Al Cross: "[Kentucky] Lawmakers [Should] Channel[] Their Inner Gatewood.[Galbraith]. I Couldn't Agree More!

Gatewood Galbraith challenge is worth pursuing
Written by Al Cross

LEXINGTON, KY. — As a new year and a legislative session began last week, Gatewood Galbraith commanded our attention — not just because he died unexpectedly at 64 after a string of quixotic and entertaining campaigns and was such a memorable character, but because his life and his last campaign had messages worth remembering.

The state’s leaders of the two major political parties, Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear and Republican U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, paid tribute to the quintessential independent as someone who loved Kentucky and its people and loved to discuss issues with them.

The party leaders in the legislature, House Speaker Greg Stumbo and Senate President David Williams, praised their fellow lawyer’s common sense, wit, humor and intellect. Both drummed up applause for him at the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce dinner in Lexington on Thursday night, where Williams said he admired Galbraith for having the courage of his convictions, and, “There’s a lot to be learned from him.”

Here’s hoping Williams, Stumbo and their colleagues pay attention to the overarching theme of Galbraith’s final race, for governor last year against Beshear and Williams.

In their final debate, after an acrimonious exchange between the party nominees, Galbraith said the two men had displayed “exactly the kinds of vituperation, exactly the kind of blaming, exactly the kind of dysfunctionality that has existed in Frankfort for the last several decades. It is what has kept us from progressing.” He said that if one side in Frankfort “has an idea, the other side has an obstruction to it. We need to get some cooperation up there.”

Most Kentuckians would agree, and one of Galbraith’s virtues was that he gave voice to the state’s plain people. But the not-so-plain people want cooperation, too. Lexington banker Luther Deaton, the chamber’s 2012 chairman, urged the politicians at the dinner to take off their party labels “and move on.” (The dinner will be broadcast on KET Monday night.)

The election is history, and politicians in both parties have made nice noises about working together, but the first task of the legislature is an even more political exercise, drawing new district lines — an existential threat to some lawmakers, at least in their own minds.

The minority parties in each chamber have yet to see the majorities’ maps, causing “as much tension and conflict as I’ve seen” in the first three days of a session, House Republican Leader Jeff Hoover of Jamestown said at the dinner. “I’m concerned about the tenor that sets for the rest of the session.”

His minority counterpart, Senate Democratic Leader R.J. Palmer of Winchester, made a point worth remembering: Fewer than half of the legislators who redrew district lines in 2002, most with their own interests in mind, are still in the General Assembly. “We can’t lose sight of the goal that district lines need to be drawn for people, not politicians,” he told the dinner crowd.

Redistricting always leaves political blood on the floor, but until we see the maps and the reactions to them, we won’t be able to tell how slippery the process is likely to make the third floor of the Capitol.

One quick antidote to that could be bipartisan cooperation on bills to crack down on prescription drug abuse, the only subject that earned Beshear a standing ovation during his State of the Commonwealth speech Wednesday night, other than his mention of Kentuckians in military service. It’s clear that a tipping point has been reached on this issue, and Hoover predicted, “We will do something in this session about this terrible plague” that is “crippling our society.” He said 70 percent of the criminal dockets in south-central Kentucky, where he practices law, are drug-related.

But those dockets also reflect another drug issue that will be a sterner test — perhaps of legislative independence from lobbying interests. That is legislation to require a prescription for pseudoephedrine, a decongestant that is a key ingredient in methamphetamine. Williams and Sen. Tom Jensen, R-London, tried to get such a “meds for meth” bill out of the Senate last year before drug-industry lobbyists could kill it, but it died.

To be sure, the lobbyists had some public opinion on their side, as well as a radio campaign, which has resumed and continues to mislead constituents. But in this session, at a time when redistricting is likely to give most legislators some new constituents, making their campaigns more expensive, lawmakers will be even more vulnerable to the pleadings and campaign contributions of various lobbies: nursing homes, for-profit colleges and public-school teachers, to name a few. (You could also include the chamber, which drew criticism from Williams at its dinner for having a legislative agenda that he deemed insufficiently pro-business.)

With district lines and monied interests in play, the filing deadline for legislative races — Jan. 31 unless redistricting delays it — will be even more pivotal this year, as lawmakers evaluate their opposition and their own political strength, and how it might be changed with votes on various issues.

Galbraith liked to say that he was a perennial candidate because Kentucky has perennial problems, and the two major parties weren’t doing a good job of solving them. In many respects, he was correct. But until we put redistricting into the hands of nonpartisan experts, as some states have done, our lawmakers may have a hard time channeling their inner Gatewood.

Al Cross, former Courier-Journal political writer, is director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues and an associate professor in the School of Journalism and Telecommunications at the University of Kentucky. His opinions are his own, not those of the university.