RASH MAKES ANOTHER LIST

Magistrate Rick Rash has achieved another high level position in the Oldham County GOP. From listening to the recent sound bites and knowing what lies ahead I suspect taht he will have many contenders for his exalted position. As a matter of fact I suspect that I am challenging Rash for the number one spot. From what I have heard I suspect that Gernstein has also made the top of other people's lists

OC SHERIFF'S OFFICE RESPONDS TO JOHN CARTER REMARKS TO COURIER JOURNAL

In a memorandum addressed to County Judge Duane Murner on September 23, 2010, Chief Oldham County Deputy Sheriff Bob Noble makes it clear that he does not agree with the remarks made by County Attorney candidate John Carter. The "watchdog" obtained the memorandum via a request filed under the Kentucky Open Records law. The memorandum details the shooting incident of May 10, 2009 that was reported earlier on this site. An earlier memorandum addressed the incident but did not go into detail about the incident. In that memorandum Deputy Sheriff John Schulte simply stated that Carter had been target shooting in his back yard and fired several rounds that struck his neighbor's home but was not charged in the incident because Carter and the neighbor agreed that Carter would pay for the damages.

In the September 22, 2010 edition of the Louisvile Courier Journal Carter said that the incident was brought up for political reasons and that his opponent, Democrat Stuart Ulferts, had used his role as an attorney working for the county to get the Sheriff's office to write a synopsis of the incident.In Chief Deputy Bob Noble's memorandum he states that Carter's remarks regarding the initiation of the first synopsis are a "complete misrepresentation of the facts surrrounding the report." Noble further stated that sometime in August (2010) the sheriff's office began receiving inquiries regarding the incident, including one from Stuart Ulferts. However, he stated that when Ulferts was first told that there was no report made of the incident because the issue had been settled, Ulferts made no further inquiry "nor did he ask for or in any way attempt to influence the Oldham Sheriff's Office to generate a report." Noble stated that he believed that the incident was going to become an issue.Thus,he instructed Deputy Schulte to submit a "brief" synopsis of the incident. Noble stated that Mr. Carter's campaign received the first copy of the report. Noble stated that had Mr. Carter chosen to respond to law enforcement honestly and in a civil manner, this would not have been an issue and as the perpetrator, he is solely responsible for any issues arising therefrom.

Carter claimed to the Courier Journal that he had not been drinking when he was shooting. Carter also stated to me that he had not been drinking even though a bottle of wine was present along with a pistol. The presence of the pistol and the wine were referenced in the memorandum prepared by Dupty Schulte. However, Shulte did not elaborate of Mr. Carter's reaction to the arrival of police on the scene. Schulte also did not the issue of Carter's sobriety.

Contrary to what Carter told me and the Courier Journal, the memorandum of Chief Deputy Noble states that when Deputy Schulte initially made contact with Carter after the shooting incident Carter lied by stating that he knew nothing about shots being fired. Noble further stated that, according to Deputy Schulte, Carter also appeared to be intoxicated. Also, according to the Noble memo, when Deputy Schulte went toward the pistol Carter attempted to physically block him. Due to a gun and alcohol being involved and the belligerence displayed by Mr. Carter he was handcuffed for safety reasons.

This latest memorandum certainly puts a different light on the issue. Guns and alcohol certainly do not mix. As I stated in a previous article I gave Mr. Carter an opportunity to respond to the first article. He declined to do so and said that the incident happened. However, this latest information certainly begs for an answer from Mr. Carter as his response to the inquiry made by the Sheriff's office cries for an explanation as well as does the involvement of the alcohol. Again, I offer Mr. Carter the opportunity to provide me with a response and I will post that response on this site.

I have posted Mr. Noble's memorandum, in its entirety, on this site for readers to review. You may view the memo by clicking here.

I am sure that Oldham countians have not heard the last of this issue. This is a very serious matter considering the office that Mr. Carter is seeking. As a matter of fact, I have been hearing from good sources that Galen Clark is giving strong consideration to entering the November 2, 2010 election as a "write-in" candidate for the Office of County Attorney.

