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Political BLOG |
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Joe Arnold
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October 2009 ArchivesI've been getting this question a lot: "Does anyone know what happens if some of the Ford plants have workers who pass the contract, while others reject it? Will it be honored only on a plant-by-plant basis, or does it have to be company-wide?" And here's the answer after I consulted with Local 862 President Rocky Comito: Like most elections, the UAW election counts all the votes of its 41,000 Ford members, and a simpl... The view outside of the Ford/UAW contract modifications has focused on two concessions, 1) the salary freeze of entry level workers and 2) that UAW members would not be able to strike over the amount of improvements to their wages and benefits. In other words UAW members would be allowed to strike if Ford was lowering their wages and benefits, but would not be allowed to strike over wages and benefits if Ford was i... Republican Trey Grayson has been far busier on the rubber chicken circuit than the media circuit thus far in his U.S. Senate run, but his campaign's new website offers the best definition yet of his priorities and how the primary campaign could develop. >> Continue reading: Grayson website takes positions on key issues to GOP voters In one of his strongest floor speeches to date against the Democrats' health care reform plans, Senator Mitch McConnell came out swinging Wednesday. Now that Democrat Senator Harry Reid is forging ahead with the "public option" in the Senate, McConnell will be busy doing what he does best, counting the votes for each version or compro... A combat veteran and Lt. Col. in the Kentucky National Guard is now setting his sights on the 3rd District Congressional seat held by Democrat John Yarmuth since 2007. Republican Todd Lally is also a UPS pilot who has appeared on coverage of the Thunder Over Louisville air show. He joins nurse Marilyn Parker as potential candidates in the G... Rand Paul supporters have turned the cameras on an opposition research tracker, presumably from the Trey Grayson campaign, who was videotaping Paul flipping pancakes at a charity breakfast. Watch the YouTube video here. The tracker remains stonefaced and concentrates on his own video camera as a Paul supporter attempts to interview him and provide him breakfast. A... Days after Democrat Governor Steve Beshear dismissed Republicans' proposed constitutional amendments on expanding gaming as "cynical" politics, Beshear appointed a Republican Senator to a judgeship, thereby removing him from the Senate, and potentially weakening the GOP Senate majority. CNHI News Service's Ronnie Ellis offers an unvarnished view of ...
From the Associated Press.... University of Kentucky basketball icon Richie Farmer is considering running for governor on the Republican ticket.
U.S. Rep. Baron Hill may still face a Congressional fight against Republicans Todd Young or Mike Sodrel in 2010, but Eric Bradner with the Evansville Courier & Press says the Seymour Democrat is stoking rumors that he may run for Governor in 2012 by accepting "an invitation to speak Nov. 7 at the Montgomery County Democratic Party's annual Jeffer... Calling Republican Senate candidate Rand Paul, "The Kentucky Positive for Online Gambling," gambling911.com sees Paul as a friend in a Bluegrass state that has been hostile to Internet wagering websites.
The campaign finance reports of Kentucky's U.S. Senate candidates reveal that Democrat Jack Conway and Republican Trey Grayson are the chosen candidates of some heavy hitters within their respective national parties. As reported in House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., is backing state Attorney General Jack Conw...
As a YouTube audio recording echoed across the Bluegrass earlier this month, Lt. Gov. Daniel Mongiardo explained that he missed a scheduled appearance with Governor Steve Beshear because of difficulties returning from a campaign fundraiser in Chicago. But, Mongiardo's campaign is now criticizing the Jack Conway campaign for the amount of out-of-state campaign cash it raised in the most recent quarter. Though Attorney General ...
"We're not here to to cram anything down anybody's throat." That's not Ford Motor talking, but the International President of the United Auto Workers, Ron Gettelfinger, in a one-on-one interview Changes include a wage freeze for entry leve...
