By Jonathan Miller, on Mon Oct 24, 2011 at 8:30 AM ET
In this week’s column for The Huffington Post, the RP comments on a fascinating personal story within an otherwise boring Kentucky Governor’s race: the relationship between GOP nominee and State Senate President David Williams and his father-in-law, Terry Stephens, who has pumped in nearly $2.5 million of his own fortune — some through dubious means — to help his son-in-law. Here’s an excerpt:
As the proud papa of two extraordinary teenage girls, I know that there is nothing more unshakable, pure, and enduring than a father’s love for his daughter. Where that unqualified adoration extends to her husband as well, I imagine that such a family is truly blessed.
But as the Kentucky governor’s race approaches its inexorable denouement this November, it seems apparent that a father-in-law can love a bit too much.
The father-in-law at issue is Terry Stephens, a highly successful businessman in rural southern Kentucky. And his son-in-law, Kentucky Senate President and GOP gubernatorial nominee David Williams, is having a very, very bad year.
Indeed, during the first decade of the new millennium, David Williams was the most powerful and influential figure in the Kentucky Capitol. While never offering a discernible policy agenda of his own, Williams was a master of statehouse politics, successfully thwarting the grand legislative ambitions of three consecutive governors, of both parties.
Williams, however, failed to comprehend that his insider influence would not necessarily translate into statewide electoral success. And after eking out a GOP primary victory against two dramatically underfunded opponents, his general election bid — marred by a Keystone-Cops, revolving-door campaign team and the seemingly weekly release of new allegations about the misuse of taxpayer funds by Williams and his running-mate — has been nothing short of a disaster. The most recent polls show Williams running around 30 points behind the incumbent Governor, Steve Beshear. Even Trey Grayson, the former GOP Secretary of State and current Director of Harvard’s Institute of Politics — and, like Williams, a protegée of U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell — has publicly declared the race over, predicting an electoral “blowout.”
Perhaps Williams’ overwhelming popular rebuke can be attributed to the recent media exposure of the many hypocrisies of his candidacy and career: The steadfast opponent of expanded gaming who incurred tens of thousands of dollars in losses at riverboat casinos in neighboring states. The leading advocate of cutting public pensions who has voted to double his own legislative pension while in office. The self-defined fiscal conservative (proclaiming, a la JFK in Berlin, “I am a Tea Partier“) who has emerged as the very symbol of government waste by spending more than $50,000 to renovate his Senate office with items such as a big-screen, plasma TV.
But the most popular theory blames Williams’ precipitous decline on the Senate President’s dislikable personality. While for years in Frankfort circles and on editorial pages, Williams has been widely and consistently portrayed as a “bully,” it was only through the spotlight of a statewide campaign that many of Williams’ critics have felt empowered to come forward and give public testimony. (In one powerful example, state Senator Tim Shaughnessy, who described himself as once close to Williams, declared: “He is just not a very nice person.”) Even Williams himself admits that his disesteemed personal image has damaged his candidacy.
Still, to Williams’ credit, those closest around seem to really love him. His wife, Robyn, has forcefully defended her husband against political attacks, and her beautiful visage graces much of Williams’ campaign propaganda.
And Robyn’s father, Terry Stephens has been — by leaps and bounds — Williams’ largest financial supporter. Stephens gave the Williams campaign the maximum financial contribution provided under state law, and then held a fundraiser at his home that generated around $50,000 in contributions. In June, Stephens contributed $1 million to the Republican Governors’ Association, which in July ran about $1 million of television ads supporting Williams’ candidacy.
The Recovering Politician is now officially The Recovering PoliticianTM.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has officially certified our trademark. (See below)
So, RP Nation, we enlist you in a critical investigative effort. If you hear of anyone else claiming themselves to be “The Recovering Politician,” contact us immediately. It could make the difference between life and death. Thank you.
By Jonathan Miller, on Thu Oct 20, 2011 at 12:30 PM ET
I’ve written earlier that the only things I hate worse than negative ads are the political commercials of the “false positive” variety: You know, the ads that exaggerate a candidate’s record and/or make them out to be something that they are not.
