey for Top Spot

The Kentucky governor’s race in 2007 becomes more interesting as the days go by, at least for the democrats. With the pronouncements of Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson and State Auditor Crit Luallen that they will not make the race, attention is naturally turned to Attorney General Stumbo, who is definitely interested, and Congressman Ben Chandler, who has chosen to sit on the fence and either view the carnage caused by all the democrat wannabes engaging in internecine cannibalism or dispel it by simply announcing that he wants the job and won’t even have to buy it.

Former lieutenant governor Steve Henry is officially in the hunt, but it remains to be seen for how long. He, like some others, carries a bit of baggage. Having to settle out of court with the feds in a tax matter involving a lot of money gained either fraudulently and by design or, as he says, through a clerical error (take your choice) is not good advertising. Strangely, according to information in the Lexington Herald-Leader, he says his wife, a former Miss America, will work in his administration for $1 a year. That conjures up the vision of the Bill-and-Hillary two-for-one disaster in 1992, so Henry might do well to run for the office and let his wife do what good wives do, part of which is to let hubby do his thing and not be foisted off on the public as a campaign tool (or fool?).

The three wannabes with the best name-recognition are former governors Brereton Jones and Julian Carroll and Lexington lawyer and 1979 governor-wannabe Terry McBrayer. These guys will be ages 68, 75, and 70, respectively, next year, so they might have a bit of an energy problem, for starters. The guy with all the money and who has run unsuccessfully in other races, Louisville businessman Charlie Owen, could be a factor, though he will be 68 in 2007.

Jones’ tenure will be remembered by many as the one in which 15 legislators and six others were convicted of a number of crimes as a result of a federal probe into Frankfort shenanigans, though Jones was never implicated. He’s remembered for the “DeZarn” fiasco, in which his adjutant general, Robert DeZarn, was trucked off to the big house for 15 months for perjury accruing to testimony concerning solicitation of campaign funds for Jones among National Guard officers, many of whom were relieved of their duties later. He’s also remembered for the fact that all but one health-insurance companies left the state during his tenure, though maybe the following administration of Paul Patton, as well as the inept legislatures, had a hand in the carnage. His protracted campaign to recoup the campaign funds he loaned himself is legend.

Carroll’s tenure was loaded with bumps. His right-hand man, a former legislator and state party chairman, served three years in a federal pen for workmen’s-compensation-insurance shenanigans, and Carroll himself was under federal investigation while in office. This is what Carroll said last November, “I’m assuming a position of leadership in the party as a result of being reelected to the Kentucky State Senate.” (In that process, he defeated incumbent Governor Fletcher’s brother, though an alert democrat orangutan would beat a republican human genius in the state-capital district where that happened, without even swinging from limb to limb to campaign.) So…was that another way of announcing a 2007 candidacy, or do pigs have wings?

So…is it back to Stumbo and possibly Henry? Stumbo carries heavy baggage, not least because of all those years he was majority leader in the House and sort of ran the show (lots of enemies). He’s also had serious patrimony problems, being the father of a child without being married to the mother, who has given him fits concerning child-support payments. All those years ago he was apprehended drunk in his stopped pickup, but seems to have noted that his “designated driver” had disappeared…or something like that. Then, there’s the matter of unrelenting pressure on the present administration over what in other administrations has occasioned only a blip, a bit of correction (committee stuff), and ’nuff said treatment.

Perhaps Chandler will declare himself soon. After all, filing for the May primary must be done before the end of January. This makes the election cycle months too long, but it will give the hopefuls all the time they need to tell the public how unfit for office all their fellow democrat/opponents are.

And so it goes.

Jim Clark