Louisville Metro Councilman and Democratic mayoral candidate Jim King and his ex-wife, Rebecca King have asked a Jefferson County Family Court Judge to seal divorce papers to keep "intensely private matters" from being made public. It's a question of risk. The Centers for Disease Control and American Academy of Pediatrics have for years recommended that thimerosal be removed from all childhood vaccines "as soon as possible." Yet, the mercury-based preservative is still used in most seasonal and H1N1 vaccines. So, what's worse, the risk of the vaccine or the risk of influenza? David Riggle of Louisville is back on his feet after the Swine Flu k... I just spoke a few minutes ago with leaders of United Auto Workers Local 862, who acknowledge they are nervous whether local union members will approve of several revisions to the existing contract with Ford. UAW International President Ron Gettelfinger, who once led the UAW here, will be in Louisville at the Fern Valley Road union hall on Sunday morning to make his case for the concessions and revisions. It comes a couple of d... The campaign for Jim Bunning's U.S. Senate seat has been one bizarre chapter after another, starting with "One tough S*O*B" at Fancy Farm, then "I don't need this job, f*** it," on YouTube, and now "He's not a Kentuckian." After Sec. of State Trey Grayson told WYMT-TV in Hazard that Rand Paul is "an outsider, he's not a Kentuck...
We've heard the Abraham Lincoln quote a lot as America marks the 200th anniversary of his Kentucky birth. "I too, am a Kentuckian," the Republican patron saint is quoted as saying as he promised not to abandon his principles. Now, Kentucky's Republican primary for U.S. Senate is heating up with Secretary of State Trey Grayson dismissi... Democratic Governor Steve Beshear is poised to appoint another Republican to a coveted position? Expanded gaming opponent and Republican David Williams is behind the effort to let Kentuckians vote on a constitutional amendment to allow expanded gambling in the Commonwealth? Isn't that a campaign pledge of the Democratic Governor? What in the wide wide world of sports is going on here? It's a high stak...
When is the last time you heard of jobs being shipped into the United States? According to a Bloomberg report, Ford will shift the manufacturing of its Kuga compact SUV from Saarlouis, Germany to the Louisville Assemblly Plant in October, 2011. >> Continue reading: FORD: New report says SUV's built in Louisville will be exported to Europe
Somewhat buried in the tit-for-tat news releases from the Mongiardo and Conway campaigns on Wednesday was an allegation by Conway's spokesman that Mongiardo lied about why he missed a scheduled appearance with Gov. Steve Beshear in the days following the YouTube release of an audiotape purportedly of Mongiardo bashing Beshear. "It is important for a U.S. Senate candidate to be able to raise money outside of Kentucky,at actual fund... Someday the U.S. Senate campaign will turn to the candidates' stand on the issues. Until then, the campaign managers of both the Jack Conway and Daniel Mongiardo campaigns have been in full spin mode for months about other stuff. Based on quotes in news releases Wednesday, imagine a debate between Mark Riddle, spokesman for Jack Conway, and Kim Geveden, spokesman for Daniel Mongiardo. Geveden: (We now know that Jac... Kentucky's unemployment rate dropped from 11.2% to 10.9% last month, but a state analyst says that decline is deceiving. The chief labor market analyst of the Office of Employment and Training says a .3% drop in Kentucky's unemployment rate does not reflect more jobs, but people who have been unemployed for so long they have dropped out of the labor force. In fact, Dr. Justine Detzel,says Kentucky suffered "the biggest monthly...
The Mongiardo Senate campaign says it will decide in the next few days "whether to file a formal complaint with the Federal Election Commission and call for a thorough investigation into possible illegal conduct by Attorney General Jack Conway's campaign." That's after the Conway campaign did not deny that it was involved in the creation or content of a YouTube video that criticized Lt. Gov. Daniel Mongiardo. To be clear, th... Facing questions about how his libertarian brand of Republicanism jibes with socially conservative Republicans, Senate candidate Rand Paul issued a statement today supporting today's Pro-Life Day of Silent Solidarity in schools, and "pledges to do everything in his power as a United States Senator to end abortion." But when the National Right to Life committee sends out their candidate questionnaire, will Paul be able to agree with eno... After Courier-Journal columnist Joe Gerth questioned whether Republican Senate candidate Rand Paul's libertarian-leaning views would be a "tough sell" to socially conservative Republicans, the Paul campaign issued the following response: "This morning, columnist Joe Gerth said Republican Senate candidate Rand Paul needed to reconcile his positions on s...
