Post Kentucky Election Analysis

Now that the elections in Kentucky are finished until March of 2016, I would like to offer my analysis.  The main contest of course being for the Governor's seat.  The polling since this past May showed that Jack Conway held the lead.  This of course would cause one that took the polls to heart to be flabbergasted at what transpired last night.  Matt Bevin the Republican won convincingly.  It wasnt a landslide, but it was to the point where it couldn't even be contested.  Democrats, which usually benefit from the presence of third party candidates, are already complaining that Independent Candidate Drew Curtis cost Jack Conway the election.  

As you can see, even if everyone that voted for Drew Curtis voted for Jack Conway, it still would not have been near enough to close the gap.  This is the age old and debunked argument that both parties have used to justify their continued attempts to discriminate against third party candidate challenges.

In other Kentucky election news, It was not all bad news for the Kentucky Democrat Party as Alison Lundergan Grimes keeps her seat.

Winning for the Democratic Party last night was Andy Beshear, son of exiting Governor Steve Beshear who claims he ran and won on his own merit but anyone with two brain cells to rub together would know otherwise.  This would be the tightest race of the night as Beshear would win by approximately 2200 votes.

Other than those two offices, the Kentucky GOP ran the tables with the rest of the offices.  Matt Bevin becomes only the second GOP Governor in the last 40 years.  Sixty of the last sixty-eight years in Kentucky have been under a Democrat Governor.  This begs the question, why has Kentucky seemingly made this transition toward a more conservative stance.  Typically Kentucky has voted GOP when it comes to national seats like the President, Senator, US Representative, but usually has voted Democrat when it comes to state positions.

With Governor-Elect Matt Bevin set to take control, many pundits are already spreading widespread hysteria and apocalyptic warnings about the actions Matt Bevin wants to take.  They are already warning users of KYNECT, the state instituted healthcare exchange, that Bevin wants to make people sick and kill them by taking their healthcare away from them.  Just a disclaimer, I am one of those people that is registered for health insurance via KYNECT.  They are already spreading fear about the state's pension program and Bevin's ideas about switching the state's pension program over to 401K type programs.  People are already exclaiming that Bevin hates police, fire, and ems.  This of course is a complete joke because Bevin is a Veteran and I havent ran across many if at all any veterans that dislike our Police, Fire, and EMS.

No doubt the election last night sent shock waves and messages to the political establishment throughout the state.  However I think many are over exaggerating changes that are perceived.  Matt Bevin might have promised a lot of things to get elected however, if I were a betting man, I would say that more than half of the changes he said he would make wont even be considered, and the other half would be spread out over the next 4 years.  I guaranty you that he is already considering being re-elected in 2019.

Ill close with how I spent my evening last night.  I chose to attend the post election party that Fark.com founder and CEO Independent Drew Curtis had in Lexington last night.  It was fun with beer and good people just having a good ol time.

2015 Kentucky Governor General Election Q&A

Back in May, I put up a Kentucky Governor Primary Election Q&A post for the benefit of the voters of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.  All GOP and Democratic Party candidates were solicited and invited to participate by answering the same set of questions and have their responses side by side posted in a single post so that people still undecided can have an opportunity to see what their answers to non mainstream media sponsored questions were.  Unfortunately none of the GOP candidates nor the Democratic party candidates responded...However, Independent candidate Drew Curtis, Fark.com Creator out of Lexington saw my impassioned pleas for participation on social media and decided that he would participate even though my initial attempts did not include him..

The Same Invitation to participate in this blog post was again offered to GOP candidate Matt Bevin, Democratic Party candidate Jack Conway, and Independent candidate Drew Curtis.. Deja vu, Drew Curtis was the only candidate to respond with his answers to questions asked.  Without further ado...Here are Drew Curtis's answers to once again non mainstream media questions from a common man like me.  Please Enjoy and share this with your friends and family on Social Media.


1) As the State of Kentucky continues to see problems with drugs such as heroin continuing to claim lives and create headaches for law enforcement, many claim that the "War on Drugs" is to blame, many claim
that we arent spending enough on enforcement, what do you see as the solution?

