Democratic candidates vying for the Kentucky State Senate seat in the ninth district took on the issues and each other Thursday evening at the Green County High School cafeteria. About 25 people attended the event and listened as Steve Newberry, John Rogers, and Horace Johnson took questions in a debate hosted by the Green River Sun and the Greensburg Record-Herald.
Each candidate was allowed an opening statement and then took questions from local journalists and the audience. Candidates had two minutes in which to respond. At the end of the debate the candidates were allowed three minutes in a closing statement.
Jobs and economic development dominated the debate. Each candidate held their own in the debate and no recognizable blunders were apparent as each remained true to their message. Among the questions asked was how to jump start economic development in a bad economy?
 “First, we have to recognize that over 80 percent of our jobs in Kentucky are created by small businesses in our communities,” John Rogers said. “That’s a large number but it doesn’t mean that the industrial jobs that come into our communities are not important, but we have to focus on small businesses.”
Rogers said there should be better support for small businesses in our communities with incentives and that small businesses should be able to turn to state government for help and support.
“Perhaps there should be accountability for those incentives,” Rogers said. “We have to make sure they are going to stay and not leave and take the jobs and go to another country with all our money. You’ve experienced it here and we’ve experienced in Barren County. There has to be accountability.”
Horace Johnson agreed that companies should be held accountable for the incentives they take but he also said job creation in the ninth district should be diversified.
“Oftentimes I think we position ourselves around the automotive industry and those sorts of manufacturing type jobs,” Johnson said. “We’ve got to become a diversified community with products not only in the manufacturing sector but in agriculture and many other areas as well. I think that combined effort will get us jobs in the service industries. It may not be the high paying job we would like but certainly it would give employment and opportunity for our people.”
The slow performance of the economy is the one issue that Newberry says compelled him to run for the Senate seat. He said he has been active in economic development since 1992 and that it is time to update the approach to growing a strong economy.
“It’s very simple; we have to make it easy for companies to come to Kentucky, and we have to make it very easy to do business in Kentucky and we have to make it hard for them to ever leave the state of Kentucky,” Newberry said. “The first thing we do is make our best incentive programs available across the board in the state of Kentucky. We’re dealing with a tough economic time right now and Kentucky is dealing with it with one hand tied behind her back. We can’t put our best offer on the table for companies who want to come here. If the state of Kentucky grows we all benefit from that. Secondly, we need to recognize our industries in the state. If they pay above average wages, and if they’re good environmental customers, then we need to get them the best incentive programs.”
Newberry said we should offer incentives that will make companies stay and hold them accountable if they leave. However, he said if the incentives are good enough they will feel obligated to stay and do business.
“If a company comes to Kentucky and takes our tax credits to pay for a building, which I’m OK with, when they leave that building should belong to the community that paid the tax dollars. Make that building available so you can re-sell it to another company so you can replenish some of the money the community invested.”
All of the candidates said agriculture is important to the ninth district and that farmers need more help and support. Johnson told the audience that educational and informational services from University of Kentucky and University of Louisville should be made more readily available to farmers so they can better transition off of tobacco.
Newberry said farmers have been “robbed” by state government and pointed to the more than $22 million received in the tobacco buyout that was moved into the state’s general fund.














“When you consider what farmers are going through right now with $4 a gallon diesel fuel and fertilizer that’s $1500 a ton, for the state to rob them
of the $22 million is pretty insulting,” Newberry said.
Rogers said agriculture in Kentucky is suffering under the high prices of fuel and fertilizer. He said economic development should start there. Rogers said if every farm in the district were to expand with just one or two jobs it would create tremendous growth.
 “That would be a big boost to the economy,” Rogers said. “If we could do some things that would allow them to hire more people and take advantage of programs we could produce positive results.”
The candidates were asked if they would support alcohol sales by the drink to spur economic development but only Newberry seemed to favor the idea. Rogers was adamantly opposed to it, but Johnson said each individual community should ultimately decide the question. However, he warned that allowing alcohol sales came with a heavy responsibility.
 “I did, as the chairman of the Industrial Authority in Barren County, publicly take a position in support of legal sales by the drink in restaurants only,” Newberry said. “Also, I said publicly I would fight against package liquor stores because I don’t think that is necessary for the community. I can’t address what I would do in each of the other communities because that is an individual decision each community needs to make on its own.”
