Candidates in Ky gubernatorial primary respond to Herald-Leader endorsements | Opinion

The following candidates responded to the Herald-Leader’s endorsement of Ryan Quarles and Gov. Andy Beshear in the Republican and Democratic gubernatorial primaries.

Geoff Young responds

The federal government and many state governments totally mismanaged our responses to the COVID-19 situation. Andy Beshear is one of those reckless, gullible governors who listened to Dr. Fauci, many other corrupt federal bureaucrats, many lying, Big Pharma executives, and most mainstream media commentators who have been telling us for the last three years that vaccines were the best or only answer.

I have a highly-developed BS detector, and I knew in 2020 that COVID-19 would keep mutating to survive and keep one step ahead of any vaccine that will ever be developed in any laboratory. I also knew that lockdowns and masks were going to harm our economy without providing any health benefits whatsoever. Three years later, the skeptics and I have been proven right. More and more evidence comes out every day that anti-COVID-19 vaccines are outrageously unsafe and ineffective.

It became clear to me in 2019 that Andy Beshear had joined an ongoing criminal conspiracy to illegally rig “Democratic” primary elections against me. On April 11, 2023 I had to file a ballot challenge against Beshear in the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky because the Kentucky Democratic Party (KDP) and KET are illegally rigging the entire Democratic primary again. The KDP even amended its bylaws to allow them to rig their own primaries, but no party bylaw can overrule a Kentucky statute or the federal and Kentucky Bill of Rights.

My website is young4ky.com

Peppy Martin responds

As Democratic candidate for Governor, I have the pulse of the electorate in this race.

I see the need and interest in thousands of different jobs being created in this state through legalizing marijuana, casino gambling run by the state with licenses for small business slots, and re-gaining our energy prominence through burning coal & natural gas to help make green hydrogen.

Income from legalizing marijuana, casino gambling, & hydrogen will allow the state to get rid of the income tax in one year without raising sales tax or any other taxes which Republicans will have to do.

More income for the state means greater prosperity for all Kentuckians to have companies’ moving in without incentives and new corporate headquarters.

ENTERTAINMENT = ENEGY= PROSPERITY!!!!

Kick the left-wing out & LET’S GO !!!

Mike Harmon responds

I’m Auditor Mike Harmon and candidate for Governor in the May 16 Republican primary. I would encourage everyone to visit MikeHarmon.com as well as https://ivoterguide.com/all-in-state/ky .

I’m a Christian, a husband, a father, and a grandfather and I want my kids, and my grandkids, and someday my great grandkids, to live in a state and a nation where they can accomplish anything. But unfortunately, our current Governor has put such a focus of fear over freedom. He shut down businesses, shut down in person unemployment offices, and most importantly, he shut down churches, tried to tell us how we could worship our Lord, and he sent the State Police to enforce. We need a governor that will focus on freedom over fear!

I’m the most experienced candidate with 13 years as State Representative and 7 plus years as Auditor. I’m running to eliminate the state income tax, empower parents when it comes to their children’s education, and ensure that all portions of the state — from far Western Kentucky to Eastern Kentucky, are remembered and represented.

Even with all my experience, I’m not a polished politician, but if you want someone who loves the Lord, loves his family, and loves this country and in that order, I hope you will think of me, Mike Harmon.

If you want someone who has fought for Your Freedoms, Your Liberties, Your Conservative Values all my Life, I hope you will think of me, Mike Harmon.

Thanks and God Bless, Mike

Horse deaths

While millions of people will be watching the Kentucky Derby, some wearing fancy designer hats, drinking mint juleps, laughing and socializing many racing horses will suffer from broken legs, torn flesh, and some killed at these races. This violent, heartbreaking abuse, the murder, is all hidden from the public eye. The beautiful victims in pain and terror, before, after, and at times during, often collapse and die.

This week four horses died at Churchill Downs, the home of the Kentucky Derby.

Horseracingwrongs.org documents over 2,000 horses die every year at U.S. tracks, about six per day. This figure does not represent the horses that did not make the grade because they were not fast enough, got injured as the majority are very young and their bones are not fully developed. They die from cardiac arrest, pulmonary hemorrhage, blunt-force head trauma, broken necks, severed spines, ruptured ligaments, shattered legs.

Those that can no longer run and bring in a profit are sold like junk by the folks who are supposed to care for them but abandon them instead, Annually, between 10,000 and 15,000 discarded racers in the United States are trucked to slaughterhouses in Canada and Mexico and other places to be brutally bled out and butchered.

For more information, go to Horseracing Wrongs at Horseracing Wrongs – Patrick Battuello.

Silvie Pomicter, Chinchilla, Pa.

Gun violence

Everyone wants to end gun violence. Guns are inanimate objects like automobiles. Automobiles killed 42,915 in 2021, and drivers are rightly blamed, not autos. So, let’s investigate the people who kill with guns and are killed by them.