Write-in candidates typically have a difficult time of winning in general elections due to the people who vote a straight party ticket. However, this seems to be the year of maverick voters who are not happy with business as usual. At the very least his candidacy would likely affect the outcome of the election. It could even influence the races for other offices if people decided to go away from the straight party vote in order to write in Galen Clark's name. Once they stray from the straight party vote they might decide to vote for other people who are not in their party.

GERNSTEIN ON INCEST AT COUNTY GOVERNMENT OFFICE

According to Anne Gernstein a couple of the girls who work in the office of the County Judge were very close to the Paula Gish campaign. It makes one wonder if they could possibly be loyal to David Voegele were he to keep them in his administration.
Gernstein did not mention the ladies by name but if you have kept up with the employment and contracts of the Murner administration, it is not difficult to determine their identity

GERNSTEIN DEFINES OLDHAM COUNTY CHAIN OF COMMAND

Anne Gernstein, the GOP chairperson, has confirmed what many people have known for years: that the most powerful democrat in Oldham County, Bob Jones,runs the county even though the county is Republican by registration. The voters did vote for a change in the 2010 primary. Hopefully, David Voegele will produce that change. The question is, does Voegele have the fortitude to make the necessary changes? Another article will be forthcoming on that issue.

LETTER OF SUPPORT FOR JOHN CARTER

Recently I was provided a memorandun by written by an Oldham County Sheriff's deputy regarding an incident that involved John Carter who is the Republican candidate for County Attorney. I posted that memorandum on this site for the public to view. At that time Carter avised me that he had been furnished a letter from the neighbor involved in the incident. He told me that the letter indicated that the neighbor was going to support his candidacy. I advised him that if he would forward the letter to me, I would post it on this site.

Carter has furnished the letter to me and I have posted it here for everyone to view. Apparently the letter was originally directed to Andre Udhe, a reporter for the Louisville Courier Journal newspaper.

NEW INFORMATION ABOUT OLDHAMCOUNTY ATTORNEY CANDIDATE JOHN CARTER

I have recently been provided a copy of a memorandum written by an Oldham County Deputy Sheriff in which he details an incident that he responded to. It is to be noted that the deputy prepared this memorandum fifteen months after the incident happened and it apparently is the only record of the incident. The subject of the incident was John Carter who is the Republican candidate for Oldham County Attorney.

In the memrandum the deputy states that John Carter was shooting at a trarget in his back yard and in doing so fired several rounds of ammunition that struck a neighbor's home. Carter and the neighbor came to an agreement whereby Carter would pay for the damages. Thus, no charges were filed against Carter. The deputy also stated that a bottle of wine was found with a gun in Carter's back yard.

This evening I had an opportunity to speak to John Carter about this incident and I asked him if it were true. He responded that he would respond as George Washington did when asked if he had chopped down a cherry tree. Carter stated,"I cannot tell a lie; it is true". He went on to say that he was not consuming alcohol at the time of the incident but he did not offer an explanation for the presence of the wine.

I offered Carter an opportunity to provide me with a written response which I said I would post on this site. He responded that he didn't feel that he could say anything else. He did state that he would provide a letter to me from his neighbor in which the neighbor states that she will support his candidacy for County Attorney. I told him that I would publish the letter when I receive it. Meanwhile, as I told Mr. Carter, I have posted the deputy's memorandum on this site. You can read the memorandum in its entirety by clicking here. You can then be your own judge regarding the incident.

MAGISTRATE RICK RASH TO BE BARRED FROM GOP HEADQUARTERS

What did Rick Rash do to get barred from the GOP headquarters? Perhaps the future will tell us something. I really thought that the GOP headquarters was/is an office open to the public but apparently the chairperson does what she wants. I don't know if he was ever refused entry to the headquarters or not but I thought that I had seen some of his campaign material at the office.

The other question that comes to mind is, did the position taken by the chairperson hurt Rash's quest to be reelected? He did lose by a small margin to another Republican.

