Hal Rogers defends Somerset’s Streetscape project

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Congressman Hal Rogers resides in this College Street home. The Washington Post suggested Rogers helped secure funds for Somerset’s Streetscape project because he lived downtown.

February 9, 2012

By JEFF NEAL, CJ News Editor and HEATHER TOMLINSON, CJ Staff Writer Commonwealth Journal The Commonwealth Journal Thu Feb 09, 2012, 08:54 PM EST

Somerset —

Congressman Hal Rogers has taken exception to a Washington Post article which implies he helped garner funds for Somerset’s Streetscape project because he owns a home on College Street — one of the streets revitalized by the project.

“I secured federal funds to support the mayoral and city council’s downtown improvement plan, just as I have done for several other community projects across southern and eastern Kentucky,” Rogers said yesterday. “City officials designed this project to transform Somerset. It benefited the Somerset Utility Headquarters, the Somerset’s City Police Station, Somerset High School, Hopkins Elementary School, a number of businesses and more than 60 homes.”

The Post article points out Rogers, the current chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, helped secure around $250 million in earmarks from 2008-2010. Of that, about $7 million went toward the Somerset Streetscape project.

“We did get some money, there’s no doubt about that,” said former Somerset mayor JP Wiles. “But the city did pay some.”

Plans for the Streetscape project developed during Wiles’ administration, with construction on College Street beginning in 2003. The multi-phase project, which included removing utility lines and poles, installing decorative street lamps, benches, widening sidewalks and other improvements, is continuing today, under the watch of current Somerset Mayor Eddie Girdler. Current construction is taking place on Main Street between West Oak Street and East Columbia Street.

“This wasn’t just a project for Hal Rogers,” said Wiles, who pointed out the Streetscape project on College Street helped make one of Somerset’s most heavily-traveled downtown streets safer for both motorists and pedestrians.

“That (Somerset High School being located on College Street, along with city hall and city utilities) was one of the big issues,” Wiles said. “It wasn’t about Hal Rogers’ house at all.”

The article also pointed out that part of the project involves overhauling a strip of North Main Street around the corner from Citizens National Bank. Rogers is director emeritus of the bank and owns between a $1 million and $5 million interest in the bank’s holding company, according to the Post article.

“The project also linked downtown to the main highway connector to I-75,” Rogers said. “The fact that I live in downtown Somerset should not exclude the city from being eligible for funding support.”

Girdler, Somerset’s current mayor, said the Streetscape project has laid the foundation for further economic development — including the location of an energy center to the heart of Somerset.

“College Street is absolutely going to complement what we do there,” Girdler said.

An $8.5 million computerized three-story facility serving as an energy hub will be built, starting this fall, on the city-owned parking lot and to-be-razed office building space on the west side of College Street across from existing Somerset City Hall. In addition to city offices, the new building will house monitoring equipment for Somerset Gas Service’s vast natural gas pipeline network.

Girdler said that hub wouldn’t be feasible without the downtown improvements made through the Streetscape project.

“I think what they’ve done has worked real well in terms of the master plan for what Somerset needs,” Girdler said, adding later that the Streetscape project was an “excellent investment” for the city “regardless of what the Washington Post thinks.”

Wiles said Somerset’s current administration, and his own, simply took steps to build on a solid foundation laid by past officials.

“We are very, very fortunate to have good former mayors who tried to get as much as they could for their city,” Wiles said.

Wiles also noted that it’s the duty of any elected official to try to secure the funding necessary to help encourage economic development within their communities.

“If they (officials) don’t try to take advantage of that, then they missed the boat,” Wiles said.

“You try to make your city look as good as you can,” Wiles continued. “People live here and they pay taxes here.”

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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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