In 2021, 48,830 people were killed by people with guns, an 11 percent increase over 2020, likely exacerbated by COVID lockdowns and social distress. (Kentucky deaths increased by 32 percent) Ninety-seven percent of those killed were victims of homicide or took their own life. Homicides, 19,384, were perpetrated by criminals. Suicides, 24,292, were committed mainly by people with mental illness. Existing laws already prevent both from legally purchasing guns.

Who commits violent crimes? Whites, 60 percent of the population, were 46 percent of persons arrested for non-fatal violent crimes (NVC), and 39 percent of those arrested for serious non-fatal violent crimes (SNVC). Blacks, 13 percent of the U.S. population, were 33 percent of persons arrested for NVC and 36 percent of those arrested for SNVC.

Potential solutions: More law enforcement officers. Enhanced penalties for crimes committed with a firearm. Legislation that incentivizes 2 parent households. Encourage the public and mental health professionals to alert authorities about concerning behavior.

Ray Davis, Lexington

Gun control

I’ve got a great idea concerning gun control. It will undoubtedly save time and money.

Simply keep all flags permanently at half-staff!

This way employers and government officials won’t have to run out and change the flag position because of another mass slaughter.

It will serve as a permanent reminder to the gun-loving powers-that-be that their efforts to support the gun industry continue to be highly effective (including pictures of their kids holding guns in Christmas cards - what a nice p.r. touch!) and to keep working on those pesky thoughts and prayers.

Esther Murphy, Lexington

Debt Ceiling

The debt crisis is heading for disaster. It is Congress’ job to raise the debt ceiling. Unfortunately, Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-Cal.) would rather crash the ambulance than drive the injured economy to the hospital—so long as he can continue to drive the ambulance.

Robert J. Rabel, Lexington

Candidate resumes

Seems like there is a lot of flowery statements, boasts, and growls being made by candidates running for state constitutional offices this year. Everyone is touting their experience and education. Given that some politicians really love to stretch their credentials (or simply make things up), I wonder whether all that is presented on candidate resumes and in their ads is fully accurate, partially accurate, or a flat out fantasy. Have the candidates come clean, or is all that noise a smoke screen to cover up flaws and shortcomings in candidates’ actual records?

Gene Lockhart, Lexington

Color blind

On a return flight from Washington D.C. late last month, while awaiting departure, a person directly behind me had a seizure. A flight attendant yelled “CODE RED” several times and asked if a doctor was on the flight. From the back of the plane, a young black man in a T-shirt, with dreadlocks past his shoulders, rushed to the victim. At the same time, a middle-aged, white man with a burr haircut and sport coat came from the front to the victim’s aid.

Both worked intensely to provide oxygen, position the person correctly, check their pulse and breathing, all the while communicating with each other as if they had worked together in an ER somewhere. Turns out the black man was a nurse and the white man was an EMT.

Together they stabilized the person until paramedics arrived, and escorted the victim off the plane in a wheelchair to provide further medical care.

What color was the victim? It didn’t matter – and that’s the point!

Craig Williams, Berea

Correct words

The words we use on abortion ought to relate to science, I believe. Many talk of “personhood” which relates to metaphysics and religion instead. Such words are useful in those non-scientific fields but not useful to science. If we want to bring science into our conversations about abortion, we need to talk about organisms, specifically human organisms (a.k.a, complex biological living systems).

Other words that don’t relate to science include “mind” and “soul.” What science studies is our brains. Ironically, our laws apply science and medicine to our widely-accepted definition of brain death in great detail. It turns out the Uniform Law Commission is considering updates to its guidelines on the determination of death this year. They want to take in the advances in medical technology since the 1980s.

So, it seems the activists and politicians can permit our laws to apply science to determinations of human death, but not anything else. Why not, we might ask ourselves?

Tom Louderback, Louisville

Anti-abortion follow-up

Now that the Supreme Court has eliminated a federal right to abortion, there are serious questions that demand answers: (1) What services will be provided for the physical and mental health needs of women forced to continue a pregnancy? (2) The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that approximately 700 women die annually from complications. Will additional pregnant patients increase the number of deaths? (3) Will there be support for relatives who are able to provide homes for children who are unable to live with their biological parents? (4) Are there adoptive parents available to provide a home to these additional children who are unable to live with their biological parents or relatives? (5) If the above options are unavailable, will there be adequate foster care homes? (6) When children reach 18 years and “age out” of foster care, will there be support for their integration into the community?

The essential point is that “Pro-Life” should not only involve a concern for the “unborn,” but also a commitment to the needs of women during and after pregnancy, as well as the children who are born. This requires support for physical, mental health, and social services rather than an agenda to reduce such services.

Larry Whorley, Lexington

Compiled by Liz Carey