The 32 day pre-election campaign reports are due so I thought that this would be a good time to review the finances of the three candidates who are running for County Attorney. Actually the review is simple. Due to the timing of Galen Clark’s filing for the office he had not taken in any contributions and has not spent any monies as his report reflects. Stuart Ulferts has no report on file-at least the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance web site states that there is no report on file. Due to the signs that I have seen it appears that he has spent some money.
Now the report of John Carter gives rise to some interesting observations and possibilities. His report reflects that he has received $27,849 and has spent $23,051.05. Thus, he has a balance of $4,797.95.
If you remember, the Fendley family did not want Galen Clark to be the County Attorney because he had not practiced law in Oldham County. Well, of Carter’s total receipts he has contributed $23,000 to his own campaign. Thus, other contributors have only contributed $4,849 to him. Other than himself, Carter has had thirty contributors. Of those nineteen are attorneys. Of the nineteen attorneys only one has an office in Oldham County. The others have offices in Louisville with one exception and that is Martin Johnstone. He is on the Supreme Court. Carter’s biggest donor is none other than Barbara Fendley. Thus, the majority of Carter’s support comes from outside Oldham County.
Barbara Fendley made a phone call to Anne Gernstein shortly after her husband’s demise. Do you think that her husband’s replacement as the Republican nominee for the November election might have been discussed? Again, the Fendleys thought that Galen Clark should not be the Republican nominee because he did not practice in Oldham County. Considering Carters supporters, it appears that if he is elected, there will be a lot of Louisville influence in Oldham County. Further, John Carter served as a District Judge in Jefferson County-not in Oldham County.
Personally, I don’t believe that it matters that Clark did not practice in Oldham County. What matters is his qualifications and whether he has the same values as most of the people in Oldham County have.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Friday, October 8, 2010
STATE OF THE OLDHAM COUNTY GOP
By: Oldham County Magistrate Scott Davis
As many of the regular readers of the blog can attest to, there is a serious problem with the leadership of the Oldham County GOP, specifically with the Chairperson Anne Gernstein. I have been active in the political scene of Oldham County for nearly five years now and during that time I have rarely experienced a time when Anne Gernstein was not dividing the party, rather than uniting and moving it forward. To speak frankly, in my opinion saying that Anne Gernstein’s leadership has been abysmal would be an understatement. Nonexistent would be a much more accurate description.
I have spoken to countless people around Oldham County and the consensus is very clear that Anne Gernstein is destroying the Oldham County GOP. Her actions as Chairperson are hardly what one would usually expect from a party leader. To begin with, saying that Anne Gernstein “speaks like a sailor” would be a slap in the face to sailors, as the lewd language and disgraceful way in which she has spoken about nearly every elected Republican official in Oldham County is unacceptable. Anne Gernstein thrives on gossiping and belittling Republicans throughout Oldham County. Furthermore, in my opinion, she also seems to have a serious problem with other women being in positions of power, based upon her obvious disdain for women such as Mary Ellen Kinser, Paula Gish, and Julie Barr.
As many Republicans who are seeking office for the first time have found out over the years, Anne Gernstein is known for “blacklisting” anyone who decides to run for office that doesn’t “approach her throne” and ask for permission and her stamp of approval to seek the office. This happened to me and at least four other first-time Republican candidates for office in the last five years. Even sadder is that fact that others who have spoken with her prior to filing for elective office were typically discouraged and told of the many reasons “why they could never win”.
Anne Gernstein is also known for choosing sides in local primary elections here in Oldham County. What kind of a party leader engages in such practices? She openly worked for and supported Duane Murner in his candidacy for Judge-Executive, even though there were other candidates, including a sitting Republican Judge-Executive. Another issue that I have discussed with several people is that fact that Anne Gernstein operates the Republican headquarters from a leased space in LaGrange with a sign over the office encouraging people to vote for Duane Murner as Judge-Executive. This sign has been in place for approximately five years now. Anne has told me personally that Howard Ferrell, the owner of the building, put the sign up. However, if she were so opposed to its placement, why hasn’t she moved to a new location over the last five years?
Another interesting topic is how Anne Gernstein appropriates the funding received by the local GOP through donations and attendance at the annual Lincoln dinner. To the best of my knowledge, a large percentage of this money goes directly to her, solely at her discretion for various “expenses”. I have yet to see one dime of money spent to support local Republicans running in contested races. Many other counties spend donated funds to back Republicans in contested races, why not Anne Gernstein and our local GOP? Even more disappointing is that Anne has worked far more for candidates OUTSIDE of Oldham County, such as Marcus Carey and Mike Sodrel, than local Republicans. She also chose to support Tray Grayson in the U.S. Senate Primary earlier this year and in my opinion has done very little to support Rand Paul in his race against Jack Conway. This is quite simply unacceptable.
