With incumbent U.S. Rep. Geoff Davis (R-Ft. Mitchell) skipping last night's 4th Congressional District candidate forum on Kentucky Educational Television, Davis' Democratic opponent slammed the incumbent on numerous issues and defended himself from earlier attacks by the Republican.

Last week, Davis' campaign said its candidate wouldn't debate physician Michael Kelley (D-Lagrange), claiming Kelley "is not taking this race seriously" and pointing to Kelley's low fundraising take. That jab afforded Kelley the chance to launch into a critique of the campaign finance system during last night's televised appearance.

"Saying that I am not a serious candidate because I am not going to wade into the sewer and grab special interest cash no matter how slimy or filthy it makes me - well, I guess I disagree with him on that one," said Kelley.

Kelley showed $7,000 in funds on-hand on his last FEC report, compared to over $840,000 for his opponent.

The Democrat called for a system of public election financing in objecting to fundraising methods by his opponent.

"He has used the power and authority given to him by the voters to shakedown lobbyists for campaign cash, and I think it's shameful," said Kelley. "We have a system right now where we choose our Congressmen based on who's the best fundraiser."

"The best fundraisers are the ones who are the most morally flexible about taking dirty money. So we get Congressmen who are honesty-challenged," continued Kelley. "In our current system you have a choice: someone who is willing to sell their soul for lobbyist campaign cash or someone who doesn't have much chance because they are not willing to grub in the sewer for special interest cash."

Kelley also objected to the recently-passed bailout of the American financial sector, saying he would have voted against the $700 billion package in part because it was rushed through Congress.

"We were forced into a panic by our president who was saying the economic sky was falling and we didn't have a second to think," said Kelley. "The fact of the matter is if you find yourself facing a high pressure sales job, you are probably getting ripped off."

The Democrat also objected to Davis' support of expanded domestic drilling for oil, arguing that proposition would not make a major impact on oil markets.

"His policy suggests if we combine wishful thinking and magic and fairy dust, we will get back to 2 dollar gasoline, and that's just clearly not true," said Kelley.

Kelley called for an increase push towards alternative fuels to "move beyond oil."

The Democrat also objected to the current policy towards Iraq, saying "we need to get out," and criticized the idea of renewing tax cuts passed during the administration of President Bush.

"The idea that if you just give rich people more, somehow they'll spill some of the crumbs and they'll trick down to the rest of us - well, I never did understand that," said Kelley.

Kelley's solo appearance on KET comes shortly after a SurveyUSA poll of the 4th District put Davis ahead 58 to 36 percent.

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}