"This is without a doubt one of the most difficult problems facing Kentucky.  If it were easy to fix we'd have a solution already.  

I'm still exploring this issue but so far I'm considering solutions along the following lines:

- Massachusetts is working on a pilot program to work on a similar problem in their state, I'm keeping an eye on how well it works but I'm hopeful.  

- Decriminalizing addiction.  I realize this is vague statement but we need to reach addicts in order for them to receive treatment, we should not treat them as criminals"


2) The Commonwealth of Kentucky for its entire existence has always seen the eastern part of the state particularly the south east portion typically known as the coal fields of Kentucky wrought with poor economic conditions even during the height of the coal industry, do you see more government or less government intervention as a solution here and what do you have planned to ease burdens in this part of the state?

"Eastern Kentucky is hungry for technology.  As the only candidate for Governor who has personally built broadband networks and is a computer programer, I am intimately familiar with technology.  Eastern Kentucky shares a similar geographic profile to Boulder Colorado - however turning communities into tech hubs requires more than just running broadband out to them (although it is a good start).

I am a strong proponent of less direct government intervention - I would prefer the private sector provide and implement solutions.  Government should assist when and where it is needed.  "


3) During the last 12 months, the nation has seen attacks on our Law Enforcement over the incidents in Ferguson, Missouri Baltimore, Maryland, and in New York.  As Governor and chief executor of laws in this state, what will you do to ensure that moral and support stay high with local and state police?

"I don't have any solutions at hand for this but I would like to ensure moral and support for law enforcement.  I welcome anyone who has working implementations to contact me so we can take a look together"


4) People believe that the Governor should be viewed as any other elected position as a servant to the people.  Do you believe that the Governor should be holding more local public meetings with the people so that they can be given their voice for him to hear?

"Yes - strongly.  Although this can be accelerated by being more open online as well.  As an Independent Governor I will have an open door policy.  Ideas from both parties are welcome. "


5) Education costs in this state continues to rise along with other schools in every state in this country.  What will you do as Governor to lead on suppressing that rise in cost?

"I do not have a solution for this at this time.  However there is no additional money available for anything.  I am asked often if I support free community college tuition and pre-K education.  The answer is yes but Kentucky doesn't have the ability to finance either of those for the forseable future.  Leadership from both parties has left Kentucky's finances in shambles.  The only news here that is relevant to the question asked is that money isn't available to increase spending. "


6) The 10th Amendment to the US Constitution reads. "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the
people."  What will you do as Governor to ensure that the Federal Government doesn't continue to encroach on the rights of the people of the Commonwealth?

"This is actually somewhat complicated depending on what we're talking about.  Let's examine a few examples:

- Laws preventing gay marriage were ruled unconstitutional.  This means all laws state and federal were thrown out.  State laws cannot mandate something that has been declared unconstitutional.  As a result, county clerks must issue marriage licenses.  

- When state and federal laws conflict, a state official must defend the state law against the federal law.  Currently state law allows the growing of hemp.  Federal law says growing hemp is illegal.  If push comes to shove, a Governor must fight to preserve the law that allows hemp to be grown.  Period.

- Acquiescing to a federal law or mandate does not relinquish the right to go against it later.  The EPA has mandated new regulations on emissions to be met by 2030 (along with a billion dollars in investment in Appalachia which I strongly approve of).  Currently it appears that Kentucky is going to easily be in compliance with this mandate.  However, our agreement to comply - for now - with Federal guidelines does not mean that we will always choose to continue to comply in the future should things change down the road.   We are not giving up our right to challenge EPA guidelines in the future."



7) With so much on the plate of Law Enforcement in the state, what do you consider to be priority in order to maximize the effiency of the Law Enforcement and ensure maximum freedom and liberty for the citizens?

"I am open to suggestions on how to implement this from both Law Enforcement and the public.  As luck would have it, everyone wants an effective and efficient law enforcement.  Given that we have a common goal, I believe we stand a good chance to make improvements everyone will like."