In the latest salvo between prominent Re...
Now that Norton Healthcare and Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield have agreed to a new three year contract after an ugly dispute that affected some 300,000 people in Kentuckiana, Kentucky House Speaker Pro Te... Now that Medicare has lifted its ban on insurance companies telling senior citizens how That's not a surprise, as the "gag order" involved three factors of great importance to McConnell: fighting for the conservatives' response to President Obama's health care plans, defending ...
The Daniel Mongiardo Senate campaign says their analysis of a YouTube video attacking Mongiardo proves that the Jack Conway Senate campaign is somehow involved in the "dirty tricks." In a presentation to several reporters Monday, spokesman Kim Geveden said: "the evidence we have gathered and prove to you that Attorney General Jack Conway's campaign is neck deep in political dirty tricks. "Specifically, Conway's campaign... In the Sunday Louisville Courier-Journal, the newspaper's former political columnist Al Cross revealed that Attorney General Jack Conway loaned his own campaign more than $100,000 in third quarter fundraising. (Cross is now the director of Rand Paul says he has 14,000 donors, most of them online. And at least one loyal supporter is taking his support online, in the form of a website that gives the false impression
The mayoral term limit proposal floated by Democratic Metro Councilman Brent Ackerson is gaining momentum. KY State Rep. Steve Riggs of Louisville wants the Jefferson County delegation and Mayor Jerry Abramson to discuss the idea, but says eventually it should be up to the citizens of Louisville Metro to decide. Here's a news release:
Frankfo...
It's exactly what Mitch McConnell said he would do. On the campaign trail one year ago, the Senate Minority Leader was blunt and bragadocious talking about bringing home the bacon to the Commonwealth: "Under the Constitution, every Senator has one vote, but I assure you every Senator is not equal," McConnell told a lunchtime... I just got off the phone with Jack Conway's campaign manager, Mark Riddle, who says that it appears someone has tried to hack into the campaign's Facebook and Twitter accounts. Click here for the pdf file supplied by the Conway campaign Mark Riddle says a staff member...
The third quarter fundraising results are in from the four major U.S. Senate candidates in Kentucky. Rand Paul is the third quarter champion, but its a long way from the May primary. According to the campaigns, here are the money standings: 1) 2) Who is the favorite in the Kentucky GOP primary for Jim Bunning's U.S. Senate seat? Candidate A raised $1,010,668 in the third quarter, and Candidate B raised $642,857. While Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson has been considered the Republican establishment pick for the nomination (Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and 22 other GOP Senators supported Grayson at a D.C. fundraiser last month), he is Candidate B in thi... As WHAS11 reported Wednesday, because the Louisville Zoo suspended train rides after a train derailment on June 1, the zoo has not had the benefit of train ride revenue, roughly $400,000 per year. Still no word on the estimated cost from lawsuits, settlements or increased insurance premiums emanating from derailment injuries... Late Wednesday night, the campaign of Republican Senate hopeful Rand Paul released its Federal Election Commission report for third quarter fundraising, confirming more than $1 million in three months. Now, Kentucky pols are anxiously awaiting fellow Republican Secretary of Sta...
One of AOL's top stories Tuesday ni...
Two and a half hours after Lt. Gov. Daniel Mongiardo's campaign announced its best fundraising quarter, the campaign of Attorney General Jack Conway rained on Mongiardo's parade, saying it did even better. Mongiardo: "I am humbled by the outpouring of support from the thousands of people all across this Commonwealth." Conway campaign: "We continue to be humbled by the outpouring of support across Kentucky." Here are th... For whatever reason, October has yielded a bumper crop of e-mails. I have spent the last few days weeding through about 1,000 in my inbox. And, I almost missed this one, which links President Obama's Nobel Peace Prize to severe winter weather.
