Eubank mayor joins redistricting suit

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Eubank Mayor Frey Todd

January 26, 2012

By RONNIE ELLIS, CNHI News Service Commonwealth Journal The Commonwealth Journal Thu Jan 26, 2012, 07:23 PM EST

Frankfort —

The mayor of Eubank said late yesterday he is a party to a lawsuit filed by House Republicans challenging the constitutionality of newly drawn legislative boundaries that they claim favor Democrats.

Frey Todd said the 80th House District line splits the city of Eubank in half. He was referring to elimination of a tiny portion of House District 24 and edging Danny Ford’s 80th District across a tip of northern Pulaski County embracing Eubank No. 25, Estesburg No. 26, Goodhope No. 28 and Hazeldell No. 29.

Todd is among the three Republican lawmakers and two private citizens who filed suit Thursday in Franklin Circuit Court to have the House legislative redistricting plan declared unconstitutional.

The plan is a “blatant power play by Rep. (Greg) Stumbo and his constituents,” said Anthony Gaydos of Vanceburg, one of the plaintiffs in the suit. “It is unconstitutional to split our county three ways to bring in three Democrats to represent us.”

The plan, passed by the General Assembly and signed into law by Gov. Steve Beshear, reflects the partisan advantage of the Democratic-controlled House map and the Republican-controlled Senate map. Minorities in both chambers have cried foul, but House Republicans have said for several days they expected to challenge the plan in court.

They contend the plan violates the state constitution by splitting more than the minimum number of counties and also deviates from a standard of plus or minus 5 percent population deviation from the average district population, a standard set out in a previous court ruling over re-districting resulting from an earlier suit filed by, Rep. Joe Fischer, R-Ft. Thomas, who is also a plaintiff in the latest suit.

The suit asks for an injunction to stop implementation of the plan and a hearing on

that request has been scheduled for Monday at 10:30 a.m. before Franklin Circuit

Judge Phil Shepherd.

The other plaintiffs are Republican House members Jeff Hoover, Jamestown; Kim King, Harrodsburg; and Todd. Pulaski County, Republican in registration, was split four ways and Gaydos’ Lewis County, also heavily Republican, was split three ways. Previously represented by Republican Jill York of Grayson, the county is now represented by three Democrats.

“I just feel like Lewis County is being targeted unfairly, especially with the splitting of our county,” said Gaydos, who operates Gaydos Funeral Home in Vanceburg and is a registered Republican. “I believe we are being targeted simply because we are such a committed Republican county and they are denying us the representation of Jill York.”

Hoover said the plan passed by Democrats is “not only unfair, it’s not only disenfranchises voters, but it is unconstitutional.” He and Fischer say the plan fails three tests: it splits more than the minimum number of counties; it deviates from court imposed population guidelines for districts; and it includes districts which are not contiguous.

The last is a reference to Pulaski County where Democrats drew a very narrow strip of the county, including Eubank, in order to connect Casey County to Rockcastle County, the home of Republican Whip Danny Ford of Mt. Vernon. Ford has already announced he won’t seek re-election in his new district which he describes as looking like “a horseshoe with a leash.”

Hoover declined to say who is paying for the suit except that private citizens have expressed a desire to determine the plan’s constitutionality and are willing to pay for it. He said no tax dollars will be involved.

Gaydos said he is not financing the suit and he said he was not approached by Hoover or the party about joining it. He said it was mostly his idea but spurred by requests from local Lewis County Republicans who wanted to fight dividing the Republican county among three Democrats.

Democrats, the minority in the Senate, suffered a similar fate to House Republicans.

The Republican Senate majority placed Democratic incumbents in districts with others and Sen. Kath Stein, D-Lexington, saw her district moved outside of Fayette County and replaced by a re-numbered district which won’t be on the ballot this year.

That means she can’t even run for re-election.

She said Thursday she’s reviewing the suit filed by House Republicans.

“I think the chances are very good that we will seek to intervene in the matter,” Stein said. She said she’s likely to file such a motion before Monday.

