State of Kentucky Archives: on Principles & Values

Alison Grimes: Fight "Senator Gridlock": Kentucky pays for GOP dysfunction

McConnell said that his high-profile part in the deal that ended the shutdown and extended the debt ceiling had taken the air out of Grimes' message. "It steps on the whole narrative of her campaign," McConnell said.

The Grimes campaign fired back with a release that McConnell was still "Senator Gridlock," noting a number of past remarks McConnell has made proudly proclaiming himself a "guardian of gridlock." A Grimes spokesperson said, "It is an embarrassment that McConnell waited until the 11th hour to stop the manufactured crisis that he and members of Congress created. It is not heroic for McConnell to do his job and reopen the government. Kentuckians now have to pay for McConnell's Washington dysfunction."

Alison Grimes: AdWatch: Grimes' opponent offered deal to drop out

In his letter, Marksberry said an unnamed person close to Jerry Lundergan, the candidate's father and a former Kentucky Democratic Party chairman, approached him about dropping out of the race. "They said that Jerry really liked me, and that Jerry takes care of his friends," Marksberry wrote. "And if Alison wins, there could be a favor owed to me." Marksberry wrote of his desire to see Grimes beat Mitch McConnell, so he proposed a deal, which fell through

Alison Grimes: One of us represents Washington; one of us represents KY

The minority leader used his speech to nationalize the race and paint Grimes as a tool of national Democrats. McConnell said, "There's only one way to change America in 2014. That's to change the Senate and make me the leader of a new majority--to take America in a different direction." McConnell repeatedly compared Grimes to President Obama.

Alison Grimes: Father indicted for illegal campaign contributions to Alison

The indictment alleges that Lundergan told campaign consultants to bill S.R. Holding Co. for work they did for his daughter's campaign. The company paid those bills and then allegedly did not seek reimbursement from Grimes' campaign. The payments referenced in the indictment totaled $194,270.39.

Lundergan's attorney denied the allegations against his client. "The coordinated campaign efforts raised more than $25 million. The campaign didn't need or seek any extra help from Jerry Lundergan or his family-run business."

Andy Beshear: Kickback investigation resulted in deputy's resignation

Andy Beshear will argue he has fought to help needy Kentuckians in many ways, stressing his efforts to combat the opioid epidemic that includes lawsuits against opioid manufacturers and creation of an opioid disposal program. He'll also talk a lot about what he is mostly known for--filing court actions against what he says have been illegal actions of a Republican governor and General Assembly.

Andy Beshear: With great power comes great responsibility

Andy Beshear: Kentucky no longer a fly-over state; we are the destination

Bruce Lunsford: McConnell enables Bush & squandered 24 years in Senate

He also said McConnell has been an enabler for Pres. Bush, whom he called the worst president since Herbert Hoover. “I think in many ways the syste has been better to you than you have been to the system,“ he said.

McConnell had no chance to respond to those remarks during the program. But he said afterward that Bush’s 8-year tenure has produced both good and bad results, declining to specify the latter. He dismissed Lunsford’s assertion that he, McConnell, had failed. ”That’s hardly a credible argument to be made against one of the two leaders in the US Senate,“ he said. ”I think that’s an argument that people will just simply laugh at.“

C. Wesley Morgan: Freedom of Faith, Family and Country

A: Yes.

Q: What does "separation of church and state" mean to you?

A: The government will not create a religious state. But the constitution prohibits the government from restricting the free exercise of a religion.

Q: Is there anything else you would like voters to know about you?

A: Faith, Family and Country: I believe we as American's should be:

1. Free to worship JESUS CHRIST without persecution; Free to protect the life of the unborn and express your view that abortion is morally wrong
2. FAMILY: Free to educate your children without government indoctrination; Free to enjoy the fruits of your labor without being taxed to death.
3. Country: Free to choose your representatives without them being hand picked by party elites; Free to have a news media that does not promote untruths through propaganda.

Charles Booker: Launched "Hood to the Holler" to bridge urban-rural divide

Charles Booker: Build broad coalitions; break down barriers of race & class

Daniel Cameron: Endorsed by Trump; pledges to put Kentuckians FIRST

Daniel Cameron: Advocate for unborn through church pregnancy centers

Jack Conway: An honor to run for Wendell Ford's senate seat

Paul replied, "I didn't know it was Wendell Ford's seat. I thought it was the people of Kentucky's seat."