#September11th Eve Thoughts

On this eve of the 14th Anniversary of the 9/11 Attacks.. I have some thoughts..Im sure there will be those that agree and disagree alike.

I am left with the question of, When is enough going to be enough?.. How many more of our finest men and women in our Military need to die, come home maimed, and forever altered before we decide that we have gotten our so called "revenge" for the attack 14 years ago...

I am left with the question of, When is enough going to be enough?... How many more of our constitutional civil rights are we going to have to forfeit in order to feel "safe"...to feel "protected"....to feel "secure".....

I am left with the question of, When is enough going to be enough?... How much more debt do we need to pile on before we understand that we are following the path of the former USSR..of Rome...That global military occupation and imperialism has brought down once great nations and brings unattended consequences to be paid later down the road....

I am left with the question of. When is enough going to be enough?... How many more US House of Representatives, Senators, and Presidents are we going to elect before we understand that electing the same people and the same type of politicians over and over will not allow us to properly move on from the events of that horrible day 14 years ago...

We continue to lose more of our soldiers, we continue to lose more of our constitutional rights....we continue to go into debt....and we continue elect the same fear mongering war hawk type politicians....

WHEN WILL ENOUGH BE ENOUGH???

A Message to #QueenElizabeth II from an American

#FoxNews 2016 #GOPDebate Fallout: Trump vs Kelly

SENATOR #RANDPAUL FILIBUSTERS #PATRIOTACT RENEWAL

TOO CLOSE TO CALL #GOP #KYGOV RACE

2015 #KentuckyGovernor Blog Exclusive

On May 19th, Kentuckians will go to the polls to vote and one of those will be to determine who will be the Democratic and Republican party nominee for Governor.  As I always encourage people to be well informed on the issues and the candidates, I wanted to put together a series of questions that were likely to not be part of any arranged debate or you would hear on TV/Radio.  I extended invitations on social media to the four GOP Candidates of Matt Bevin, Hal Heiner, James Comer and Will T. Scott.  What ended up happening was Drew Curtis an Independent party candidate saw my attempts and decided that he would offer to participate too,  Very appreciative, I went ahead and sent him the same questions that I would have asked the others.  As this week wore on, Hal Heiner's staff responded to me to send them the questions.  Then Matt Bevin's staff contacted me to say they would like to participate as well.  Will T Scott and James Comer never replied to my repeated requests.  The deadline for participation in this blog post was 7pm EDT Today.  As of writing this post, only Independent candidate Drew Curtis successfully submitted replies to the questions asked.  This is disappointing because I wanted the readers especially those in Kentucky to see comparisons of responses in order to better distinguish differences between candidates.  If Matt Bevin or Hal Heiner end up submitting responses they will be included in a later post.  Without further ado, I will list each question along with Curtis' response.

1.  The Second Amendment to the US Constitution is very clear that the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.  Question is where do you stand on individual states having laws on the books that infringe on the individual's right to keep and bear arms?

I'm big on separating "Issues" from solutions so let me take this one apart - the real problem is gun violence not guns.  I am not aware of any workable US-based solutions to gun violence that involve infringing on individual's right to keep and bear arms.  

This would effectively make me a second amendment advocate if we were just talking vanilla "issues".  I'm explaining my thought process here because I want people to know I don't have stances, I've actually thought about these things.  

A more effective way to prevent gun violence would be to deal with the root causes - starting with mental illness.  Laws against guns have no impact on mental illness.  I am not in favor of overly broad or ineffective laws.  

What am I likely to see hit my desk from the legislature?  I'm expecting no bills impacting gun ownership will escape the Senate.  I'm not sure anyone even tried to file one in 2015?  I would love for them to work on mental illness as an issue.

2.  There are laws in the KRS that promote inequality as far as ballot access is concerned.  For certain offices, Democrats and Republicans need only 2 votes to gain access to the ballot, all others need 5000 signatures to gain access to the ballot.  What would you do as Governor to promote a remedy for this?