Still a lot more coming.

ANNE GERNSTEIN: IN HER OWN WORDS ON GALEN CLARK

You must adjust the volume on this bar to hear the audio. Sorry for the inconvenience.

TIME FOR A CHANGE IN OLDHAM COUNTY GOP LEADERSHIP

Several weeks ago the Oldham County Republican Party had to select a nominee to replace former County Attorney John Fendley on the November 2010 ballot. John Fendley had defeated fellow Republican candidate Galen Clark by 199 votes in the May primary but subsequently was killed in a farm accident.

The chairperson of the Republican Party, Anne Gernstein, stated that the process for the selection would be similar to a corporate hire in the private sector. Thus, she advised that anyone interested in filling the position should submit a resume to her and each person would be considered by the executive committee of the party. Additionally, Gernstein personally asked John Carter to submit a resume. To my knowledge she did not ask anyone else to submit a resume. She did this despite the fact that he had never run for the position of County Attorney previously while Galen Clark had sought the nomination of the party on two previous occasions. In a sound bite that is on this site you can hear Gernstein state that she could never vote for Galen Clark. It is obvious to me that she had already determined who she wanted to be the person to replace John Fendley. She also stated to me that she had received a call from the widow of Fendley regarding the position. I believe that Anne Gernstein supplanted the will of the Republican voters of Oldham County and decided that she was better qualified to decide who should be the next Republican nominee for county attorney. That simply is not her job.

Meanwhile, Oldham County Judge Duane Murner had selected Courtney Baxter to complete the unexpired term of Fendley. At the time Murner announced the selection before the fiscal court he stated that he had selected Baxter in order to keep politics out of the process to replace Fendley on the ballot. Thus, people were led to believe that Baxter would not be a candidate for the position on the November ballot. However, Baxter did submit her resume to the GOP for consideration for the position. It is known that Gernstein was upset that Murner had not contacted her regarding his selection to complete Fendley’s unexpired term. On the other side of the coin, according to Gernstein, Murner was upset with her for not contacting him regarding the selection of the person to fill the position on the November ballot. This was evidenced by Murner’s obvious disdain for the selection process. He expressed his displeasure to the local media and stated that he would have nothing more to do with the Oldham County GOP. I doubt that he would have been happy with any process that did not lead to the selection of Courtney Baxter to fill the position on the November ballot, but that is just my opinion.

The fact is that the executive committee did not take the time to interview any of the candidates. Gernstein has stated that there was not enough time to conduct interviews of all of the candidates. There were four applicants for the position. I cannot believe that four hours could not have been given for the purpose of interviewing the applicants. If you aren’t interested in giving that much time to do a task, then don’t accept the challenge. Personally, I believe that Gernstein already had her mind made up and that she did not believe an interview with each applicant was necessary to fulfill her mission.

In Gernstein’s role as the chairperson of the GOP she is supposed to remain neutral in primary elections. There have been instances in the past when she did not do that. She has been partial to certain candidates. She was particularly partial to Duane Murner when he was running for County Judge in 2006. Now he is not happy with her methodology. My, how the worm turns! This site will show in the coming days and weeks that Gernstein used her position and the office of chairperson to vilify many of the candidates in Oldham County. This has brought about divisiveness with in the party. The county does not appear to be united at the present time. There is no doubt that Anne Gernstein has helped many people within the Oldham County republican party but the time has come for her to be replaced if the party is to become unified and continue to be successful. I believe that the people of Oldham County have lost trust in her judgment.

I believe that the Republican Party would have easily captured the position of County Attorney had John Fendley lived or had the selection process for his replacement been conducted more fairly. However, at the present time I do not believe that the election is a “slam dunk” for the Republicans. Other races might also be affected. Moreover, I suspect that funding for the Republican Party will decrease drastically if Gernstein remains as the chairperson. If that were to happen the party could become dysfunctional and serve no positive purpose. The Democrats in the county must be waiting anxiously to see what the outcome of this crisis is.