Tagged: 2012 election

A new political action committee is hoping to strengthen the political power of Catholics in Kentucky.

The Kentucky Catholic PAC was founded by Louisville attorney Vince Heuser after the May primary elections.

Heuser says the idea for the state-based PAC stems from two issues that are contentious in the Catholic community. One is a mandate from the federal government that health insurance plans must cover contraceptives. The second is a tussle with state House Democrats over bill that would require women seeking abortions to view an ultrasound of their fetus.

Kentucky isn’t considered a battleground state in this year’s presidential election, but that’s not stopping a few Republicans from trying to make a difference this fall.

The commonwealth is all but sure to deliver its electoral votes to former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. So several local Republican campaign operatives have moved to other battleground states, with many ending up in Ohio and New Mexico. 

Earlier this month,  I wrote about Sonia McElroy. McElroy was vying for a seat on the board of Shelby Energy--an electricity cooperative that serves parts of Shelby, Trimble, Henry and Carroll counties. This was the first contested election in the co-op's history. It was being run according to the bylaws, but McElroy raised questions about whether the rules were fair and biased in favor of incumbents.

Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor says the money involved in direct judicial elections is corrupting the legal system.

In Kentucky, judges from the district level to the state supreme court are elected. At the Kentucky Bar Association’s annual convention in Louisville today, O’Connor—the first female justice on the U.S. Supreme Court—told hundreds of lawyers and judges that judicial elections are in direct conflict with the intent of American justice system.