This is the least intriguing primary campaign in recent Kentucky political history. And the only race getting any media attention is the GOP primary for Governor, where David Williams and Richie Farmer hold wide leads in every poll. Phil Moffett, featured Sunday in the C-J, is not getting the kind of boost he thought he would from the Tea Party, and why Bobbi Holsclaw is running is a mystery, since she’s raised about $22K.
Williams may have thought adding Farmer to his ticket would boost his campaign, but Farmer has proven to be a liability, though some Kentucky voters will vote for him no matter what he does to sabotage the campaign.
The latest snafu — it was reported widely Friday that Farmer had charged taxpayers $1,576 so he could stay in a suite 28 miles from his home and enjoy the state basketball tournament. The details are juicy — valet parking, $359/night suite, a meal allowance. And it’s not the first time — Farmer has made it an annual expense for taxpayers to foot his bill, claiming that he’s promoting the Kentucky Proud food program.
So add that one to the list of bonehead moves by Farmer. He refused to take the furlough days mandated by the Governor (saying he didn’t believe in the policy) and stirred things up last year by taking his staff on a junket to the Carribbean costing taxpayers another $10K.
Hello! Kentucky voters? Do you see a pattern here? It seems obvious that Farmer believes he’s got a sense of entitlement to the perks of elective office. And despite the fact that he’s running for office and under a microscope, he’s not changing his habits, or explaining why he’s doing what he’s doing. When in doubt, his campaign shows another clip of him hitting a three.
Over the weekend, Al Cross wrote a C-J piece about Williams’ own problems, listing Farmer as one of them, writing, “It’s also not good when the wife of your running mate files for divorce, after he raised eyebrows with questionable spending as agriculture commissioner and refused to take the furloughs that all other constitutional officers are taking.”
And Cross apparently had a deadline before the news broke about Farmer’s Sweet 16 expenditures. On the topic of the divorce filing by his wife Rebecca, Williams and company (and disappointingly, the media) are leaving it alone, despite the fact that she’s still a big part of the campaign’s main video.
The only sympathy here is for Farmer spokesperson Bill Clary, who has to keep a straight face while making comments like this one on the basketball expense, that his boss “spends an enormous amount of time each day at this. It’s more efficient for him to operate this way.”
Ha. Try selling that one to anyone bothering to pay attention.
Oh, and Farmer, who is running for Lt. Governor, is dodging the press on controversial issues, leaving Clary to explain the unexplainable.
