210. Giving credit where credit is due: Richie Farmer

As a voting member of the Kentucky Democratic Party State Central Executive Committee, I am committed to electing Democrats at all levels of government, believing, as I generally do, that in nearly every instance, the Democratic candidate more readily represents my views than will any Republican. Admittedly, some of my views tend well to the left of some of those Democrats, so for a Republican, I tend to be out in left field, over the fence, and deep into pastures not tred by many others.

Having said all that, I want to give credit where credit is due. As regular readers know, I have a passionate stance against The Wall being built between Mexico and the United States. My views on immigration admittedly fall to the extreme left. Very few if any politicians share my views in toto and none that I have voted for in recent memory would get a A+ 100% rating from me on this issue. Some agree here and others there. Notably President Bush and I share some views on a guest worker program. In the final year of the NBC series West Wing, presidential candidate Arnie Vinnick, the Republican, introduced a measure on guest workers which I would have supported, a measure which was intended to intimidate his latino opponent, Matt Santos. To date, none of the current crop of real-live Ds or Rs running for president have presented anything near faux-candidate Vinnick's proposal, except maybe Mike Gravel.

But, I digress.

I am on the mailing list of the Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, or KFTC, which is self-described as a "statewide citizens social justice organization working for a new balance of power and a just society." The latest mailing was a Voter Guide for next month's statewide elections, which include a race for Agriculture Commissioner, an office currently held by Richie Farmer, a Republican originally from Clay County and a former star of that county's high school basketball team, and later one of the Unforgettables on UK's basketball teams from 1988 to 1992, with his collegiate basketball career ending with the greatest college basketball game ever played, Kentucky losing to Duke 104 to 103, a game which also ended the legendary career of WHAS announcer Cawood Ledford.

But, I digressed again, and in a big way, but that was a passionate digression, as my five faithful readers will remember I have written about The Game, Richie Farmer, and Cawood before.

Anyway, KFTC's Voter Guide included a question to the candidates for Agriculture Commissioner on immigration which read, "What is your position on the current discussion around immigration policy as it relates to Kentucky's farm community?"

Commissioner Farmer, a Republican, offered the following response: "I believe that Federal immigration laws should be enforced. I also believe, however, that there must be some recognition of the need for producers to have a steady and legal source of farm labor. There has been a lot of shouting back and forth about these matters, but I believe that if we would all just listen more to each other, we can find a way to address both issues."

And that however in his response is telling and the words following that however make this an acceptable answer in my book. So, this entry is to give credit where credit is due.