BluegrassBulletin.com

Massie Gloats Over Stevens Decision

Steve Stevens assessed his position when considering the urging of many friends to challenge Thomas Massie for the Fourth District seat in Congress and decided that he would not run.  Massie gave an update on his actions in Congress to a local TEA party group and when asked about Stevens said this:

“I think that rocket blew up on the launch pad,” Massie told the tea party crowd on Monday. “It didn’t even get one inch off the ground. Once you start running the numbers and looking at how that would play out, it would be a replay of races that we have seen before, and I’ll just leave it at that. I’m trying to be gracious.” [Cincinnati.com]

This is gracious?  Stevens said he would not run because he really didn't have the fire in his belly.  That says more about Stevens priorities than Massie's strength.

But this type of attitude, particularly when surrounded by your core group is not uncommon.  In the past comments by George Allen, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney to what they considered loyal core supporters have come back to haunt them.

Massie's report to a TEA party group was that the outcome of a challenge to him would be a "replay".

He may very well avoid a challenge this year and certainly self confidence has become a very important part of the typical candidate's persona of late, but Massie would do well to avoid the trappings of the "typical" candidate and strive for the more humble role of a servant to others, as so many of America's founders did, particularly since his core group cherishes those days so much more than the modern era of political behavior.

Despite his claim of "graciousness", he was not.

Paper Chronicles Widespread Dislike For Massie

When Thomas Massie from Vanceburg ran for Congress in 2012 people thought he stood no chance.  He surprised everybody and won.  Since then people from the Fourth District have been watching to see if he would turn out to be the kind of Congressman we had come to expect.  He didn't and now a challenge is likely.

In an article printed in the Kentucky Enquirer it was reported that Steve Stevens, former head of the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce is exploring a run against Massie and that this announcement brought a standing ovation from Northern Kentucky Business Leaders.

The people of this district have enjoyed a very close relationship with their congressmen.  Jim Bunning was a hand's on kind of guy who took constituent services to very high level.  He was engaged in the community, visible, approachable and though pegged as a tough guy, he and his staff were beloved fixtures showing up everywhere and interested in serving people.

Massie on the other hand remains a virtual stranger to most people except the small group of core TEA party folks that support him.  He isn't a regular at local high school football games, doesn't mingle with the community, has basically ignored the business leaders and local leaders in pursuit of a private agenda pushed by the Ron Paul nay sayers in Congress.

His only appeal is to those people so fed up with government that they see Massie as their personal protester.

But serving the community isn't on Massie's list of things to do.  Instead of representing the district, he represents an oddball ideology which is clearly out of step with the majority of the hard working families in the Northern part of the Commonwealth.

Even Geoff Davis, who began his tenure as a bit of a stranger, knew better than to ignore the people of his distict.  He came to know the leaders that the people had chosen to represent them at the city and county and district level, he worked closely with business leaders and took a very strong conservative stand on the issues of greatest importance to his constituents.

But Massie by contrast spent his first few hours in the new Congress making enemies with leadership.  His sole vote for Justin Amash to be Speaker of The House was out of step with every single other republican in Washington.  But that vote was more than a vow of loyalty to the Ron Paul revolution, it was a slap in the face to the people of the Fourth District.

Not only is a new interstate bridge across the Ohio river a much needed upgrade to our nation's infrastructure, but it would bring millions if not billions of dollars in economic benefit to our community.  Construction and supply businesses would prosper, jobs would be created and a new sense of hopefulness would rise with the bridge structure itself.

In addition, the bridge would connect the Fourth District with Cincinnati, the home of the current Speaker of The House, John Boehner.  Massie's day one slap in the face to the established leadership in the House ruined any chance that he might have had to be effective, though it is doubtful that was ever part of Massie's plan.

Massie is so white hot devoted to his fringe ideology that he blew any chance of getting Boehner to support the bridge project and cast himself in the role of perpetual loser in the world of Washington political contests.  Like it or not, Washington is about politics and politics is a contest of power where those in power use their status to reward friends and punish enemies.  Massie's votes have made the people of this district the enemy so long as they vote to keep him in office.