The Kentucky Secretary of State’s race is probably not one you follow closely, even if you live here. However, you’ve got to watch the following ad in support of Alison Lundergan Grimes, a young Democrat in her first run for office. Unlike the hyper-serious false positives you may be used to, this one is clever, funny, and even throws in a short, clear policy message:
I think that it is the best ad of the cycle, and perhaps even the best ad produced for a Kentucky Secretary of State’s race since this one below from 1995 (for contributing RP, John Y. Brown, III):
By Jonathan Miller, on Wed Oct 19, 2011 at 5:00 PM ET
A terrific day of recovery and reinvention here at The Recovering Politician.
If you are new to the site, brought here as an FOM (Friend of Morgan), welcome. Despite my own progressive leanings, we welcome bi-partisanship here, and Morgan is a terrific new addition.
And in that vein, tomorrow, we lead off with a piece from contributing RP and former Republican National Chairman Michael Steele: “Are We Ready to Understand Clarence Thomas?”
Often controversial, but always civil. See you tomorrow.
We introduce our newest Friend of RP tomorrow, and we think that you will enjoy her.
Named by Keith Olberman as “The Worst Person in the World” as a college student, she’s done some growing up. Now a twenty-something and mother of four, she regrets her strident language and tactics in her recent youth, while still holding strong to her conservative values.
This is the type of recovery we love to spotlight here at The Recovering Politician. And we also look forward to reading more from her unique point of view.
By Jonathan Miller, on Mon Oct 17, 2011 at 8:30 AM ET
The RP is neither stiff-necked nor arrogant enough to believe that the producers of the ABC freshman TV hit, Revenge, read his little-known Web site. However with Hollywood being run by Jews and liberals — the RP’s two core constituencies — we imagine that someone in the RP Nation knows the show’s producers. If you are one of those suitably connected, please share this open letter with them. Thank you – RP Staff.
I’m really enjoying your new program. Sure, the plots are contrived, the writing sophomoric, and the thespianism over-emotive. But in the spirit of many of the best primetime soaps from my adolescence — Dallas, Dynasty, the ’85 Red Sox — it’s good ole cotton-candy fun, with plenty of beautiful people intertwined in delicious intrigue and hyperbolic conflict. And the writers are setting up a doozy of a climactic catfight between the protagonist Emily Thorne (played with considerable emotional nuance by Emily VanCamp) and her Lady MacBethian rival Victoria Grayson (the always-wonderful Madeline Stowe).
Indeed, there are two special features that I enjoy the most.
First, while the underlying plot is an obvious homage to fiction’s ultimate revenge fantasy, The Count of Monte Cristo (If you hadn’t picked that up by last week’s episode, the camera pans to a copy of Dumas’ classic on a character’s bookshelf), Emily’s face sometimes reflects conflicting feelings about pursuing vengeance against her enemies. Indeed, in its oh-so-unsubtle fashion, the series opened with one of my favorite Confucianisms: “Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.” I’ve written often about the value of forgiveness and the toxicity of holding grudges, and I hope the series ultimately reflects the downside of Emily’s pursuit of retributive justice.
Read the rest of… The RP: An Open Letter to the Producers of “Revenge”
The RP is back on the air this week — interviewed for 20 minutes by Abigail Romaine of “Center: Uncensored” for WNZF Radio, serving Central Florida. The RP discusses The Recovering Politician and the No Labels national grassroots organization which he co-founded to promote civility and bi-partisan action on the nation’s critical issues.
The RP will be speaking TONIGHT at 6:00 PM at the University of Kentucky’s Singletary Center on the subject of religion and politics as part of the Bale Boone Symposium on the Humanities: “Religion and the 21st Century”
Next July, more than 10,000 Americans will join together in Orlando, Florida to make their voices heard.
Democrats, Republicans, Independents — liberals, conservative, moderates — each with their own distinct views on matters of public policy. What they have in common is the joint belief that on occasion — particularly during moments like these when our nation is in economic crisis — it is critical to shed our labels, to work together, and to do what is right for the country.
If you are fed up with politics as usual, with the hyper-partisanship and polarization that has driven the country into the proverbial ditch, please consider joining 10,000 proud citizens in Orlando next July. No Labels has gotten off to a promising start, but it will be at the national convention when the movement will gel and emerge as a new, vital force in American politics.
You can be there at the beginning.
To learn more about the No Labels movement, click here.
And to join 10,000 strong in Orlando next summer, click here.