The final straw with many local Republicans concerning Anne Gernstein was her abysmal handling of the nomination process to replace the deceased County Attorney John Fendley. While she had more than sufficient time to interview candidates, she chose not to do so. Instead, she spent her time soliciting John Carter to submit his name as a candidate. There were other candidates who also submitted their names for consideration, including Galen Clark who lost the May primary by less than 200 votes to John Fendley. Anne Gernstein’s disdain for Mr. Clark is so prevalent that she never considered him for the nomination, as evidenced by the sound byte recently heard on this site. She even went as far as to mock County Judge-Executive Duane Murner because in her words, he wanted Courtney Baxter nominated. Anne Gernstein could care less what the Republicans of Oldham County want, as evidenced by her complete slap in their face for not giving Galen Clark fair consideration for the nomination. Mr. Clark is a man who has run for the office twice previously, unlike Mr. Carter who has never run for the position previously. Now, Anne is working feverishly to help Mr. Carter get elected in an effort to save what little face she might have left. If you look at her car, the only Republican candidate in the county who she will display magnetic signs for is John Carter, even though there are several other contested local races. Way to go Anne in supporting all local candidates!
It is clear that Anne Gernstein has likely alienated herself with nearly every office within Oldham County by her badmouthing of elected Republicans who run them. This includes the County Clerk, Sheriff, Judge-Executive, and the Fiscal Court Magistrates. Additionally, she has lied in some of her statements about various officials, including Magistrate Rick Rash. As for others, the vicious rumors which Anne Gernstein spreads around the county have been damaging and are totally unnecessary.
I have been informed that several of the larger annual donors to the local GOP are withdrawing their support until Anne Gernstein steps aside or is removed. I applaud each of them for this. There is no way in my opinion for her to ever regain any shred of respect necessary to effectively operate in her position. It is time that she does the right thing for once and step aside. She has devastated the local party unity enough already.
As many of the regular readers of the blog can attest to, there is a serious problem with the leadership of the Oldham County GOP, specifically with the Chairperson Anne Gernstein. I have been active in the political scene of Oldham County for nearly five years now and during that time I have rarely experienced a time when Anne Gernstein was not dividing the party, rather than uniting and moving it forward. To speak frankly, in my opinion saying that Anne Gernstein’s leadership has been abysmal would be an understatement. Nonexistent would be a much more accurate description.
I have spoken to countless people around Oldham County and the consensus is very clear that Anne Gernstein is destroying the Oldham County GOP. Her actions as Chairperson are hardly what one would usually expect from a party leader. To begin with, saying that Anne Gernstein “speaks like a sailor” would be a slap in the face to sailors, as the lewd language and disgraceful way in which she has spoken about nearly every elected Republican official in Oldham County is unacceptable. Anne Gernstein thrives on gossiping and belittling Republicans throughout Oldham County. Furthermore, in my opinion, she also seems to have a serious problem with other women being in positions of power, based upon her obvious disdain for women such as Mary Ellen Kinser, Paula Gish, and Julie Barr.
As many Republicans who are seeking office for the first time have found out over the years, Anne Gernstein is known for “blacklisting” anyone who decides to run for office that doesn’t “approach her throne” and ask for permission and her stamp of approval to seek the office. This happened to me and at least four other first-time Republican candidates for office in the last five years. Even sadder is that fact that others who have spoken with her prior to filing for elective office were typically discouraged and told of the many reasons “why they could never win”.
Anne Gernstein is also known for choosing sides in local primary elections here in Oldham County. What kind of a party leader engages in such practices? She openly worked for and supported Duane Murner in his candidacy for Judge-Executive, even though there were other candidates, including a sitting Republican Judge-Executive. Another issue that I have discussed with several people is that fact that Anne Gernstein operates the Republican headquarters from a leased space in LaGrange with a sign over the office encouraging people to vote for Duane Murner as Judge-Executive. This sign has been in place for approximately five years now. Anne has told me personally that Howard Ferrell, the owner of the building, put the sign up. However, if she were so opposed to its placement, why hasn’t she moved to a new location over the last five years?
Another interesting topic is how Anne Gernstein appropriates the funding received by the local GOP through donations and attendance at the annual Lincoln dinner. To the best of my knowledge, a large percentage of this money goes directly to her, solely at her discretion for various “expenses”. I have yet to see one dime of money spent to support local Republicans running in contested races. Many other counties spend donated funds to back Republicans in contested races, why not Anne Gernstein and our local GOP? Even more disappointing is that Anne has worked far more for candidates OUTSIDE of Oldham County, such as Marcus Carey and Mike Sodrel, than local Republicans. She also chose to support Tray Grayson in the U.S. Senate Primary earlier this year and in my opinion has done very little to support Rand Paul in his race against Jack Conway. This is quite simply unacceptable.