The only hope for our district to get back on track is to make it clear that we acknowledge our mistake and find a speedy way to correct it.

Is Steve Stevens the right choice?  I don't know yet, but one thing is clear, we need to end the error.

Dems Say "No War On Coal", You Decide

Here's the report today:

In the face of opposition from coal-producing states, President Barack Obama on Tuesday outlined an ambitious plan to combat climate change using executive actions to force power plants to cut carbon pollution.

Obama’s plan has far-reaching implications for coal states such as Kentucky, which ranks third nationally in coal production and uses coal to generate more than 90 percent of the state’s electricity.

Indiana could also be greatly affected, relying on coal for 83 percent of its electricity and, according to the National Mining Association, ranking eighth in coal production.

The president’s plan prompted political leaders aligned with the coal industry to predict economic disaster.

“Declaring a ‘war on coal’ is tantamount to declaring a war on jobs,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said during a floor speech Tuesday. “It’s tantamount to kicking the ladder out from beneath the feet of many Americans struggling in today’s economy.” [Courier Journal]

But one local lawyer who used to also be a coal miner and was last year the democratic nominee for Congress in the fourth district, Bill Adkins, disagrees.

There's no War on Coal - that's a industry fabricated lie spread by Republicans in congress. It's the shame of the UMWA they fell for it in 2012. What's happened to coal is that natural gas was over $15 per million BTU in 2005, but last week it was $3.85 per million BTU. That and advances in technology. The real war is the industry War on Coal Miners, the psyops of the fake War on Coal and the direct frontal assault of Patriot Coal in bankrupting obligations to their employees. Oh, and violating safety regs with impunity.

And it seems that despite his "Friends of Coal" license plate the victor in that contest, Thomas Massie, is a kindred spirit of those working with Barack Obama to destroy the coal industry.

Massie is the proud owner of an electric car and recently looked directly at audience members at a Northern Kentucky luncheon and said that having a friends of coal license plate on an electric car drives republicans nuts, making it clear that coal is what generates the electricity that powers electric cars.  But as we reported earlier that was just another dodge on his part.

Massie, like many other "doomsday preppers" lives off the grid and is very proud of the fact that his house is powered by solar energy, not coal fired electricity.  So unless he is charging his car at some location away from his bunker in the woods, he was intentionally misleading his audience, which likely included people from Duke energy.

Now back to Barack Obama and his plans.  Is the news that he will use "executive orders" or in other words, the kind of powers dictators employ, to kill coal fired generating plants really news?  Only to those who haven't been paying attention.

Is there a war on coal coming from the White House? You betcha.

Rand Paul Has A Good Idea: Build The Dang Bridge

Rand Paul scored points in Northern Kentucky by advocating that the money to replace the Brent Spence bridge come from cuts to foreign aid.  Good idea. Now where have we heard that before?

Dog Catches Car

Thomas Massie racked up a landslide victory to become Geoff Davis' replacement in Congress.  His election was predictable in the heavily republican 4th Congressional District though democrat Adkins perhaps fared a bit better than his severely underfunded campaign might have expected.

The big question now is whether Massie will pursue his own libertarian agenda or represent the will of the people.

He's caught the car he was chasing.  Now what?

As everyone knew all Spring, the winner of the GOP primary would be the next Congressman.  There was virtually no visible campaign from Massie after that so we will now watch very closely to see how he performs.

We republicans certainly hope he becomes a good voice for us in Washington and can grow into the job but the effort to find someone to primary him had already begun before summer officially arrived.

The Fourth District Race

After months of research, a number of conversations with people all across the district and a keen eye trained on the fourth district race from a unique perspective, I have put together an admittedly long, but comprehensive view on how this race has shaped up.

EDITORIAL

I am addressing this post to my fellow republicans in the fourth congressional district.  Next Tuesday you will have choices in the race for Congress.  You might assume that your choices are limited to voting for libertarian/republican Thomas Massie or democrat Bill Adkins.  You are missing something.  You also have the choice of not voting in that race, which I encourage you to consider and here is why.

