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TEACHERS BUY COMMERCIALS TO INSTRUCT THE PUBLIC ON HOW TO BE HATEFUL
By Terry Meiners
Tuesday, October 29, 2002
Louisville, Ky. --- Two Louisville area state senators are under an all-out attack by the Jefferson County Teachers Association in the upcoming election. Ironically, State Senator Julie Rose Denton saved a bill that now provides less expensive mail-order prescriptions for teachers. Earlier this year, Denton twisted the arms of her fellow Republicans to reverse their decision to ignore the bill.
But that was yesterday; now the teachers lobbying arm is spending heavy money to unseat Denton with Democrat Franklin Jelsma, a former sycophant of Governor Brereton Jones. Jelsma is a lawyer with Wyatt, Tarrant, and Combs of Louisville. Poll numbers show a dead heat as of today in this race.
The Courier-Journal’s David Hawpe never misses a chance to debase Denton in his columns and as a member of the editorial endorsement cartel at the liberal newspaper. Last week the newspaper asked a judge to unseal Denton’s divorce records for a fishing expedition. So far no request has been granted, but Jefferson Family Court Judge Joe O’Reilly, a Paul Patton appointee, will rule on the matter tomorrow.
Denton inferred that her divorce decree contained a domestic violence order that she wanted to shield from her children. That’s not what the Courier-Journal is looking for. Painting a picture of a battered wife running for office is not going to help the newspaper’s quest to annihilate Denton.
It seems the hoped-for scandal involves a vicious rumor that Denton’s third child was fathered by State Senate President David Williams. The truth is that the child is a test tube baby, so not even Julie Denton herself was present at the conception.
Both Denton and Williams were outraged with the scandalous lie being advanced throughout Frankfort power circles and Williams eventually went to confront a known catalyst of the story.
The rumor spreader? Andrew “Skipper” Martin, chief of staff for Governor Paul Patton. When confronted by Williams, he reportedly made an impassioned apology.
Williams won’t comment for the record but the veins in his head were ready to burst as he recounted the story for friends last Saturday at the University of Kentucky football game. Williams and his nemesis Martin were both in north end zone luxury boxes, separated by a single pane of glass. First Lady Judi Patton was among the crowd in Martin’s suite but the governor was nowhere to be seen.
Skipper Martin was indicted for campaign improprieties dating back to 1995 and now Republicans are wondering if he is colluding with the Jefferson County Teachers Association for the anti-Denton ads and the Dan Seum smear campaign.
Republican senator Dan Malano Seum is getting the same vitriolic treatment that Denton has been subjected to by those who teach our children. Republicans charge that the ad buys appear to be coordinated between Democratic officials and the Jefferson County Teachers Association, a violation of election laws. While Democrats abstain from buying commercials attacking Denton and Seum, the teachers group fills that flank by targeting ads at Republicans. Some ads paid for by school teachers infer that Seum is a criminal because of some past speeding tickets. His military record is assailed, and his two marriages and divorces to the same woman make for comedic play in the radio ad.
The Jefferson County Teachers Association (read: union thugs) happily thump at these two sitting senators so that Democratic Party dollars can be steered elsewhere.
Of course, the real reason that Democrats applaud the teacher’s assaults on Seum is because he switched parties to join the Republicans in 1999. A year earlier, the Democratic machine was touting Seum as a visionary leader and proponent of all that is good for the people of his district. Because of boundary shifts in Kentucky’s legislative districts, Seum is now soliciting votes from people who aren’t familiar with him and this leaves him vulnerable next Tuesday.
If Seum and Denton lose in the state senate, the Republican 20-18 majority is in danger because Bob Leeper is losing in his western Kentucky District 2 race. Republicans expect to pick up two new senate seats, but if Leeper, Seum, and Denton all lose, then Democrats will stand a chance to regain control of the senate from David Williams.
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