Presidential Nobel Peace Prizes Reveal Winter Weather Trend State College, Pa. -- 9 October 2009 -- AccuWeather... Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway shares a common bond with Eleanor Jordon and Virginia Woodward. All three Louisville Democrats came up short in their respective bids for the Third Congressional District seat. Conway lost to Anne Northup in 2002. But, Jordan (lost to Northup in 2000) and Woodward (primary loss to Chris Gorman in 1998) are backing Conway's opponent in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, Lt. Gov. Dan Mongiardo. ...
As blogged about last week, it appears the Louisville mayor's race will be quite expensive, with two candidates, Jim King and Greg Fischer each already reporting more than $200,000 raised in campaign contributions. When filing last week's blog, I had only received a news release from Fischer's campaign. Since then, I receive... This is what campaigns are all about, pointing out the differences between candidates and campaigns. Recent endorsements in Kentucky's U.S. Senate race are stark. In accepting a campaign donation from the of the National Right to Work Committee PAC, the Rand Paul campaign said the "NRTWC supports candidates best suited to protect Americans from labor union abuses." Meanwhile, the Western Kentucky Central Labor Council has vote...
I have admittedly devoted little attention to Republican Todd Young's candidacy for Democrat Baron Hill's seat ... The "Czar Accountability and Reform Act of 2009" hits on conservatives' concerns that the Obama administration is circumventing the Senate's "advise and consent" role on Presidential appointments by naming the "czars." The New York Times updated the controversy this week. Kentucky Congressman Brett Guthrie is a co-sponsor, saying "Czars ... Jay Blanton, the former University of Kentucky spokeperson who has been running interference for Gov. Steve Beshear, is moving to the top communications job at Keeneland. The Governor's office is reorganizing the office, with Policy Director Katie Allison Dailinger now supervising the state's communications, but with current spokeswoman Jill Midkiff now joined by one of Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson's spokespeople, Kerri Richardson... As reported by Joe Gerth in the Louisville Courier-Journal, the first quarter of fundraising in the Louisville mayor's race shows an expensive campaign ahead, with two Democrats, Jim King and Greg Fischer each raising more than $200,000. (A news release from Fischer is below). A check of the online database of the Kentucky Registry of Election... Here are the four different spins on the Rasmussen poll of Kentucky's U.S. Senate race, from the four main candidates. Daniel Mongiardo "The Rasmussen poll varies widely from two recent independent polls that show Daniel Mongiardo as the strongest Democrat against Republicans Trey Grayson or Rand Paul. No matter how you slice it, the General Election will be very competitive. The fundamental question for Dem... A new Rasmussen Reports poll of Kentucky's U.S. Senate race shows both Republicans Trey Grayson and Rand Paul besting Democrat Dan Mongiardo in the general election. Democrat Jack Conway, however, is deadlocked with Grayson in the general election poll, and holds a 4 percen...
Late Show host David Letterman says he was the victim of an extortion attempt after he engaged in sexual affairs with several female staff members. "This morning, I did something I've never done in my life. I had to go downtown and testify before a grand jury," Letterman said during the taping of Thursday's show. In Kentucky, the Letterman case wil... The Rand Paul Senate campaign is beating its collective chest after raising $1 million in the third quarter of 2009. While other campaigns may take a while to release 3rd quarter reports, the Paul campaign routinely posts its day to day totals. "The good news is we raised $55,000 the last two days with just a few phone calls and emails. The great news is that with this million dollar quarter behind us, Rand Paul can continue to shift ... A quick update after a second audio production featuring the purported voice of Dan Mongiardo criticizing Steve Beshear was released Wednesday. While the release of the first tape might be chalked up to a prank, this second production makes it clear that this is an orchestrated attempt to harm Daniel Mongiardo's run for Senate. No doubt, more versions of the same audio will be released. |
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WHAS11.com Political Blog
WHAS11 Reporters blog the latest political news from the campaign trail and beyond. 
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