The response mirrored an exchange that occurred in Massachusetts earlier this year, when a debate moderator made a reference to the late Ted Kennedy's senate seat and Scott Brown, the insurgent Republican, shot back: "It's not the Kennedy's seat. It's not the Democrat's seat. It's the people's seat."

"The people's seat" became the rallying cry for Brown, who won the race.

Wendell Ford, a Democrat, holds a Kennedy-like place in the Kentucky political firmament. He represented Kentucky for 24 years in the Senate, also served as the state's governor and was the unofficial head of the state party for three decades until he retired in 1999. Time will tell whether Mr. Conway's reference is perceived as a slip-up.

Jack Conway: Claims Rand Paul worships "Aqua Buddha" & mocks Holy Bible

The latter claim refers to a charge made in a GQ article by an unnamed college swim teammate, who said Paul and another student also tried to force her to smoke marijuana. The episode reportedly occurred in 1983. Paul has called the claim "ridiculous" and said he was "never involved with kidnapping."

During the debate, Conway repeated the allegation--triggering Paul's response: "Jack, you know how we tell when you're lying? It's when your lips are moving, Paul sputtered. "You're going to stand over there and accuse me of a crime for 30 years ago from some anonymous source?"

Paul describes himself as a "pro-life Christian" and says his faith is "something very personal to me, my wife, my kids."

Jack Conway: TV ad: Rand Paul made fun of Christianity and Christ

CONWAY AD NARRATOR:
• Why was Rand Paul a member of a secret society that called the Holy Bible a hoax, that was banned for mocking Christianity and Christ?
• Why did Rand Paul once tie a woman up, tell her to bow down before a false idol, and say his god was Aqua Buddha?
• Why does Rand Paul now want to end all federal faith-based initiatives and even end the reduction for religious charities?
• Why are there so many questions about Rand Paul?

CONWAY: I'm not questioning his faith. I'm questioning his actions. Baylor University banned this group because they were "making fun of Christianity and Christ." And we're asking, is it appropriate, whether you're 22 years old or 42 years old, to ever tie up a woman and ask her to kneel before a false idol?

Jack Conway: FactCheck: "Aqua Buddha" TV ad is accurate but over the top

CONWAY: No, I'm not implying criminal. And the woman came out again today, and she said our ad was correct.

Q: Well, she said your ad was over the top.

CONWAY: And FactCheck.org said our ad was correct.

Q: Accurate, but over the top. But does an incident that may or may not have occurred 27 years ago, does it really matter to voters today, given all the things that people are facing, all the things, the problems that people are having in their own lives?

Q: Doesn't everybody do stupid stuff in college or when they're in late teens, early 20s?

CONWAY: Sure, sure, everyone does stupid stuff. But Rand Paul is denying that this happened.

Jack Conway: TV ad: Accuser is anonymous, but a Mr. Green says it's true

CONWAY: Well, the woman who has made the allegations has remained anonymous.

Q: So, you don't know, really, who she is, other than one or two reporters who have talked to her?

CONWAY: Other than the reporters for "The Washington Post" and "GQ" and the other reporters. One gentleman named Mr. Green has gone on record who was a compatriot of Rand Paul's in this secret society and said, yes, they aspired to sacrilege and Rand Paul reveled in it.

Q: But does it concern you to be basing so much of your campaign on a nameless person who won't come forward? You're an attorney. You couldn't put this person on a stand. You couldn't put these statements in court.

CONWAY: Look, she has called it sadistic and she has called it weird. And she's talked about it on multiple occasions. The president of Baylor banned the group.

James Comer: I believe that public servants should put God above all else

Comer: I am a God fearing, born again Christian. I believe that public servants should put God above all else. I believe that the US was founded by Christians with the belief that we are one nation under God. I do believe that our religious liberties are under attack from liberals in Washington and the left wing media trying to be "politically correct." I am a leader who will fight to restore our religious liberties, put prayer back into public education and government offices, and vote to protect and preserve Life and end federal funding of abortions.

Q: What in the nature of mankind caused America's Founders to carefully define, separate, and limit powers in the Constitution?

Comer: To prevent concentration of powers and to prevent any one branch from becoming too powerful. That is why there are checks and balances in the Constitution.

James Comer: I am a social conservative

Comer: Very Conservative

Q: Please defend your answer to the previous question by referencing your publicly available track record.

