Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Kentucky Primary Day


Today is primary election day in Kentucky. I and others throughout the Commonwealth of Kentucky get to head to our voting precincts and vote in our respective party primaries. We have a governor's race this year in addition to races for secretary of state, agriculture commissioner and state treasurer that we'll make the final decisons for on November 6.

In Kentucky running for governor is similar to the presidency. You choose a running mate who will serve as the lieutenant governor if you win. In the governor's race the candidate I was supporting dropped out so I had to take a fresh look at the various gubernatorial candidates we had on the Dem side and choose a new one.

There were three of them I wasn't voting for under ANY circumstances and the one I did settle on, Steve Beshear had as his running mate a guy I'm still pissed at in state Senator Dr. Daniel Mongiardo. Mongiardo narrowly lost a US Senate race to Jim Bunning in 2004, but I'm still majorly agitated at him for writing and sponsoring the anti-marriage equality amendment in 2004 that is tragically enshrined in our state constitution.

I found it deliciously ironic when Mongiardo erased his deficit with a few weeks to go thanks to a series of Bunning missteps that the GOP hit him with their standard gay baiting smear tactics. But my anger at Mongiardo takes a backseat to us getting the Governor's Mansion in Frankfort back from Ernie Fletcher.

The man who in 2003 campaigned on the slogan 'Clean Up The Mess in Frankfort' created one of his own. He pardoned 14 members of his administration when they were indicted by a Franklin County grand jury over the merit hiring scandal for alegedly conspiring to hire, fire, demote, or transfer state workers for political reasons. He also invoked the Fifth Amendment when he was called to testify.

Oh well, let the campaign begin. Need to clear my schedule so I can go to the Fancy Farm picnic on August 4. They serve up great barbecue and political rhetoric to go with it.