Kentuckians for the Commonwealth’s New Power PAC has announced 70 endorsements for the 2018 November election, including eight in Northern Kentucky. Local KFTC members are working hard to get those candidates elected.
“The New Power PAC has chosen to endorse these candidates because we believe they share our values and support our issues, because we believe we can make a difference in their race, and because – when elected – they can make a difference in our democracy,” said Meta Mendel-Reyes, chairperson of Kentuckians For The Commonwealth.
The Northern Kentucky endorsements are for seven candidates running for the Kentucky General Assembly, and Seth Hall, running for the U.S. House of Representatives.
KFTC’s New Power PAC is supporting these Northern Kentucky candidates for the Kentucky General Assembly:
• Josh Blair, House District 63 (Boone and Kenton counties)
• Charles “Buddy” Wheatley, House District 65 (Kenton County)
• Roberto Henriquez, House District 66 (Boone County)
• Dennis Keene, House District 67 (Campbell County)
• Jason Kilmer, House District 68 (Campbell County)
• Col Owens, House District 69 (Boone and Kenton counties)
• Rachel Roberts, Senate District 24 (Bracken, Campbell and Pendleton counties)
KFTC member-led Democracy Teams in Northern Kentucky participated in an extensive, thoughtful and deliberate democratic process to recommend candidates running in their communities. They read over candidate surveys, researched their records and backgrounds, and met with candidates to learn more about them.
Throughout the fall, the teams registered voters, talked with voters at their doorsteps and on the phone, held events to let voters learn candidates’ views, sending mailings, promoted the importance of voting on social media and much more to encourage voting and support for their endorsed candidates.
Mendel-Reyes says KFTC will “do some of the things that other PACs do, such as mailings to voters and our members in particular. With 12,000 members, that is a lot of strength to begin with.
“But our most important activity is building on our experience in contacting voters, one by one, through door-to-door canvassing and phone banking. KFTC’s Action for Democracy initiative links together our issue work and our electoral work, so that our contacts with voters are based on real issues they care about.
“Because our members played the central role in deciding on endorsements, they are committed to working as hard as they can to help elect the candidates they believe in,” Mendel-Reyes concluded.
KFTC backed up its members’ activity by hiring 18 temporary voter empowerment organizers for the fall.
Based on the recommendations, it appears that Kentuckians for the Commonwealth is in reality a leftist Democrat organization, although their name implies some kind of independent, public action organization and they claim to use a “thoughtful and deliberate democratic process to recommend candidates” who “share our values and support our issues”.
It’s clear those values and issues don’t represent all Kentuckians, let alone all Northern Kentuckians, as all of the NKY candidates they recommend are Democrats, yet the vast majority of KY House seats (64%) and all but one of the NKY seats are held by Republicans.
So KFTC, if your aim is to campaign for Democrat issues and values, by all means, go right ahead. But please don’t claim to be impartial or deliberative in your backing of candidates.
KFTC was founded over 3o years ago to represent those people in Kentucky who have little voice in the decision-making process. They train those with limited incomes to become political activists. They seek to broaden voting rights, especially for the over 300,000 Kentuckians convicted of non-violent felonies who have served their time and should not be denied the right to vote. They support a just, living wage and work for affordable housing in lower income communities. KFTC bases their endorsements on whether a candidate’s views parallel their own, whether he or she is a Democrat or a Republican. It is non-partisan, but it so happens that the Democratic candidates in this election are closer to KFTC’s positions. They are not a leftist Democratic organization. They operate independently of any partisan group.
From Kentuckians for the Commonwealth website:
We have a vision …
We are working for a day when Kentuckians – and all people – enjoy a better quality of life.
When the lives of people and communities matter before profits.
When our communities have good jobs that support our families without doing damage to the water, air, and land.
When companies and the wealthy pay their share of taxes and can’t buy elections.
When all people have health care, shelter, food, education, and other basic needs.
When children are listened to and valued.
When discrimination is wiped out of our laws, habits, and hearts.And when the voices of ordinary people
are heard and respected in our democracy.
If that is what KFTC is for, sign me up!