As the only candidate impacted by this, here is a bit of good news - initially I thought that having to get 5,000 signatures would be a burden, but it turns out it's actually been a useful way to engage people early in the process.  It's not great, mind you, but it's not as bad as I thought.  

I'd probably reduce it down to 1,000 signatures if anything, then require even party candidates to obtain them.  

What am I likely to see hit my desk from the legislature?  I'm pretty sure neither party has any interest in allowing candidates to get elected without party help.  So this is likely moot as well (although I wouldn't mind some discussion around it)

3.  The state of Kentucky saw during the last US Senate Race that KET a publically funded Television Network decide who got to participate in the debate hosted based on THEIR view of who was most popular.  What would you do to encourage Frankfort to pass laws forcing ALL Media outlets and ALL publically funded institutions hosting political debates to welcome ALL appearing on the ballot to participate?

I've been thinking a lot about this and I honestly don't know what a better set of guidelines would look like.  Personally I'd start by talking to KET about why and how they produced their current list of rules to understand what they're trying to accomplish.  

At any rate, Kentucky Sports Radio's debate was by far and away the best debate.

What am I likely to see hit my desk from the legislature?  As I said before, I'm pretty sure neither party has any interest in allowing candidates to get elected without party help.  They enjoy their two-party debate duopoly and there's no way they're willing to give it up. 

4.  Where do you stand on when a human life begins?

Age 22 right after college?

I hit Google to see if there was any consensus - there isn't.  Additionally, I think that question continues to get more complicated as medical advancements continue, and I know that different religious and spiritual traditions also have varied answers on this topic. I don't think people will ever all agree.  I certainly don't know the answer.

I therefore fall back on supporting individual rights, and think that people should make private medical decisions based on their own conscience and the medical advice of their doctors.  That's also my answer on medical marijuana by the way.  It's also Bevin's answer on medical marijuana I believe.  

Abortions are like guns - no one wants a lot of them around but once in awhile you need one.  

What am I likely to see hit my desk from the legislature?  Nothing - the House kills all bills relating to this issue in committee.  

5.  In 2011, Democrats in Wisconsin literally fled the state in order to avoid voting on legislation that they knew that they could not defeat that would weaken the power of Labor Unions in that state.  What would you as Governor do to protect the citizens of the Commonwealth of Kentucky from such political maneuvers that leaves citizens from having proper representation in Frankfort?

As Governor you must act within the law, and from a practical standpoint there is an item in the KY state constitution that prevents anyone from impeding the movement of a legislator during session.  I only found out about this when a legislator used it to get out of a DUI this year.  So we can't prevent what happened in Wisconsin from happening here.  It's stupid but constitutional.

I would hope this specific example would take care of itself in the following election cycle - if voters have a problem with that kind of extreme behavior by legislators they can vote those individuals out of office.  I would.  

As for stopping other potential political maneuvers, I'd have to see what those look like first.  That's not a dodge by the way, I don't think we can predict anything rising to that level.  

What am I likely to see hit my desk from the legislature?  No idea - I'll have to handle this on a case by case basis.  

6.  The first amendment guaranties all individuals the right to their religion.  Do you believe that an individual that owns and operates their own business loses that right as part of being in business for themselves?

DREW CURTIS CHOSE TO ANSWER BOTH 6 AND 7 WITH ONE RESPONSE


7.  Where do you stand on legislation such as Smoking Bans?  Should private business owners not have the ability to decide for themselves if they want to allow smoking just as individual customers have the ability to decide if they want to enter an establishment that allows smoking?  Also do you believe that e-cigarettes/vaping should be a part of such legislation since the end product is not smoke rather than vapor as harmless as steam from something out of the microwave.

This is actually the same question - when should the government impose its will on a large group of people for the betterment of society?  My answer is I'd rather avoid this whenever possible - but any discussions should involve all stakeholders up front. 

