KY gubernatorial candidate & Sen. president David Williams is a former ALEC Legislator of the Year

[highplainsdem]

http://www.ucumberlands.edu/media/release.php?rk=871

That particular article is about an award given by that university. The detail that interested me is several paragraphs down:

Mr. Williams was named the Republican Legislative Leader of the Year by the National Republican Legislators Association and also served as the group’s president. The non-partisan American Legislative Exchange Council also recognized him as Legislator of the Year.

As a 2011 gubernatorial candidate, running with Commissioner Richie Farmer, Mr. Williams hopes to broaden his service to Kentuckians.

I haven't been able to find out yet which year he was one of ALEC's Legislators of the Year. That information isn't even on his page on the Kentucky legislature's website:

http://www.lrc.ky.gov/legislator/s016.htm

But for him to get this kind of award from ALEC, it's a safe bet that he was instrumental in getting some of ALEC's model legislation through the Kentucky legislature.

Model legislation that can probably be traced to particular private-sector members of the ALEC task force the legislation emerged from.

I hope Kentucky Democrats will look into this closely and bring it up during the campaign.



Editing to add a link to the long compilation topic on the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), where reply 106 quotes an ALEC document listing Kentucky as one of the states where ALEC's anti-HCR model bill, the Freedom of Choice in Health Care Act, has been introduced.

Kentucky is also part of ALEC's anti-EPA campaign:

http://www.alec.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=EPATrainWreck&Template=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=15466

http://www.lrc.ky.gov/record/11RS/SR116.htm

[JustAmused]

1. Ouch

He is also a former Dem. He changed parties years ago in a deal that gave him a leadership position if I remember right. Here is the problem though.
He is running with Richie Farmer. Richie is a former UK basketball player, and is well liked and respected by people in both parties in the state. He has done an excellent job as Ag. Commissioner and will pull in a lot of support for the ticket. This one could be tough to beat.

[highplainsdem]

2. Maybe his tax returns will provide some ammunition against him. He seems unwilling to release them,

according to this:

http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2011/04/12/democrats-want-williams-moffett-to-release-tax-returns/

April 12, 2011 | Beth Musgrave
Democrats want Williams, Moffett to release tax returns


FRANKFORT — The Kentucky Democratic Party demanded Tuesday that Republican gubernatorial candidates David Williams and Phil Moffett release their income tax returns, noting that Williams has made similar demands of his political foes in the past.

At a news conference in Frankfort, KDP Chairman Dan Logsdon read quotes from Williams during the 1991 gubernatorial campaign. At the time, Williams was managing Republican Larry Hopkins’ campaign and called on his primary challenger, Larry Forgy, to release 10 years of tax returns.

Forgy’s failure to release only two years of tax returns “shows an arrogant, deliberate and almost desperate attempt to hide pertinent facts from the electorate,” Williams said in a 1991 interview with the Herald-Leader.

-snip-

Earlier this month, the Herald-Leader reported that Williams had reported gambling losses of $36,000 from 1999 to 2002, according to his divorce records. In order to report those losses for tax purposes, Williams had to have won a greater amount than he lost, according to a 2003 document in his divorce case.

-snip-

I haven't checked the first comment posted on that article to find news stories to back up the expenditures mentioned, but I think what kentuckyvoter referred to there is interesting -- Williams spending $17,500 of taxpayers' money on a plasma TV and $700,000 of taxpayers' money remodeling his office.

[JohnnyLib2]

3. Farmer's wife filed for divorce on April 5.

Gonna be some scrambling now.

[PVnRT]

4. He also refuses to release his tax records

Twenty years ago, while managing a campaign for another gubernatorial candidate, he criticized other candidates for not doing it. Now, it's none of the public's business, of course.