Sen. Rand Paul and wife visit St. Catharine College campus for meet & greet event

Kelly Paul, left, shares a moment with state Rep. Kim King of Harrodsburg. Click to enlarge.

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette

Sunday, July 28, 2013, 1 a.m. — An enthusiastic crowd greeted U.S. Sen. Rand Paul Saturday afternoon at the Emily W. Hundley Library on the campus of St. Catharine College for a meet and greet event.

The event was sponsored by Marion County’s Republican organization, the Heart of Kentucky GOP.

Sen. Paul poses for photo with Marissa Espinosa, her brother Alex and sister Pilar. Click to enlarge.

A crowd of about 100 gathered in the lobby of the college’s new library and enjoyed bluegrass music featuring the Kentucky Wheelers as well as Washington County Circuit Judge and former state senator Dan Kelly on guitar.

The event attracted a number of state legislators, including 55th District state Rep. Kim King of Harrodsburg and 54th District Rep. Mike Harmon of Danville. King said she believes she will represent part of Washington County once redistricting is finalized during next month’s special session of the General Assembly. The meet & greet was an opportunity to meet people she may soon represent, she said.

Washington Circuit Judge Dan Kelly, right, joins in on a bluegrass tune performed by the Kentucky Wheelers. Click to enlarge.

The meet and greet had the feel of a family reunion as Republicans from across the region — including a number of Nelson Countians — rekindled old friendships and made new ones.

Sen. Paul and his wife Kelly arrived about an hour into the event. The Pauls were warmly welcomed as they mingled among the crowd that attracted Rand fans from all over Kentucky.

State Sen. Jimmy Higdon of Lebanon introduced Paul, describing him as “a warrior against government overreach.”

• For more photographs of Sen. Paul’s visit, visit the Nelson County Gazette’s Facebook page, www.facebook.com/NCGazette.

“He’s not a great big guy, but he walks tall in the halls of Congress,” Hidgon told the crowd.

Sen. Paul talks with a constituent during a meet and greet event at the St. Catharine College Hundley library on Saturday, July 27, 2013. Click to enlarge.

Paul opened his remarks with a retelling of a story about a visit to New York he made with his wife. As they passed the Federal Reserve, they observed numerous police officers and investigators and police tape everywhere. He said they stopped and asked an officer what happened, and was told the Federal Reserve had experienced a burglary attempt.

The officers explained that the thieves got inside the Federal Reserve and opened the vault, “but they were perplexed because they didn’t know what to do with a minus $16 trillion.”

Paul admitted the story was one originally used by TV talk show host Jimmy Kimmel. He used a second Kimmel comedy bit to begin his remarks about the sequester.

The sequester was not about cutting government funding, it only slowed the rate of the growth of government. But the sequester debate’s value was that it allowed a national discussion on the size of government and government spending.

“The president said the world will end, the planes are going to crash, we have to get rid of air traffic controllers, your meat is going to be rancid and unsafe because we’re getting rid of meat inspectors,” Paul said. “But guess what? It was all untrue, it was a lie. It was a charade the president promulgated.”

Paul said he sent a letter to the president with suggestions with how the government can cut spending. His list included:

– not rehiring people who retire. “If you do that you save $6 billion a year,” Paul said.

– cutting the government $9 billion travel expenses by 25 percent. “There’s a lot of money that can be saved,” he said.

– competitive bidding that allows contractors to pay the local prevailing wage rather than a union wage. Paul said the higher costs means taxpayers get less for their money on federal projects.

“I’m not saying don’t pay a fair wage, but if a carpenter gets $25 an hour here, why should you have to pay him $60 an hour simply because its a federal project.”

Paul said the problems with wasteful spending are due to the fact that many politicians treat federal money like a gift to take home to their local communities. “The problem is there is no more money, we’re a trillion dollars in the hole,” he explained.

Paul cited his belief that foreign aid to countries like Egypt — which gets $2 billion a year in U.S. aid — should be cut. “I say not one penny more for countries which are burning our flag.”

Cutting waste in government would go a long way to balancing the federal budget, he said. “If you cut one percent — one penny from every dollar spent — you could balance the budget between three and six years.”

Paul was critical of those who support greater government spending during recession.

“Where does the money come from? They simply print the money up and ultimately that leads to higher prices,” he explained. The rising prices hurt the poor whom they are trying to help.

The Affordable Care Act — also known as Obamacare — was touted by proponents that it would cut the federal deficit.

“(That claim) never passed the smell test,” Paul said. “It was a shell game that took money from Medicare, and now Medicare is $35 to $40 trillion short. We should try to shore up Medicare instead of draining money from it.”

Changing our government will require some new people in office, he explained. He noted that he supports defunding Obamacare, but there aren’t enough votes in the Senate to do that.

There will be another battle over Obamacare Paul predicted when the states who participate in healthcare exchanges and Medicaid expansion have to pay the bill.

“It’s going to be extraordinarily expensive, more so than anyone can imagine.” The state has no printing press, and the state will have to ask for more taxes, he explained.

The unintended consequences are that there will be fewer people with health insurance when large companies will opt to pay the $2,000-per-person fine rather pay to than provide health insurance for employees. “I tell people that the problem with Washington is that we have people who have big hearts and small brains.”

Paul ended his remarks by citing his belief in the U.S. as the greatest country in the world. “We have created more wealth and more humanitarian giving than any country in time.”

Paul said he would support a flat tax that will leave taxpayers with more money than the existing tax structure, and restated his support for smaller government and for local control of spending decisions.

In comments to the Gazette as he was about to leave, Sen. Paul refuted President Barack Obama’s comments that called the recent scandals involving the tragic deaths at Benghazi, the IRS targeting conservative groups, and the NSA domestic spying — were “phony scandals” and “distractions.”

“Tell that to Catharine Englebrect in Richmond Texas who was audited by five different agencies for not wanting dead people to vote,” Paul said. Engelbrecht is president of True the Vote, a vote monitoring organization whose objective is to stop voter fraud.

“Whether you are a Democrat or Republican, I don’t think anybody wants the people who win elections to take government and use it to punish the people they beat,” he said.

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