Stumbo, the primary architect of the House plan, said he’s briefly reviewed the Republican complaint but thinks the re-districting plan will withstand court challenge. He doesn’t think Shepherd is likely to order an injunction Monday.

“An injunction is predicated on a finding that the law is unconstitutional,”

Stumbo said. “Without that type of finding, then the injunctive relief of that kind, in my judgment, is unwarranted. And I don’t think the court can make that finding without a trial of the merit of the case.

Bill Mardis contributed to this story

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Pulaski carries Girdler to win

In the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s primary election, it was impossible to miss the colorful signs dotting nearly every Pulaski roadway. The names in the race for the 15th State Senatorial District seat popped out: A.C. Donahue. Chris Girdler. Mark Polston.

Once citizens hit the ballots, however, the results mirrored the dimensions of the signs themselves: Chris Girdler stood the tallest.

Girdler, deputy district director for Congressman Harold “Hal” Rogers, ran away with the votes inside Pulaski County’s borders, earning 3,926 votes for 62.05 percent of the total number cast.

That number more than doubled the next highest vote-getter, businessman Mark Polston, who raked in 1,624 votes for 25.67 percent.

However, Polston — who owns Classic Carpet, a home-flooring business located just off the southern 914 bypass — can claim a moral victory ... three of them, in fact. In all three counties in the district other than Pulaski — those being Adair, Casey, and Russell Counties — Polston actually edged out Girdler.

In Adair, Polston beat Girdler 629 to 394. In Casey County, it was 538 to 417, and in Russell, it was 1,862 to 1,038.

Polston said he just “couldn’t pull it out with the numbers” and that “the machine worked for” Girdler in Pulaski County.

“I think that was their strategy — I think they had a Pulaski County strategy all along,” said Polston. “They played the political game well.”

Polston said the difference between his and Girdler’s campaigns was that “mine was a very, very grass roots campaign,” he said. “I did not have a political machine behind me. I understand how this process works, and in this instance, he prevailed.”

As for why Girdler didn’t take three of four counties, the winning candidate — since there are no Democrats in the race, winning the Republican primary was effectively a final victory for Girdler — said he didn’t have an answer for that.

However, “I believe things happen for a reason and I hope the long and strenuous campaign will only heighten my desire to move beyond the bitterness and partisanship of the recent past,” said Girdler.

“Regionalism is a goal of mine, and I look forward to helping all four counties,” he added, noting that he campaigned heavily in each of them.

Sen. Vernie McGaha, the long-time state senator whose seat the candidates were vying for, actually supported Polston after Liberty’s Todd Hoskins dropped out of the race earlier this month.

Donahue, a local attorney, got 556 votes in Pulaski County, 8.79 percent of the vote. He only received 145 votes in Russell County, 74 in Adair County, and 75 in Casey County, where hometown candidate Hoskins almost matched him with 71 votes despite no longer being officially in the race.

Polston said he’s “still digesting” what happened, and though “the process has been a very good experience for me,” he wouldn’t commit to running again in the future. “I wouldn’t shut the door to anything, but I’m not opening any doors either.”

Still, “I think I got a lot of people involved in the process that had not been involved before and would not have been otherwise,” he said. “A lot of people got out and worked really hard, got motivated to talk to friends and neighbors. I think a lot of people became involved through this campaign that are going to be involved for a long time.”

Girdler stressed his “positive message” and said that Rogers is a “mentor and good friend” that he would turn to for advice in dealing with a frequently combative legislative body in Frankfort, one for which Girdler hopes to help change the culture.

Girdler said that he was “confident and optimistic” during the day Tuesday because he’d “worked extremely hard.” Nevertheless, the realization that he’d won gave him “chill bumps,” he said.

“I’m absolutely honored,” said Girdler. “The position of state senator is more than an honor, more than an office. It’s a charge to keep, and I will give it my all.

“I pledge to be the people’s state senator,” he added. “I look forward to working with everyone to move this region forward.”

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