Newberry said the reason they considered alcohol by the drink is because a lot people who would not drink were also patronizing restaurants that did sell alcohol by the drink such as O’Charley’s and Appleby’s. He said they would leave and go out of town and shop and that his community was suffering economically. Newberry said they sought quality restaurants as an attraction to bring people to Barren County.
Rogers said he is opposed to alcohol sales. He said he voted against it in Glasgow and would do so again. He said it presents the wrong example for our youth to follow.
“I’ll tell you what’s wrong, and I think it’s terribly wrong,” Rogers said. “I think this is the way the legislature has failed us in the past. When I talk to the folks out in the communities of this district they don’t think it is right that one precinct in the city should be able to vote for alcohol. It affects the entire community when you bring alcohol sales into a community. That’s my position. I think the General Assembly made the wrong decision to do that, but of course it is the law.”

Johnson said every individual community should make their own individual choice when it comes to alcohol consumption and he said the legislature has provided that avenue.
“Now as a former police officer, let me tell you that you accept the risks and responsibilities that go along with that and they are tremendous,” Johnson said.
Each of the candidates said that the tax burden in Kentucky is either too high or not distributed equally among individuals and businesses.
 “In my opinion it is probably too high,” Rogers said. “I think our businesses struggle with taxes we put on them. I would like to see some tax equity and some changes in the tax code that would distribute out the taxes a little better and not put them all on one segment.”
Johnson said while tax equity may need to be addressed he also said we need to understand that if we want services and benefits we may have to pay for them with taxes.
“One of the things that has put us in a bind comes from the top, and I don’t mean from Frankfort, I mean from George Bush and his failed policies in economics and foreign policy and they have all filtered down,” Johnson said. “I advocate tax reform in this state whether it be income tax removal or a sales tax. We need to take a serious look at it.”
Newberry said small businesses are struggling and they need help. He said many businesses and individuals are struggling because their income taxes are not equitable. He said the top third continues to make money while the lower classes lose money and pay the tax burden.
“Its very popular for politicians to say I will never vote for a tax increase, but I will stand in front of you and say I’ll never vote for a tax increase on the middle class or the small working class of Kentucky, but if we have to adjust our responsibility in this state so that it’s fair and it’s suggested that those who are the wealthiest pay a greater share because they have a greater share to pay, I will consider that.”
Rogers said he would never consider a tax increase until after he has carefully considered how the state is spending the money. He said all too often it seems that the state has spent the taxpayer’s money carelessly.
“They are budgeting arenas,” Rogers said. “How many arenas do we need? Those are nice things but we’ve got to watch our taxes. We could cut our taxes if we would only watch how we spend our taxes.”
In closing statements all three candidates outlined why they should be the Democratic nominees for the ninth district.
 “I’m a small business owner. A long-range planning is an inherent part of owning a business,” Newberry said. “If you don’t sit down and think about where you want to be chances are you’ll just wind up wandering around in a circle. We can make a difference in Kentucky if we’ll just put aside our petty differences and partisanship and start doing the things that are important.”
Newberry said we should consider revising our economic development laws and work to create better industrial programs and business incentives.
“As Kentucky Democrats we’ve been handed a unique opportunity with the retirement of Richie Sanders,” Rogers said in his closing statement. “I am a common sense conservative Democrat and because of that I think I am the best qualified and in the best position to win in November and to win this seat for the Democratic Party. We can send a message to leaders like Sen. David Williams that his way of doing things is in the past. It’s time we tell Frankfort what to do for a change.”
Johnson said he is a problem solver and approaches problem solving with common sense, which he claims is lacking in Frankfort.
“I am not a lawyer and I am not a businessman, but more importantly, I am not a professional politician. This is my first time running for public office and I am doing it for my grandchildren and for the future of this Commonwealth, no other reason,” Johnson said.  “I don’t know what the job pays and I don’t care, but I think it’s time we did something different and we did something better, and I know we can do that. Healthcare; we have been dealing with that issue since 1999. There was a commission from the University of Kentucky that made recommendations and we sat idly back with failed leadership and nobody did anything. It’s time we change the way things are done. We can do better.”