Comer: I have a public record which shows that I am a social conservative. I co-sponsored the KY Legislation which amended the KY Constitution to define marriage as only between one man and one woman, and I always voted pro-Life 100% of the time as a six term KY State Legislator. As Commissioner of Agriculture, I significantly downsized my number of employees and always returned money back to the taxpayers. I remain the only statewide officeholder in the history of KY to return an earmark back to the taxpayers. That earmark totaled $1,650,000!

Kelly Craft: More wisdom next door than declarations from a politician

Kelly Craft: Former ambassador to Canada and the United Nations

Kelly Craft: A Christian with deep faith in God, prays EVERY day

As a Christian with deep faith in God, I believe in the power of #prayer. It sustains us in the darkest of times. On this #NationalDayOfPrayer and EVERY day, I pray for all our loved ones, @POTUS leadership, and those fighting #COVID19--especially nurses & doctors saving lives.

Matt Bevin: Led public Pledge of Allegiance, & speeches about patriotism

Instead of giving any of his solid plans for the commonwealth, Bevin asked the crowd to join him in the Pledge of Allegiance. Before he finished jumping between his speech themes, he had used up his time and was cut off by the Fancy Farm music.

Matt Bevin: Don't celebrate partisanship; call for unity instead

"We are celebrating our divisions, and we are doing it in a childish way that frankly does not resolve any of the issues that we face," Bevin said. To the surprise of the crowd, Bevin asked the crowd to join him in the Pledge of Allegiance before devoting his speech to a denunciation of partisanship and a call to heed the Kentucky state motto, "United we stand, divided we fall."

The more Bevin called for unity--bypassing attempts at humor altogether--the more the boos from the Democratic side of the pavilion intensified, until the University of Kentucky Wildcats fight song came on and Bevin's microphone cut out, signifying that his allotted time had lapsed.

Mike Harmon: No legacy except I served my Lord, family, & country well

Mitch McConnell: After 24 years, one of the two leaders in the US Senate

He also said McConnell has been an enabler for Pres. Bush, whom he called the worst president since Herbert Hoover. "I think in many ways the syste has been better to you than you have been to the system," he said.

McConnell had no chance to respond to those remarks during the program. But he said afterward that Bush's 8-year tenure has produced both good and bad results, declining to specify the latter. He dismissed Lunsford's assertion that he, McConnell, had failed. "That's hardly a credible argument to be made against one of the two leaders in the US Senate," he said. "I think that's an argument that people will just simply laugh at."

Mitch McConnell: Leadership has value; freshmen have little impact

Rand Paul: This is not Wendell Ford's seat; it's the people's seat

Paul replied, "I didn't know it was Wendell Ford's seat. I thought it was the people of Kentucky's seat."

The response mirrored an exchange that occurred in MA earlier this year, when a debate moderator made a reference to the late Ted Kennedy's senate seat and Scott Brown, the insurgent Republican, shot back: "It's not the Kennedy's seat. It's not the Democrat's seat. It's the people's seat."

"The people's seat" became the rallying cry for Brown, who won the race. The phrase neatly captured the zeitgeist of a year in which insurgent grass-roots candidates across the country have been a forceful presence.

Wendell Ford, a Democrat, holds a Kennedy-like place in the Kentucky political firmament. He represented Kentucky for 24 years in the Senate, & served as the state's governor.

Rand Paul: This election really is about the president's agenda

• I'm very concerned about the debt that we're piling on--mountains and mountains of debt.
• I'm concerned about Pres. Obama adding trillions of dollars of entitlement programs.
• I'm concerned about the president adding or allowing the largest tax hike in our history.
• And I'm concerned about Pres. Obama foisting cap and trade on Kentucky which will be a disaster for our coal jobs.

Q: You say very little about Attorney General Conway on the campaign trail. Now's your chance.

PAUL: He needs to either defend his president or run away. So far he's running away from Pres. Obama and the agenda. He supports Obamacare. He supported repealing the tax cuts before he was against it. Cap and trade, he's been on both sides of the issue.

Rand Paul: Accused of belonging to secret society NoZe Brotherhood

Paul's threat to cancel the Oct. 25 debate with Conway follows the re-emergence of embarrassing allegations about Paul while he was a student at Baylor University in the 1980s. According to an article published last summer in GQ magazine, Paul belonged to the NoZe Brotherhood, a secret society that had been banned on the Texas university's campus because it mocked Christianity and the Baptist faith. Baylor is a Baptist school.

