Speakers energize local Democrats, call for a ‘blue wave’ in November

Lydia Moore, left, exchanges greetings with Colman Elridge, the keynote speaker at the local Democratic party’s fundraising dinner.

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio

Saturday, April 28, 2018 — Local Democrats had their political batteries re-energized at their recent annual fundraising dinner on Friday, April 20 at Maywood Country Club.

The dinner had the feel of an old-time tent revival meeting as several spirited speakers called on Democrats to put their anger and frustration at the current political situation into action to make a positive difference.

Elridge energized the crowd during his speech at the local Democratic party’s May 20 fundraising dinner.

Keynote speaker Colman Elridge energized the crowd, which was one of the largest in the dinner’s history.

He recounted his time working as an executive assistant and senior advisor to former Gov. Steve Beshear, and compared and contrasted his former boss with Republican Gov. Matt Bevin.

Beshear had the courage to think big and to expand the state’s Medicaid program, Elridge said. “He had the courage to do something really big and be on the right side of history.”

Elridge didn’t hold back on his contempt of criticism of the Bevin administration, President Donald Trump, or Republicans in general.

Under the Bevin administration, “we can once again say ‘Thank God for Mississippi.’ ”

Bevin and the Republican-controlled General Assembly, have “given up the soul of the Commonwealth,’ he said.

Elridge said he sees glimmers of hope in the recent political awakening of state teachers and employees who have traveled to Frankfort to protest the General Assembly’s actions. He called on Democrats to vote in the May 22 primary election and encourage their friends to do so too.

“What we do next matters,” he told the crowd. “We can’t just leave it to others, ‘they’ won’t et it done, but ‘we’ can.’ ”

Its time for Democrats to go on the offensive and let people know what the Democratic party stands for, and remind them that Democrats are on the “right side of history.”

House minority leader Rep. Rocky Adkins also spoke at the dinner.

He listed a litany of initiatives that Democrats support, including adequate funding of education and universal access to healthcare.

In November, Kentucky Democrats need to let Washington know “we are tired of business as usual.”

He called on Democrats not to fear the future, for in 2019 they will have the opportunity to reject Bevin and other Republicans office holders, which brought the crowd to its feet.

GUBERNATORIAL HOPEFUL? State Rep. Rocky Adkins spoke at the Democratic gathering and blasted Republicans and their control of the General Assembly at nearly every turn.

Adkins is the House minority floor leader who some say may be one of the leading Democratic candidates for governor next year.

While Adkins isn’t saying if he will run, he said he has attended many Democratic gatherings on one of many stops he’s making in a tour of Kentucky counties.

He told the crowd he’s seeing a new energy from Democrats across the state — an energy he’s never seen before. Much of that energy comes from what he said was the Bevin administration’s “attack on public education.”

He said he was proud to see citizens voicing their opinions.

Commonwealth’s Attorney Terry Geoghegan, right, talks with members of the Bardstown High School’s Young Democrats Club.

He blasted Republicans for breaking established procedures, particularly in the pension bill that was approved in a non-public meeting without the required actuarial analysis. He said he hoped the lack of that analysis will prompt the courts to overturn the pension bill.

The GOP-controlled General Assembly has lacked transparency this year. The upside is that it has also generated political energy among voters, and with that energy, Adkins said he feels a political change in the wind.

“I feel like we have a wind at our backs instead of a hurricane in our faces,” Adkins said.

That energy means that Democrats will win in a “blue wave” in November, and in the process, take back control of the Kentucky House of Representatives.

Democratic Party chair Ben Self also spoke to the crowd and said that the elections this year “represent a once-in-a-decade opportunity.”

He called on Democrats to donate to candidates and the party, and to make a personal commitment to encourage fellow Democrats to vote.

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