Kentucky Democrats Reject Open Congressional Seat

Kentucky Democrats have a huge opportunity this year to increase our Congressional representation by 50 percent. Republican Geoff Davis in the Fourth District is retiring, creating that rarest and most precious of political gifts: the open congressional seat.

Just eight years ago, Democratic Representative Ken Lucas held that seat for three terms, after which he voluntarily stepped down. It's not a guaranteed red district. But the Kentucky Democratic Party is taking a pass.

There are seven - count 'em! Seven! - republican candidates competing in the May 22 primary. That's a recipe for general election failure. Even the worthless KDP should be able to exploit that kind of primary massacre for an easy ride to November victory.

But no. The two Democratic candidates competing in the primary are unknowns who have never held elected office. Granted, the Democratic bench in northern Kentucky is thin, but it's not that thin.

So why are Democratic office holders in Northern Kentucky ignoring the chance to grab an open congressional seat?

Racism.

Hold on - stay with me here. Northern Kentucky is traditionally conservative, though nowhere near as conservative as far Western Kentucky or the south-central Old Fifth. It has an urban core across the river from Cincinnati, not so different from the urban core that makes Louisville a liberal bastion. The Fourth was not even badly gerrymandered in redistricting.

But the Fourth stretches for 180 miles through two dozen rural, heavily white and deeply impoverished counties. Counties where Barack Obama is an epithet.

And any Democratic candidate in the Fourth District who runs on a ballot headed by Barack Obama is going to lose.

From Cincinnati.com:

The second Democrat has filed to run for Congress in Northern Kentucky.

William Adkins, the chairman of the Grant County Democratic Party, filed Tuesday to run in Kentucky’s Fourth Congressional District seat occupied by U.S. Rep. Geoff Davis, R-Hebron.

Adkins will face Greg Frank, of Corinth, in the Democratic primary. Davis’ decision to not run for re-election has also spurred five Republicans to vie for the seat: Lewis County Judge-executive Thomas Massie; Boone County Judge-executive Gary Moore; Oldham County Republican and math teacher Brian Oerther; State Rep. Alecia Webb-Edgington and Fort Mitchell Republican and consultant Tom Wurtz.

Adkins, 56, of Williamstown, works as an attorney and has served as Grant County Democratic chairman since 2008. He first ran for public office in 2010 for Williamstown City Council but didn’t get elected.

Adkins said he saw Davis’ departure as an opportunity. A heavy Republican presence in the Fourth District doesn’t discourage him, Adkins said. Many Democrats live in the 24 counties of the Fourth District, which includes Northern Kentucky counties of Boone, Kenton and Campbell counties.

According to Cincinnati.com, Frank:

has not sought public office before. He has worked in the medical field, including for the Kentucky Medical Command Unit based in Lexington where he has served as a medic for the past three years. He said he served in the U.S. Army, including a stint in Operation Desert Storm, and served in the Kentucky National Guard in 2007-2008.

He received a bachelors degree in history from Northern Kentucky University in 2008 and said he will soon complete a masters degree in health care through the University of Phoenix online.

Frank said he wants to institute a two-term limit for all members of Congress and federal judges and wants to reform lobbyists and campaign finance. He will outline some of his philosphy in a book he’s publishing, “Common Sense II: Death of Democracy,” to be released Feb. 14.

Term limits would limit special interests in government, Frank said.

“These judges on the federal level, they’re like herpes,” Frank said. “We get them for life. We have to have term limits. We are no longer a government of the people by the people for the people. We’re a government of the few, for the special interests, in the name of greed.”

He would like further caps on money spent lobbying and spent for campaign finance.

Frank would also push for mandatory drug screenings for Congress members. “I have to give a urine sample to make sure there’s no cannabis in my urine,” Frank said. “Every federal employee has to give a urinalysis. If the American people have to give drug tests, they should have to give a drug test too.”

A Democrat does stand a chance in the conservative Fourth District, Frank said.

“I think the only way that would be remotely possible is that if they see that individual as an American, not as a Democrat and see that person as a message, not a messenger, one with a platform of states’ rights, campaign reforms and the bill I will initiate the minute I get into the office, the Social Security Medicare Reimbursement Act where the government would be required to put back the $2.67 trillion it has robbed to plug budget shortfalls and pay for wars without raising taxes,” Frank said.

Losing by 40 points to whichever of the mouth-breathing teabaggers the repugs choose will only enhance the resume of Adkins or Frank.

This is, of course, the fault of the worthless Kentucky Democratic Party, which is worthless. For the past twenty years it has done nothing to build up local county parties and build a bench of local office-holders ready to step up when opportunities like open congressional seats appear.

State party rules state that no one who failed to support the party's last Presidential Nominee can serve as a precinct, county or state party officer. If that rule were enforced, 90 percent of "Democratic" party officials in Northern Kentucky would lose their positions.

Did I mention that the KDP is worthless?

I was wrong; it's worse than worthless. It's actively destructive to Democratic politics in Kentucky. That could have something to do with its current chairperson being a registered republican who makes campaign donations to Mitch McConnell.

And yes, that chairperson was appointed by "Democratic" Governor Steve Cowardly Waste of Oxygen Beshear.