The real question is -how- should we construct law?  People ask me if I'm in favor of a Religious Freedom Act - my response is which one?  Compare Indiana's to Utah's - they both do the same thing, but in Utah it started when the LDS church engaged the LGBT community and came up with wording amicable to all parties.  Indiana's version had a loophole you could drive a truck through - namely "belief" being the requisite reason to do -anything- (which is impossible to prove) and requiring the state to provide a reason for having vested interest to stop you from doing it.  Which among other things legalizes Sharia law and the Church of Cannabis, two things I guarantee the law's originators were not in favor of.  Indiana wrote a law that sucked and had far-ranging unintended consequences baked in.  

I'm a big believer in defaults - so on the question of smoking, I believe that a smoking ban should default to -on- with an opt-out for businesses that wish to allow smoking (I'm thinking cigar bars in particular).  And I'd recommend the legislature start looking around for what other states have tried to see if there are any solutions there.

On the issue of religious beliefs of businesses - seems to me legally you could make a case that a sole-proprietorship might be able to have beliefs because legally the business and the owner are the same entity.  Which is dangerous from a personal legal liability standpoint but people are welcome to do whatever they want there.  

However corporations of any other structure can not and do not have legal beliefs.  

What am I likely to see hit my desk? 

Smoking - doesn't ever seem to pass each year, offhand I don't recall which side of the legislature kills it.  If I ever got one, I'd have to decide based on the specific wording.  Maybe adding opt-outs would make it more likely to pass whichever chamber keeps killing it?

Relgious Freedom - same answer.  Because an exact copy of Utah's would have the best chance of surviving scrutiny, I'd advise the legislators to check it out.  An exact copy of Indiana's would be vetoed instantly.


I would again like to thank Drew Curtis for his responses to these questions.  I also appreciate Matt Bevin and Hal Heiner for at least getting back with me even though they did not meet the deadline set to be included in this post.  Please Kentuckians do not go to the polls without being educated on the candidates available to you.  You can find out more about Drew Curtis at his website www.DrewCurtis.com

Updated Upcoming #KyGov Blog Post

Today Hal Heiner, GOP Candidate @HalHeiner on twitter contacted me and provided me with an email address to send the same questions that Drew Curtis @CurtisForGov on twitter and Independent Candidate has already provided answers to.  Still waiting on GOP Candidates Matt Bevin @MattBevin , James Comer @KYComer , and Will T. Scott @WillTScott on twitter to reply.  The deadline is Friday May 15 at 7pm EDT.  Blog will be posted Friday evening 8pm EDT

UPDATED: Matt Bevin contacted me earlier tonight and has accepted to participate in the blog post coming up Friday 5/15 at 8PM EDT,   This just leaves Will Scott @WillTScott and James Comer @KYComer who has not responded. I will accept all participation until 7PM Friday.

Upcoming #KentuckyGovernor Race Post

On May 19th, Kentucky will be heading to the polls and the state's top office will be on the ballot.  I have contacted all 4 GOP Candidates of Matt Bevin, Hal Heiner, Jamie Comer, and Will T. Scott to see if they would be willing to participate in my blog entry on the race and so far none of them have replied yea or nay.  However, Independent candidate Drew Curtis's staff saw my tweet and decided to respond to me which was a complete surprise to me.  My post which will be posted Friday evening the 15th will include Drew's responses to questions along with any of the others that are willing to participate.

Dont Miss it.

#EarthDay and the Liberal Hypocrisy

True #2015 #StateOfTheUnion Address Live 4pm on We Are #Kentucky #Conservative #Radio

Dont miss my true 2015 State of the Union Address Live 4pm on We Are Kentucky Conservative Radio on Spreaker

http://www.spreaker.com/show/wakcr_1 

Debt
Political Correctness
Ferguson
NYPD
Radical Muslim Jihad
Paris Shooting
Obama's Absence
Media self enforced Sharia and Dhimmitude
Fracking effect on Oil/Gas Prices

We Are Kentucky Conservative Radio Welcomes You to 2015

We Are Kentucky Conservative Radio by Virgil Edwards aka The Irvine Patriot is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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