The final straw with many local Republicans concerning Anne Gernstein was her abysmal handling of the nomination process to replace the deceased County Attorney John Fendley. While she had more than sufficient time to interview candidates, she chose not to do so. Instead, she spent her time soliciting John Carter to submit his name as a candidate. There were other candidates who also submitted their names for consideration, including Galen Clark who lost the May primary by less than 200 votes to John Fendley. Anne Gernstein’s disdain for Mr. Clark is so prevalent that she never considered him for the nomination, as evidenced by the sound byte recently heard on this site. She even went as far as to mock County Judge-Executive Duane Murner because in her words, he wanted Courtney Baxter nominated. Anne Gernstein could care less what the Republicans of Oldham County want, as evidenced by her complete slap in their face for not giving Galen Clark fair consideration for the nomination. Mr. Clark is a man who has run for the office twice previously, unlike Mr. Carter who has never run for the position previously. Now, Anne is working feverishly to help Mr. Carter get elected in an effort to save what little face she might have left. If you look at her car, the only Republican candidate in the county who she will display magnetic signs for is John Carter, even though there are several other contested local races. Way to go Anne in supporting all local candidates!
It is clear that Anne Gernstein has likely alienated herself with nearly every office within Oldham County by her badmouthing of elected Republicans who run them. This includes the County Clerk, Sheriff, Judge-Executive, and the Fiscal Court Magistrates. Additionally, she has lied in some of her statements about various officials, including Magistrate Rick Rash. As for others, the vicious rumors which Anne Gernstein spreads around the county have been damaging and are totally unnecessary.
I have been informed that several of the larger annual donors to the local GOP are withdrawing their support until Anne Gernstein steps aside or is removed. I applaud each of them for this. There is no way in my opinion for her to ever regain any shred of respect necessary to effectively operate in her position. It is time that she does the right thing for once and step aside. She has devastated the local party unity enough already.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
BAXTER NEEDS TO STOP THE CONFLICT OF INTEREST IN COUNTY ATTORNEY'S OFFICE
Daniel Fendley, Assistant Oldham County Attorney under Courtney Baxter, has now filed new evidence with the Oldham Circuit Court in the case of COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY vs JASON PARRISH. For another article on this matter visit examiner.com .
The purpose of this article is not to belabor the point of whether Stuart Ulferts is guilty of misconduct or not but to point out a conflict of interest that obviously exists in the County Attorney office. Daniel Fendley is the son of the late County Attorney, John Fendley. Since Fendley's death it has become obvious that the Fendleys do not want any of John Fendley's former opponent's to have the office of County Attorney. To me it appears that they believe that they should be the people to determine who who holds that office.
Remarks made by one of the Fendley children at their father's funeral indicated that the people in power should not allow his primary opponent have the office. Now the Fendley family appears to be attempting to keep the other person who was in the May primary, Stuart Ulferts, from having the position. Why don't they just allow the public to make that determination? I liked John Fendley and respected him for his willingness to be forthright even though I frequently disagreed with him. Somehow I just don't believe that he would have condoned what has happened. Can't everyone just let him rest in peace?
Ulferts may be guilty of misconduct and if he is, he should be punished for that. However, given the history of this political race Daniel Fendley's involvement in any filings regarding Ulferts is clearly a conflict of interest and should not be allowed to continue.
This latest action by Fendley simply adds another chapter to a political race that has become a joke. Further, for Fendley to use the court system to attack Ulferts when he has more than a legal interest in the case, serves only for the public to lose confidence in the judicial system.
One other interesting piece of information is brought forth from the motion filed by Daniel Fendley. In the Motion he states that Stuart Ulferts signed a contract on August 28,2006 to become a civil attorney for the county and that a mere seven days later he, Daniel Fendley, signed a contract to go to work for his father in the County Attorney's office as an assistant County Attorney. I believe that Ulferts had been working in the County Attorney's office prior to accepting employment with the county-specifically with the Planning and Development Commission. Is it possible that Ulferts was dismissed from his position in the County Attorney's office by John Fendley in order that he could replace him with his son, Daniel Fendley? Certainly is something worth thinking about.
By the way, I attended the forum last Thursday for those seeking political office. I could not help but notice that Daniel Fendley was seated with John Carter, Stuart Ulfert's opponent for the office of County Attorney. The seating was not assigned. Thus, attendees could sit at any place of their choice.
I am sure that this race will produce more newsworthy items before November 2, 2010.
The purpose of this article is not to belabor the point of whether Stuart Ulferts is guilty of misconduct or not but to point out a conflict of interest that obviously exists in the County Attorney office. Daniel Fendley is the son of the late County Attorney, John Fendley. Since Fendley's death it has become obvious that the Fendleys do not want any of John Fendley's former opponent's to have the office of County Attorney. To me it appears that they believe that they should be the people to determine who who holds that office.