"Why was Rand Paul a member of a secret society that called the Holy Bible 'a hoax,' that was banned for mocking Christianity and Christ?" Conway's campaign asks in a new statewide ad.

Rand Paul: I'm "a pro-life Christian"; denies worshiping "Aqua Buddha"

Paul has called the claim "ridiculous" and said he was "never involved with kidnapping." During a Saturday debate, Conway repeated the allegation against Paul--triggering one of the angriest exchanges of the 2010 campaign season. "You know, Jack, you know how we tell when you're lying? It's when your lips are moving. OK?" Paul sputtered. "You're going to stand over there and accuse me of a crime for 30 years ago from some anonymous source?" He added: "Jack, have you no decency? Have you no shame?"

Paul describes himself as a "pro-life Christian" and says his faith is "something very personal to me, my wife, my kids."

Rand Paul: Under KY law,can't run for Senate & President on same ballot

So, game over then? Hardly. Paul's best-case scenario appears to be convincing the Kentucky Republican Party to abandon its current May 2016 primary: the state party could instead award delegates through a new presidential caucus that would be held in March 2016. But Paul would find himself back in the same double-listing pickle come November 2016 if he were to win the GOP's presidential nomination. That, of course, would be a problem Paul would love to have.

Even if all else fails, Paul could simply sit out his home state's presidential primary. The Kentucky law prevents a candidate from being listed on the same state ballot twice, but it doesn't bar a candidate from competing in contests in the rest of the country.

Robert Goforth: Self-description: Christian; father; veteran; conservative

Robert is running for Kentucky's Governor because he wants to give back to the state and the people that helped him to succeed in life.

Robert grew up in poverty, enlisted in the U.S. Army when he became of age, and served as a combat engineer. Robert put himself through college at the University of Kentucky, and graduated from pharmacy school, becoming a Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.).

Robert is committed to a people-first agenda that values working families, small business owners, and seniors.

Scott Walker: Pray for Kentucky, that we will be blessed

Steve Beshear: Focus on helping people instead of on keeping power

And out here in the rest of the country, too often office holders and voters have let themselves get caught up in this "take no prisoners" approach to politics. We're losing the ability to listen; we're losing the ability to treat each other's opinions with respect and to overcome differences. We must resolve not to let that happen here in Kentucky. We must remember that we are Kentuckians first and Democrats and Republicans second.

Steven Cox: Criminalize pork-barrel bills

Steven Cox: Socially progressive, fiscally conservative

Wesley Morgan: 100 % Trump supporter: "I'm so anti-Democrat"

Wesley Morgan: Supported Democrat after 2018 primary loss

"Tonight the GOP lost a true conservative and patriot," he wrote. "I will no longer be associated with the Republican Party."

Wesley Morgan: Filed bill making it harder to remove Confederate statues

"It's just not right," said the lawmaker. "I'm a strong believer that if you fail to recognize history, you are doomed to repeat it." Morgan has filed legislation to make it harder to remove and relocate Confederate statues in the state.

Andy Beshear: I have faith in God and faith in us

Andy Beshear: Learned the values of family, faith, and public service

Kelly Craft: Put American first by demanding transparency from UN

Mike Harmon: I seek His guidance both personally and politically

Andy Beshear: My faith teaches me to love my neighbor as myself

Andy Beshear: Assembly should be thoughtful, prayerful about legislation

We have seen this teamwork in the east following the historic flooding in 2022 that tragically took the lives of 45 Kentuckians. While we can never understand the "why" in these moments, we can always see God in the response. We see God in the strength, resilience and compassion of our people. That compassion is still on display as we continue to make progress on seven high-ground communities.

Andy Beshear: Time to reintroduce the world to our New Kentucky Home

Pamela Stevenson: Put God back in schools? Put Christ back in Christians

She said the lawmaker is a friend and pastor but she couldn't let the moment be lost. "I get irritated because in 1962 life for African American and brown people sucked," Stevenson said. "You could be lynched, raped, you couldn’t walk down the street, you had no freedom."

"You want to tell me about putting God back in schools? Well, put Christ back in Christians," Stevenson said. "Don't you dare ever propose to know what it's like to be less than, what it's like to be in a country that disowns you, what it's like to be lynched, what it's like to be raped, what it's like to be a nothing."

Andy Beshear: For too many today the American dream is a hallucination

Andy Beshear: God saves his biggest challenges for the strongest of people