King’s road to victory not an easy one

To the editor:
Last Tuesday, Kim King was overwhelmingly re-elected to represent Anderson County in the Kentucky House of Representatives. She was able to do this with many powerful entities working hard against her. After all was said and done, Kim King not only won her seat district wide, she won Anderson County, even though her opponent Kent Stevens was from Anderson County.
Before I go further, be aware that I am a strong member of the Republican Party; however, I have publically supported some of our elected officials who are members of the Democratic Party. Earlier this year, I wrote a letter to the editor praising Judge Conway and also understand that I am writing this letter after the election. I wanted to write this prior, but did not want my thoughts to be conveyed as political grandstanding.
I would like for everyone to understand just what Kim King was up against. Kim King has worked tirelessly to represent Anderson County to the best of her ability. Because of her popularity and effectiveness, the Democratic Party tried every way to re-district her out of Anderson County and re-draw the district lines; if successful this would have handed the 2012 election to Kent Stevens. What they attempted to do was illegal and her fight did not end until the Kentucky Supreme Court finally and correctly agreed with her.
At this time, you would expect everything to be on an even playing field, but then comes the special interest money. Back in May, Kent Stevens had raised a paltry $1,600. As most of you know, you cannot win an election without donations, so magically two Political Action Committees donated a total of $30,000 to the Stevens’ campaign.
Most campaigns would be very successful with that kind of money and power behind them, but Kent Stevens decided that was not enough. He decided to work behind the scenes with the State Transportation Department to allocate a bunch of money for Anderson County roads. This money, of course grows on trees behind the transportation building in Frankfort.  Anderson County Judge-Executive Conway invited his “good friend” Kent Stevens to a fiscal court meeting to explain all of this “magical money” that the great Kent Stevens could allocate for Anderson County;  but strangely enough, Kent Stevens was unable to secure that same funding for the county when he actually held the office.
Now that the election is over, let’s hope Judge Conway actively seeks the help of Kim King like he did his “good friend” Kent Stevens and not completely ignore his actual state Representative as he did the last two years.
After all of these incredible unsuccessful political tricks, there was only one thing left; tear down the character of Kim King. There was a one small problem, though. Kim King did her job, and she did it well, making the mud-slinging tactic very difficult. As most of you know, Kim King is a regular feature at virtually any event that she is asked to attend. If you call Kim King, she actually will respond to your request. Just in the last few days since the 2012 election, she has already attended numerous Anderson County events. Does anyone think she is only doing this for campaign purposes at this stage? No, she is available because this is her district, and she has a duty and obligation to represent the citizens of Anderson County.
By being available, she has met many people and now has many close friends. For Kent Stevens to publically state that Kim King was intentionally campaigning at a funeral is disgusting. To cause that much pain to, not only Kim King, all of the friends who know her, and the family of the deceased, are reprehensible. I would hope he would strongly think about what he did and find some way to apologize to all of the people he hurt.
Finally, Kim King won this election on her own merits and hard work. Can somebody please tell me where the Anderson County Republican party has gone? Numerous attempts by me and others to energize the party to get involved in her race fell on deaf ears. I challenge all Republicans in Anderson County to contact the current chairman and ask him why there is not an active party. All candidates for any office should already have an organization in place, to help them win any county position.
Mike Fitzpatrick
Lawrenceburg