Genuine Liberal Takes on Biggest Freakazoid Menace in Kentucky

Remember Tom Riner? OK, I admit that the herd of repug freakazoids in the Kentucky General Assembly are hard to tell apart. But the Baptist Minister from Louisville is a special case. Two years ago he was the one who inserted language into Kentucky's Homeland Security legislation requiring - requiring - the department to acknowledge their first line of defense is an invisible sky wizard.

But now Riner, seeking his 15th term in the Kentucky House of Representatives, has a Democratic challenger for the May 18th primary election, and it's a genuine liberal activist.

Did I say "primary?" Yes, indeed: Riner, who puts the Republican reactionaries in the House to shame, is technically a Democrat.

From the Courier:

But Mike Slaton, 28, partnership manager for Louisville Metro Parks and a former organizer for the Fairness Campaign, a Louisville-based gay rights group, says he is offering Democrats a clear choice in the May 18 primary.

Slaton said that in researching the race last year, he saw an opening.

“I asked myself how this guy, who I think in many ways is far more conservative than this district, keeps getting elected. I found that the secret was not having opposition,” Slaton said.

Riner has faced a primary challenger in the heavily Democratic 41st District only once in the past six elections. That time, in 2002, he won with 51.8 percent of the vote.

Read the whole thing.

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Cross-posted at They Gave Us A Republic ...