Thrasher defends local GOP committee resolution critical of Rep. McCoy votes
By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio
Wednesday, May 29, 2019 — Don Thrasher, the chairman of the Nelson County Republican Party, stood by the party’s decision to issue resolutions critical of state Rep. Chad McCoy, a fellow Republican.
Thrasher said members of the county committee met with McCoy for a legislative update while the 2019 General Assembly was in session. He said the members felt betrayed when two days after the meeting with McCoy, he voted to co-sponsor House Bill 517, a bill that would increase the state’s gasoline tax.
McCoy never mentioned he would support the gas tax during the legislative meeting, Thrasher said.
“We were a little disappointed by that,” Thrasher said. “I reached out to him but never heard anything back.”
After not receiving a response from McCoy, the committee moved forward with a resolution. Thrasher said he sent the draft resolution to McCoy, and again, no response.
“I just felt very compelled to do it at this point,” he said.
Twenty committee members met on May 15 and after discussion, the resolution was approved by a 19-to-1 vote.
The resolution was also critical of McCoy’s vote to eliminate the bank franchise tax, which Thrasher said was a $100 million tax break for the banking industry. He said that McCoy’s support for the gas tax amounted to trying to “make up” for the loss of the bank franchise tax on the backs of lower income Kentuckians who would pay the gas tax.
McCoy became a co-sponsor of the gas tax, but the bill never made it out of committee.
Thrasher was also critical of the Republican leadership in the General Assembly. He said the move toward expanding the sales tax and lowering the income tax was not good for the average Kentuckian.
Moving forward, Thrasher said the door is always open for McCoy to visit when the county committee meets. But Thrasher said that under his leadership, the county committee wanted to get involved in the legislative process.
“This was not to hurt Chad McCoy,” Thrasher said of the resolution. “This was a plea asking ‘Listen to us’.”
Thrasher said the local GOP will be no longer be silent when they see lawmakers take stands on legislative issues they disagree with. And he said the committee felt deceived when McCoy never mentioned his support for the gas tax during his legislative update with the group two days before he became a co-sponsor of the gas tax bill.
McCoy was out of town Wednesday at the time of WBRT’s “Bradford & Brooks” radio show and was unavailable to comment. During the radio show, a Legislative Research Commssion media relations staffer sent the following statement by McCoy in regard to the resolution.
“The work we are doing in Frankfort is already paying off with an historic number of new jobs across the state, record low unemployment and huge investments by in-state and out-of-state companies. To criticize legislation that will save thousands of jobs in Kentucky-owned banks, or call into question support for investing in our crumbling infrastructure shows a dangerous lack of concern for our state’s future. It’s a shame that we’re even talking about this rather than working together to make Kentucky the very best place to live and work.”
McCoy, via the LRC, also offered a guest editorial regarding the issues mentioned in the local GOP resolution. The guest editorial may be read by clicking here.
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