Kentucky: Lexington

Apparently, Jim Newberry's first announcement that he is running for re-election as Lexington Mayor wasn't enough, as his special friends decided to throw a party for him in the posh Thoroughbred Room at the Civic Center last night.

My first thought as I walked into the room was that I was the only dude that wasn't wearing a suit and didn't have white hair. This is Jim's crowd.

And what a crowd it was! Particularly since the smallish room was 2/3 empty:

Schankula got there a little earlier, and was met by Newberry's right hand Shaye Rabold. Shaye said that she saw Schankula and I on the FB event list, and asked if we were going to "heckle" him.

Blatantly.
“I support a woman’s right to choose, I support Roe v. Wade – I’m not for repealing that,” Chandler said.

“But I have been fairly consistent on the expenditure of public money for abortions, and I have generally been against that.”

The amendment’s proponents say the goal is to ensure that a longstanding ban on using federal dollars for elective abortions continues under the new health care legislation.

Abortion-rights advocates say it would make it harder for millions of women to have health insurance that covers abortion. They depict it as an assault on American women’s reproductive rights.

“There is a dispute about the effect of it, and I think that’s still being disputed by both sides,” Chandler said, adding that some say it goes further than the current ban on federally funded abortions.

Louis "Shoeshine" Cobb, at LFUCG, July 2008.

Shoeshine died today. If you know anything about Lexington, you've met him.

A few words from around town:

BLUELINE:
He was a downtown Lexington fixture and the best dressed fella' you ever did see. One of the most unique characters around, to be sure. Seriously, always dressed to the nine, coattails and all, and ready to shine your shoes. I wish now that I had let him, at least once.
ACE WEEKLY:
He was an omnipresent fixture on downtown corners, shining shoes, and at LFUCG, where he always commented during the public comment section. He recently thanked one Council Member at worksession for basically paying him to agree NOT to offer to shine his shoes for the next year.

From his hometown Herald-Leader's editorial:
Chandler's disappointing vote

We're not sure what Chandler hoped to accomplish politically with his vote. He endorsed Obama and voted for a cap-and-trade allowance system to reduce the heat-trapping gases that are causing climate change. The energy vote, opposed by coal interests, was probably more politically risky than this one. And he's not going to get right with the tea baggers no matter what he does.

This is no time to let the perfect become the enemy of the good. We would have rather seen Chandler stand up for positive change rather than hunker down with Kentucky's House Republicans who reflexively vote against anything Obama wants, even Rep.