C. Josh Givens: An Important Messenger

As a community newspaper journalist in Kentucky since the mid-90s, I came to understand Gatewood was someone most media types would expect walking into the lobby each campaign cycle. Whether a race was on for governor, Congress, or even the local city council, Gatewood was expected, whether he was running or not.

Some called him a “perennial” candidate, but I have never liked that tag. It always sounded a tad bit back-handed to me, like the big papers and television talkers were saying, with some snarky inside wink-and-nod, “Here comes Gatewood … again and again and again.”

With Gatewood, somehow folks tried to make the very word — “perennial” — some type of curse word.

Perhaps those that used it the most were part of the “petrochemical-pharmaceutical-military-industrial-transnational-corporate-fascist-elite SOBs” crowd, which Gatewood convinced many of us were a threat to our Constitutional freedoms.

Then again, perhaps those who used it the most were part of what is mainstream, conservative Kentucky.

Gatewood always answered questions, which can be a novel ideal when considering Kentucky campaigns and the often too-comfortable relationship between hometown media and candidates.

Genuinely good guy Gatewood, you were comfortable with him, yes, but there always seemed to be an unspoken — “I am here to get my message out. If you don’t ask the right questions, I will still give you the answers. It’s an important message.”

Gatewood made you smile, whether you knew who in the Hell he was or not.

In what would be his final campaign, Gatewood and his running mate Dea Riley, fought a huge uphill battle in the Kentucky Governor race. But despite this uphill battle, Gatewood and Dea were keen to come to smallish Butler County — a heavily Republican county — and talk with me. We ran his story on the front, we ran his picture, we published a 30-minute video interview.

It lit a small fire of sorts. My phone rang, my email inbox filled — “Who is this Gatewood? I like the way he thinks.”

Now, memorializing with a tear in my eye, I enthusiastically agree with them. I sure did like the way that genuinely good guy Gatewood thought … which was for himself.

Rest in peace, Gatewood. You have shown us all, coming back year-after-year creates lasting marks. Your Commonwealth will long remember your impact.

You have made the path smoother for those will continue to come back and back and back.