More Evidence Of Massie Hypocrisy

I have been alerted that Thomas Massie has ordered a $100,000 TESLA electric car for himself.  I called his campaign manager who answered the phone and when I announced who I was, hung up.  I called back and left a message and sent an email.  No response.

Now let's put this together.  Here's a guy who rails against government bailouts but may be spending $100,000 or more to buy a "green energy" car, made in California by a company which is failing after getting half a billion dollars in stimulus from Obama.  This is the same guy who rails against government grants but took tons of dough from the government to start his business.

And in his district there is located the North American Headquarters for Toyota, which makes cars in Georgetown, and just outside his district there is a Ford plant in Louisville.  But he is going to buy an electric car from an Obama company made in California.

Now considering that he only had about $190,000 on hand a month ago (a drop in the bucket in a Congressional race in this district) and has loaned his own campaign just south of $100,000, maybe this explains why he isn't running much in the way of ads, or sending much in the way of mail.  Maybe, just maybe, he is planning to re-pay himself and buy an Obama car.  That might answer Amanda's question "Where is his money going?"

Hello, hello!  Anybody with Massie's campaign who can confirm or dispute this?  If you don't answer your calls and emails I guess you think hypocrisy won't hurt you.

Learning that Massie has no problem taking government money is starting to become a pattern here.

Ethics Problem For Massie?

Candidates for Congress who raise or spend more than $5,000 are required to file a personal financial disclosure statement with the Congressional ethics office by April 20th if they are involved in a primary.  Those statements reveal financial entanglements, sources of income etc.

Each of those statements, once filed, is then sent to their respective state repository. In Kentucky that is the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance.  No such statement has been filed in Frankfort for Congressional Candidate Thomas Massie.

This failure to file is an ethics violation.  It usually is resolved by a permissible late filing and a fine.  But considering how little the voters of this district know about Thomas except the stories he tells about himself, this kind of transparency would go a long way.

But the question has to be asked, why didn't he file one?  Gary Moore and Alecia Webb-Edgington both of whom raised and spent more than $5,000 did.  Bill Adkins has filed his, though it was late.

Why he didn't file at all, is one question, what would it reveal is another.  Will it confirm or refute his personal narrative?  Everybody else files theirs.

Either way, it's just not good that on your first step toward government responsibility, you trip over ethics.

Has Massie's Campaign Gone Dark?

Seems that there is something missing in the race for Congress.  It's Massie's campaign.  This from Fat Lip Leo Weekly:

John Hawkins Pulls No Punches

John Hawkins over at Right Wing News has pulled no punches when it comes to Libertarians.  I've had the pleasure of meeting John and he's a very nice guy.  Here's his latest:

I know some people might say that if the Libertarian Party gathers a high percentage of the vote, it forces the two mainstream parties to try to go after their voters, but that’s not true, because Libertarians have beliefs that are so far out of the mainstream that it’s impossible to try to cater exclusively to them. When you’re talking about people (many of them at least) who favor legalizing crack and prostitution, favor open borders, favor abortion without restriction, gay marriage, essentially oppose any and all government intelligence programs designed to stop Al-Qaeda from killing Americans, then it’s practically a given that no politician can make them happy on most issues without alienating 90% of the general public at the same time. Since, as a politician, you know going in that you can’t truly make Libertarians happy, all you can do to reach out to Libertarians is emphasize any parts of your platform where you happen to agree with them and hope they don’t notice everything else.

I don’t care how high your IQ is or how well you can explain economic theory, if you’re voting for Gary Johnson, you’re kind of a dufus.

Getting beyond that, what do we hear constantly? We’ve got to kick all of the social conservatives to the curb to appeal to the sort of people who are so out-of-touch-with-reality that they’re voting for Gary Johnson this year.

In case you haven't noticed, my fellow Kentucky Republicans, the libertarians are trying to take over our party.