Jefferson Review
"Your Liberty is Our Interest"
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Jefferson Review |
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"Your Liberty is Our Interest" |
January 15, 2007 | |
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Republican Disaster Brewing in KY By John Riley
Larry Forgy is exactly right (see article below). The campaign against Ernie Fletcher has been going on for quite some time. It is unfortunate for grassroots Republicans that it is orchestrated by people within his own Republican Party and the behind the scenes efforts by Sen. McConnell using his powerful political machine (what Forgy refers to as McConnell's "bootlickers"). This primary election will be almost a mirror image of the 1991 Republican Primary.
Regardless of the sound bites and comments by so called "prominent" Republicans (read "bootlickers"), this primary will have less to do with electing a Republican who can win the governor’s race in a general election in November and practically everything to do with Sen. McConnell flexing his political muscle and might, even at the expense of true grassroots Republicans who Larry Forgy more closely represents.
Gov. Fletcher has apparently not been the ideal "Yes-Man" for Sen. McConnell and is supported by Larry Forgy, who McConnell's candidate Larry Hopkins defeated in the 1991 primary. So Sen. McConnell began his campaign against Gov. Fletcher over 1 year ago. The campaign has been carefully orchestrated, and since Sen. McConnell has tremendous influence on the "purse strings" of the "big money" people and those with a pipeline to the media within the Republican Party in Kentucky, and even nationally, he has become a "king maker" or "king breaker".
However, Sen. McConnell was wrong about the political climate in the 2006 mid-term elections nationally and found himself on the obvious wrong side of the political fence amongst "grassroots" Republicans. The grassroots Republicans are those Republicans that still believe in, and have not abandoned, the Republican principles that won control of the US House, Senate and Whitehouse. The Republicans squandered that by abandoning the grassroots supporters of both political parties which led to their unfortunately well deserved defeat in the 2006 elections. They lost the majority in the House and the Senate!
As a result Sen. McConnell is now the Senate Minority Leader instead of the Senate Majority Leader. He was wrong in 2006, and I believe he is wrong in 2007. Gov. Fletcher is in fact a decent, honest and respectable Kentucky Governor who has done a good job despite being subject to a purely political agenda from the Democrat Attorney General. Democrats for 30 years have stacked the deck with political cronies in every nook and cranny in Kentucky State Government and under their watch and control Frankfort gained a solid reputation of uttermost corruption. Misdemeanor violations of state hiring practices by Gov. Fletcher's administration is peanuts to the wholesale corruption that Kentucky citizens endured for 30 years. Much of which Gov. Fletcher has in fact "cleaned up"!
However, it apparently doesn't make any difference to the "bootlickers" how honest, decent or hard working Gov. Fletcher is because he not only must endure a political hack job from an Attorney General with a political agenda, but he must also endure a political hack job from the "bootlickers" under Sen. McConnell's influence. It is they that make Gov. Fletcher's job of winning the November general election against a weak and fractured Democrat party the most difficult, and it is they that will set up and orchestrate Ann Northup's primary challenge and probable defeat in November. While Northup may be well liked in Jefferson County, she was defeated in November and will be a very hard sell to grassroots Republicans and conservative Democrats (who any Republican must appeal to) in rural Kentucky.
More than likely the mission will be similar to the 1991 Republican primary. Larry Hopkins’ mission was to defeat Larry Forgy, period-- end of story. Larry Hopkins simply laid down after his mission was complete and the November general election was a resounding win for Democrat Brereton Jones. I know, I was there in the Republican trenches!
Although it is unlikely that Ann Northup will roll over and play dead if successful in winning the primary election in May like Larry Hopkins did in 1991, it is almost certain she will lose in November. Republicans are still angry as was evidenced in the 2006 elections and rural Republicans and Democrats alike will likely not get overly excited about a recently defeated Republican coming out of Jefferson County. Gov. Fletcher is in fact the best and most likely candidate to win in November, but you would never know that if you listen to the "bootlickers"!
The Republicans, both grassroots and the well-heeled McConnell supporters should do the right thing for the citizens of Kentucky. Support Gov. Fletcher! Abandon and resist any political pressure from Sen. McConnell to defeat him! Isn't it hard enough to win re-election in the face of political pot shots from behind enemy lines, much less political pot shots from within your own camp? I agree with Larry Forgy, this effort by McConnell will hurt McConnell as it should!
JR
Fletcher: Northup beatable By Tom
Loftus, Joseph Gerth and James R. Carroll (Entire article can be found at the following link.) 4FjVQtlRJFsIbjLVRs/iLl6oHeGl+mymujLlYYdAeU0%3D Larry Forgy, the 1995 Republican nominee for governor, said McConnell and "his bootlickers" in the state GOP organization are the driving force behind Northup's likely move. "And I believe it will hurt McConnell and she will be defeated," he said. "In addition, I think this is way too much Louisville to be successful." From his travels around the state Forgy said he believes Republican voters see Fletcher as "an honest man, and a decent man who has done a good job." As for Northup, Forgy said: "Anne has never campaigned east of Shelbyville or south of Fern Valley Road. I think her people are feeling very heady right now based on their view that McConnell runs the state. But sometime after she files and when everything starts lining up, they're going to wake up and smell the coffee." Bill Stone, a former Jefferson County Republican Party chairman who is president of Louisville Plate Glass, has defended Fletcher against criticism from some Republicans. He said a pending Fletcher-Northup contest would be "a personal political nightmare for me." "At this point I do not know what I'm going to do. I do know I won't be against either one of them." Stone said.
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