Friday, January 04, 2008

Freshman Democrat legislator calls on heavy hitters in re-election bid

Freshman Democrat Rep. Richard Henderson must be running scared that he'll draw an opponent in his re-election bid this year. So he's called on the House leaders from his party and others to help him raise funds and campaign for him.

Henderson, the former Jeffersonville mayor who represents Montgomery and Powell counties and a portion of Wolfe in east-central Kentucky, had a fund-raiser and dinner this week in Powell County. The list of hosts reads like a who's-who of Kentucky Democrats.

Scheduled to attend the dinner were House Speaker Jody Richards; Speaker Pro-Tem Larry Clark; Floor Leader Rocky Adkins; Caucus Chairman Charlie Hoffman and Whip Rob Wilkey. The incoming attorney general, Little Jackie Conway, was also scheduled to attend.

Why would such an esteemed list of House leaders go all the way to Stanton to support a freshman Democrat in a district that's safely in their party's hands?

Henderson emerged from a crowded primary two years ago as Democrats scrambled to replace the retiring Rep. Adrian Arnold. He vaulted over some better-known, longtime Democrat politicians to take the seat. Some of those same big names are expected to challenge him in this year's primary; politicians that are, quite frankly, more experienced, more intelligent and more widely respected than Henderson. One prominent Montgomery County Democrat has already vowed to beat Henderson this year; whether that means he'll run for the office himself or throw support to another candidate, we don't know.

So what's so appealing about Henderson that would bring Richards and Conway and the rest to Powell County to campaign and raise funds for an inexperienced freshman?

Henderson made statewide news recently when he and Rep. Ancel "Hard Rock" Smith from Knott County pre-filed a bill banning public agencies from offering insurance benefits to the shack-up partners of public employees. Can the leadership's early campaign support of Henderson be construed as support for his bill?

We've heard some troubling rumors about Henderson's personal life. We won't repeat them here, other than to speculate if any of the funds raised from this week's dinner will go to support Kentucky's black-market agricultural industry. But what troubles us more are reports that he is trying to personally influence or interfere with the day-to-day operations of state government agencies in his district. Somehow we don't think that's why legislators are elected.

The campaign for the 74th District will bear watching closely. In the meantime, we'd like to find out why the state's Democrat House leaders have jumped in so early behind an obscure freshman legislator.

2 Comments:

At 11:14 PM, January 31, 2008, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think that you are intemidated by Henderson or would not waste your time writing so negative about him. Henderson is a great State Rep. and will be your next top vote getter on democrat totals in the spring primary and further more HE WILL BE YOUR STATE REP. IN THE NOVEMBER ELECTION. So you might as well get on the other side of the fence and support him. All the bills that he supports and makes are wonderful and logical. The so called " big shots" from Frankfort were at his fund raiser to support the best!!!!! The believe in him and they believe that he is a great asset to Frankfort. They were not there because he needed them to be. They trust him to do the right think and they should support someone like Henderson who is very well oiled and knows how the government works. I myself don't understand why people have to post such crap. I guess they just want to waste their time and don't have anything better to do and it could come back to bite Fawns in the butt. I do believe that Henderson is the most qualified for the State Rep. position, having almost six years of political and governmental experience under his belt not to mention all the comitties that he serves on. And for Fawns I personally do not know him, he probably is a nice guy, but he is very young and has no experience in this field!!!! So why would anyone vote for someone that has no experience verse someone like Henderson with so much experience and so much to offer. I bet if you talk to 10 people at least 9 of the 10 are for our current State Rep.

 
At 3:55 PM, March 25, 2008, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Henderson is only the most qualified for this position if the job description is running around like an idiot every time you are in the public eye.

 

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