FANCY FARM, Ky. – The focus of the political speaking at the
Fancy Farm Picnic is on those holding or seeking top-ranking offices, but is
also a valuable opportunity for other statewide candidates to connect with the
politically minded crowd and a statewide television audience. Cheyene Miller of
the University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Telecommunications wrote
this account of their speeches, in the order they were given Saturday.
Lieutenant Governor
Like her running mate, Jack Conway, state House Democratic
Caucus Chair Sannie Overly of Paris focused on criticizing Republican
gubernatorial candidate Matt Bevin. She
did not mention her opponent, Jenean Hampton of Bowling
Green.
Overly began by saying that at the picnic, the “line for the
barbecue is as long as Matt Bevin’s nose,” and said he wants to keep Kentucky
workers at the current minimum wage.
She talked about being raised in Bourbon County with
Kentucky values, which she says Bevin lacks. Sounding a refrain used by other
Democrats, she said, “Matt Bevin isn’t from Kentucky, he’s wrong for Kentucky,
and he’s lied to Kentucky.”
Overly said she had never seen anything like the Republican
primary, which “had three very qualified Kentucky candidates with long
histories in their community, and they went with Matt Bevin.”
Hampton made history by becoming the first black woman to
speak on the stage at Fancy Farm, which she immediately referenced.
“I know for some of you I’m an anomaly, I know I’m something
you haven’t seen, I’m a black conservative,” said Hampton, asking the crowd to
judge her by her character and qualifications.
Like her running mate, Hampton avoided attacks and
counterattacks. She spoke about her service in the Air Force and growing up in
Detroit saying she “rose from the wreckage of the inner city by rejecting
voices that said I was a victim.”
Hampton said that success can often depend on someone saying
“you’re better than this,” and that applies to Kentucky.
Agriculture Commissioner
Democrats continued to make things personal, as
agriculture-commissioner candidate Jean Marie Lawson Spann said Republican
opponent Ryan Quarles has said he has six college degrees and quoted one of her
friends as saying “This fella has spent so much time getting degrees that he
doesn’t know what he doesn’t know.”
Spann called herself a proud product of public education in
Kentucky, and cited her experience growing up in a farm family as one of her
qualifications for the job.
Quarles implied that his opponent’s farm credentials are
suspect. “Kentucky deserves a commissioner with a real farm
background,” he said.
Quarles recounted his experience growing up on a farm, doing
everything from working with tobacco and livestock to shoveling cow manure, a
job which he says “prepared me well for Frankfort politics.”
Promising to stand up to “Obama liberals both in Washington
(D.C.) and in Frankfort,” Quarles said the choice is between someone who voted
for the president and someone who didn’t.
Attorney General
Democratic candidate Andy Beshear, the son of Gov. Steve
Beshear, Beshear said he has consistently been ranked among the top attorneys
in America and that he takes on the “big, complex cases.”
He promised to fight Marathon Oil to make sure that
Kentuckians pay fair gas prices, fight child abuse and drugs, find better
drug-treatment methods, and protect senior citizens from fraud.
Beshear then returned to grilling his opponent, state Sen.
Whitney Westerfield of Hopkinsville, accusing him of not understanding the
attorney general’s budget.
Earlier, he said politicians try to avoid put their feet in
their mouths at Fancy Farm, but “We know that if my opponent puts his foot in
his mouth, it’ll be clean, well-trimmed and polished.” That was a reference to
a news report that Westerfield missed work to get a pedicure.
Westerfield replied, “I did have a pedicure at lunch but I’m
ready to go toe-to-toe with you right now.”
Westerfield pointed out that he’s the only candidate who’s
been a prosecutor, and that he has experience fighting drugs and child abuse.
Alluding to Beshear’s heavy funding from interests who stand
to gain or lose at the hands of his father’s administration, Westerfield said,
“The Beshears are cashing checks that should never have been written.”
Quoting the old expression that there is no education in the
second kick of a mule, he said ”There’s no sense in electing another Beshear in
Kentucky.”
Westerfield concluded by saying the state needs to protect
religious freedom and public officials who exercise it – a reference to the
three or four Kentucky county clerks who are refusing to issue any marriage
licenses in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision for nationwide gay
marriage.
Secretary of State
After sitting through jabs at her refusal to say who she
voted for in the 2012 presidential election, Democratic Secretary of State
Alison Lundergan Grimes wasted no time in returning the heat toward Kentucky
Republicans.
Repeating McConnell’s attacks on Bevin in last year’s Senate
primary, she said, “See, Mitch and I actually do agree on some things.” Grime
lost to McConnell in the general election.
Grimes then fired at her opponent, Erlanger Council Member
Steve Knipper, saying “The last time this office was on the ballot, the
Republican who wants to be Kentucky’s chief election official … didn’t even
vote.”
Rehashing Republican attack ads from last year’s Senate
race, Knipper began his speech by accusing Grimes of spending half her work
time running for the Senate.
“You actually have to be in office to accomplish something,
and that hasn’t always been the case with Ms. Grimes,” he said.
Knipper said Democrats had attacked Bevin for having
something to hide while Grimes had been away from her duties. He then threw in his approval of Bevin,
saying that he had the job experience to improve Kentucky’s economy, and that
Knipper himself had the technological skills.
Auditor of Public Accounts
Republican state Rep. Mike Harmon of Danville sarcastically
said that the Democratic side of the crowd would boo him even though they knew
deep in their hearts that he would be a much better state auditor than
incumbent Adam Edelen.
“Well, go ahead and boo, I’m a big guy, I can handle it. I won’t cry like Jack Conway,” Harmon said,
referring to the tears Conway shed when explaining his decision not to appeal
one of the same-sex marriage rulings that the Supreme Court upheld.
Harmon claimed Edelen switched parties in high school in
hopes of being governor, and criticized Edelen for not filling out a
questionnaire from Kentucky Right to Life, which endorsed Harmon.
Like his fellow Republicans, Harmon connected Kentucky
Democrats to Obama, and encouraged the crowd to give Republicans power in the
state capital.
Edelen spoke briefly about his office’s efforts to make a
count on unprocessed rape kits to aid sexual assault victims, then about his
parents, who taught him the value of hard work, education and meeting their
obligations.
“Those are true family values,” he said, accusing
Republicans of not being genuine in their advocacy of Christian values.
“Kicking half a million Kentuckians off the insurance rolls
with a stroke of a pen is callous, it’s not Christian,” Edelen said, referring
to Bevin’s plan to shut down the state health-insurance exchange and original
plan to repeal Medicaid expansion.
“Maybe this side of the aisle should put down the books of Ayn Rand and
pick up the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.”
Edelen said the election is a battle between “the mainstream
and the extreme,” and “values that say ‘we understand we owe a little
something, against the law of the jungle.”
State Treasurer
Republican candidate Allison Ball of Prestonsburg spent much
of her speech differentiating herself and the other candidate with a similar name.
“I’m the good Allison,” she said in reference to
Grimes.
Ball described herself as a friend of coal and said she
voted against Obama.
Finally turning to her opponent, state Rep. Rick Nelson of
Middlesboro, Ball said she was the only qualified candidate due to her
experience as a bankruptcy attorney, while her opponent is a retired teacher
and a liberal Democrat.
Nelson said that he had never been called a liberal, and
said his National Rifle Association rating “is 20 points higher than
Allison’s.” He said he makes it a policy not to engage in mudslinging.
Nelson, a retired teacher, said a teacher’s life is hard has
the opportunity to change lives. He said
his coal-mining family had few material possessions, but lived well with what they had.
“I believe that I have the life experience and the job
experience to be your next Kentucky treasurer,” he said.
