85. From Frankfort to Pikeville

Frankly, it was a good idea. After the gubernatorial filing deadline, Kentucky Democratic Party Chair Jerry Lundergan had all seven candidates for governor and lieutenant governor into his office to sign what he called a "Unity Pledge." The pledge was to run a clean race, refrain from attacking each other, and to support whoever eventually wins the Democratic Primary, whether on May 22, or in the sometime-later Run-Off (itself an example of the legislature failing to come to grips with local governments' economic realities, forcing about 40% of the costs of the run-off, by some estimated at $3,000,000.00, onto the 120 County Clerks and Fiscal Courts across the Commonwealth).

So, at a debate in Frankfort last night, the guy I am supporting, Jonathan Miller, decided to violate the pledge. He went after W. Bruce Lunsford and his so-called "Blueprint," a blueprint that apparently wasn't his, but rather was that of Jim Davis, an unsuccessful Democratic candidate for governor in Florida in 2006. Miller accused his opponent of plagiarism. There is strong evidence supporting Miller's accusation given that more than a few of the paragraphs in Lunsford's "Blueprint" are copied, word-for-word, comma-for-comma, from Davis'. Joe Biden had a problem like this once although I don't think he built his entire presidential camapign around someone else's work, as apparently Lunsford has done.

The question has become if the ideas are good ideas which have not been tried in Kentucky, but should be assuming they have merit, shouldn't it be okay for a politician to introduce those same ideas into the discussion? I think the answer to that is yes, it is okay to introduce those ideas. Rewrite them as your own, in your own words, or copy them verbatim (as Lunsford did) and then cite to a source, such as the "Jim Davis' 2006 Campaign for Governor of Florida," or something like that (as Lunsford did not). Of course, we do not know the merits of such a plan as Mr. Davis never became Governor Davis. As such, they are only ideas (or blueprints) whose mettle is yet untested - unless of course Mr. Davis lifted them from some successful gubernatorial campaign in yet another state, where they have indeed been tried and determined successful.

Truthfully, many of those of us who were there the day the Chair rolled the Unity Pledge out, with all fourteen in attendance at one point or another, were not quite sure such a commitment could be met, but the intentions were noble if nothing else. Of course, as the Chair has a number of detractors across the state, at least amongst the politically active, some of those doubted the true intentions of the Chair from the beginning, saying he was only trying to protect those who might be favorable toward him a new administration. They would be Lunsford, Henry, or Richards, all of whom have baggage in some peoples' eyes, some more than others. I'll add here that Henry and Richards are both friends of mine, Henry especially so. Whether this is the case or not, I think the Chair's idea was a good one, especially the part about Democrats coming together in the fall to support the Democratic nominee in their race against the Republican nominee, who at this point, will likely be the incumbent Ernie Fletcher, who when elected in 2003 was the first Republican since Louie B. Nunn was elected in 1967 to make it to the Governor's Mansion.

For the record, it is my intent to do this fall what the Chair asked of the candidates - that is to support whoever the nominee is, even if it is Otis "Bullman" Hensley, who is it most unlikely to be.

Changing gears, kind of, this weekend I will be going down into Otis "Bullman" Hensley's territory, to Pikeville (one of the proverbial four corners of the Commonwealth, most often heard in the expression "From Maysville to Mayfield and Pikeville to Paducah"), stopping in West Liberty along the way to see a friend. Pikeville hosts the Hillbilly Days Festival at several venues, including Main Street (the same Main Street written about in the last entry, where US 23, US 119, US 460, and KY 80 all share the roadway) for the 31st year, dating back to my senior year of high school at Durrett. I've been a few times over the years and am looking forward to it, although I will only be there on Saturday for the end of it. It starts today in the City Park and runs through Saturday evening. The big event is the parade at 2pm on Saturday, which starts at the Library on the south side of the winding town and ends at the Social Security office on the northside. It is a pretty sure bet that all those at last night's debate in Frankfort will be found somewhere along the parade route Saturday in Pikeville.

Thankfully, the Primary - at least the pre Run-Off Primary - is about 5 weeks away.