Remarks made by one of the Fendley children at their father's funeral indicated that the people in power should not allow his primary opponent have the office. Now the Fendley family appears to be attempting to keep the other person who was in the May primary, Stuart Ulferts, from having the position. Why don't they just allow the public to make that determination? I liked John Fendley and respected him for his willingness to be forthright even though I frequently disagreed with him. Somehow I just don't believe that he would have condoned what has happened. Can't everyone just let him rest in peace?
Ulferts may be guilty of misconduct and if he is, he should be punished for that. However, given the history of this political race Daniel Fendley's involvement in any filings regarding Ulferts is clearly a conflict of interest and should not be allowed to continue.
This latest action by Fendley simply adds another chapter to a political race that has become a joke. Further, for Fendley to use the court system to attack Ulferts when he has more than a legal interest in the case, serves only for the public to lose confidence in the judicial system.
One other interesting piece of information is brought forth from the motion filed by Daniel Fendley. In the Motion he states that Stuart Ulferts signed a contract on August 28,2006 to become a civil attorney for the county and that a mere seven days later he, Daniel Fendley, signed a contract to go to work for his father in the County Attorney's office as an assistant County Attorney. I believe that Ulferts had been working in the County Attorney's office prior to accepting employment with the county-specifically with the Planning and Development Commission. Is it possible that Ulferts was dismissed from his position in the County Attorney's office by John Fendley in order that he could replace him with his son, Daniel Fendley? Certainly is something worth thinking about.
By the way, I attended the forum last Thursday for those seeking political office. I could not help but notice that Daniel Fendley was seated with John Carter, Stuart Ulfert's opponent for the office of County Attorney. The seating was not assigned. Thus, attendees could sit at any place of their choice.
I am sure that this race will produce more newsworthy items before November 2, 2010.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
ANNE GERNSTEIN REBUKES DUANE MURNER
Anne Gernstein apparently was very unhappy that County Judge/Executive Duane Murner did not consult with her regarding his selection to fill the interim County Attorney position. Thus, she chose to be spiteful and not consult with him on the selection of a person to replace John Fendley on the November ballot.
The problem is that with both Gernstein and Murner wanting their way, the people of Oldham County became the loser in the selection process. This is especially true for Galen Clark who had nearly won the May 2010 Republican primary. As a result of all of the posturing by Gernstein and Murner, Clark apparently did not receive proper consideration. From comments made by Gernstein and aired on this blog, it is obvious that she was not going to consider Clark. It is now obvious that Murner did not consider Clark for the interim position either. Both already had someone in mind for their respective selection. Gernstein and the executive committee of the GOP had the time to conduct interviews but did not do so.
Had interviews been conducted the information regarding John Carter’s shooting incident may have come to light and could have been considered. Also, I do not believe that Murner conducted any interviews of prospective candidates for the interim position of County Attorney.
Keep in mind that when Murner appointed Courtney Baxter to the interim County Attorney position he stated that he was appointing her to keep politics out of the selection, thereby insinuating that she would not be seeking the position on the November ballot. It is now apparent that he was less than candid with those remarks. His term cannot end too soon. I am sure that if he were confronted with this, he would give his usual “deer in the headlights” look as though he didn’t know what you were talking about. The people have become accustomed to that look.
There was nothing illegal done by Duane Murner or Anne Gernstein but their actions reflect deceitful behavior and should not be tolerated. Once again, Anne Gernstein should step aside as chairperson of the Oldham County Republican Party. She has alienated so many people that she cannot be an effective leader.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
IS GERNSTEIN SUGGESTING THAT WE NEED A COUNTY DRESS CODE
Not being Catholic I have never paid much attention to people in offices who all appear to be dressing in unison. As a matter of fact, having been in the military and in the United States Border Patrol I became accustomed to seeing people dressed alike. However, some people must not like to see people dressed alike - especially in a business setting. My only concern would be if I were an employee of the office. If I were being told to wear a uniform, I would expect my employer to purchase my clothing for me. After all, the clothing probably would not be something that I would wear otherwise. Also, some people like to wear a particular style of clothing that is becoming to them and most uniforms do not flattler a person.
That said, I have not noticed that the work product of the County Clerk's office has been affected by the uniform dress code that is apparently in existence. I have heard that some of the employees are not thrilled by having to wear clothing that is similar to all of the other employees.
Now as to the physical aspects of the employees, I would not dare go there. I learned a long time ago that the best thing to say about a woman is that she looks nice. I will leave it at that.
That said, I have not noticed that the work product of the County Clerk's office has been affected by the uniform dress code that is apparently in existence. I have heard that some of the employees are not thrilled by having to wear clothing that is similar to all of the other employees.
Now as to the physical aspects of the employees, I would not dare go there. I learned a long time ago that the best thing to say about a woman is that she looks nice. I will leave it at that.
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