A RARITY In Politics: Two Friends Run For Bowling Green Mayor And Remain Friends.

(Bowling Green Mayor Joe Denning (right) and City Commissioner and mayoral candidate Bruce Wilkerson share an umbrella during the Bowling Green Fire Department’s September 11th Tenth Anniversary Memorial Service at the Moltenberry Headquarters Fire Station at 701 East Seventh St.)

Friends acting like it on the campaign trail
By ANDREW ROBINSON

During a recent candidates forum, Bowling Green mayoral candidate Bruce Wilkerson drew a blank as he described how improvements to the city’s Pedigo Park were funded.

“Help me out here, Joe,” Wilkerson said softly to his opponent, Mayor Joe Denning.

In a time of political mudslinging and strong partisan lines, Wilkerson made a rare move - he turned to his opponent for help amid the final days of the campaign.

Wilkerson’s request illustrated a rarely seen circumstance in contemporary politics - opponents who are also close friends.

As much as questions about tax increases, jobs and downtown revitalization have been themes for Bowling Green’s special election, Wilkerson and Denning’s friendship has been evident.

“Bruce and I are not going to fight election night regardless of who wins,” Denning said.

“He’s my friend, and we’ll be friends afterwards. I hope the citizens of the city of Bowling Green look at the two of us and say we have two decent individuals that are running for mayor.”

Wilkerson said during a forum sponsored by the Bowling Green Human Rights Commission that he hoped no one in the room would think Wilkerson had anything against Denning.

“Joe was my friend yesterday, he’ll be my friend today, he’ll be my friend tomorrow,” Wilkerson said. “We’re two people running for the same office.”

Their backgrounds are similar. Both spent time with the Bowling Green Police Department, albeit at separate times, and both have been elected to the Bowling Green Board of Commissioners. Wilkerson is a commissioner now, while Denning was appointed mayor from his commission seat this year after former Mayor Elaine Walker resigned to become Kentucky’s secretary of state.

Neither Denning nor Wilkerson can recall specifically when they met, but they’ve known each other for several decades. Denning was a Kentucky State Police trooper while Wilkerson was a BGPD officer in the 1970s.

“We’ve always had a relationship,” Denning said. “I always felt that if I needed anything that I could call Bruce.”

Denning remembers supporting Wilkerson in 2006, the first time Wilkerson ran for a city commission seat.

“I took him around and specifically told people to vote for him because I wanted him on the city commission based on his business sense and character, and there was no hesitation on my part to introduce him to people in the public,” Denning said.

The friendship has also given way to unique situations since the two filed for the office.

Commissioner Brian “Slim” Nash recalled sitting at Greenwood High School for a high school athletic event. Denning and Wilkerson were sitting together and speaking to those around them. Nash said they’d both introduce themselves and tell the person they’d appreciate his or her vote.

“So I do think it is unconventional in that sense,” Nash said. “What I do like is that the tenor of the campaign has not resulted in a great deal of mudslinging.”

Nash said the discussion of their friendship publicly is genuine.

“I don’t think it’s something they’re saying to strike a chord of cooperation and friendliness,” Nash said. “They are friends.”

Commissioner Bill Waltrip has known Wilkerson and Denning for some time as well. Waltrip is a former chief of the BGPD.

“I think they care about the community,” Waltrip said. “They don’t see any benefit in being like some of the other races we’re seeing lately or that has become the norm. I think it bodes well for our community that we have both of them putting the community first.”

Waltrip and Nash have found the campaign refreshing from an observer’s point of view.

“They’ve been running for a good while, and it hasn’t negatively affected us doing our business up here,” Waltrip said. “We’ve still been governing. I can only imagine if they were battling each other and name calling during an election. That would not be real harmonious up here.”

Nash said he sees one difference on the television airwaves.

“You don’t see the grainy television ads in this mayoral race where they try to make one candidate look like the big bad wolf, who’s going to snatch your children through their bedroom window while they’re sleeping,” Nash said. “I think it is refreshing from a voters’ standpoint, because what it has allowed both of them to do is talk about their own vision for the city.”

Wilkerson is soft-spoken about the friendship. He doesn’t think it’s in either man’s nature to be offensive toward each other on the campaign trail.

“That’s just not me, and I don’t see that out of Joe, either,” Wilkerson said.

Denning hopes both of them can remain on the commission. Of course, for that to happen, Denning would have to win, and Wilkerson would then keep his commission seat. If Denning loses, Wilkerson’s seat will become open for the commission to make an appointment - barring a victory by Brandon Peay, a third mayoral candidate.

“It is unique in Kentucky where you have two friends running for the same office,” Denning said. “I want the citizens to look at it and say there are two decent people running for the same office, and that’s what it’s all about.”

Still, Nash also sees the candidates showing their differences.

“They’re not pointing fingers, they’re not attacking one another,” Nash said. “But there is a difference in leadership styles, and I think that is coming forward.”

Perhaps the most obvious difference, however, is that the men aren’t supporting the same mayoral candidate.

“I would hope 17 and a half years of service to my community would make you want to vote for me,” Denning said. “This is my home. I’ve been here all my life.”

Like Denning, Wilkerson also sells his experience.

“I have extensive experience in city government and I have extensive experience in the private business world,” Wilkerson said. “It’s an individual, independent decision about who each person pulls that lever for in a candidate. I would hope that one would consider all the qualifications of both candidates.”