UPDATE 11:20 A.M. — Thieneman called back to respond to the show’s comments — and confirm that he was threatened by Northup through Seum. “I called it a threat because that’s what it was, a threat.” He called the party leaders, in particular Jack Richardson, “unethical.” Republicas who deny their threats are “lying.”
The conversation is lively this morning on Francene’s radio show on WHAS, where the radio host tried to pin some prominent Republicans down on their recent actions:
Jack Richardson, chairman of Louisville’s Republican party, called in to respond to Chris Thieneman’s charges that folks in the Anne Northup and Mitch McConnell camps discouraged him from running. Thieneman charged that some Republicans were telling him not to run for the 3rd District Congressional seat now occupied by Dem. Rep. John Yarmuth.
Richardson ran into a hailstorm of criticism from the radio show host when he said the party does indeed discourage some candidates from running in primaries. Francene, rightly, thinks that’s the wrong way to operate, that anyone who wants to run in a primary should not face opposition from the party hierachy.
“You don’t know the political system that well, because you always want to put forth the best people,” Richardson said.
Hey Jack, a word of advice: Don’t insult the host when you’re on a radio program.
Francene pressed him on whether the party, in general, discourages certain people from running. She didn’t like what she heard.
“I don’t like the way you run the Republican Party, and I’m a Republican,” Francene told Richardson. “We don’t want your favorite, we want our favorite. Let us, the people, make that choice.”
“You may need to know more about what you’re talking about,” Richardson responded. Oops. A lecture ensued, then she cut Richardson off.
Next up was Ted Jackson, an advisor to Northup. Jackson denied that Northup, or anyone associated with her camp, made calls to discourage Thieneman. “That is absolutely not happening,” he said, but added that someone could have made the call without instructions from the Northup camp. Just a political reality, he said.
Jackson confirmed that Northup will be running in the primary and filing paperwork for the office onTuesday.
Earlier, Francene said McConnell’s office had sent a fax denying that aide Larry Cox discouraged Thieneman from running.
Somebody, Francene smartly surmised, was lying.
Francene’s next guest was state Sen. Dan Seum, who said he had talked with Northup recently. He said Northup was upset that she was going to get a primary opponent. He refused to take sides between his good friend Thieneman and Northup, and said he was a big fan of McConnell’s. And every other Republican officeholder and candidate, from Doug Hawkins to Mitt Romney.
The problem for McConnell and the Republicans is that their strong-arm tactics, the ones that bury dissent and assure a public face of party unity, don’t play with Thieneman.
Somebody’s lying, Francene keeps saying. She’s right.
6 responses so far ↓
1 Shack // Jan 28, 2008 at 11:53 am
DAMN! Sounds like we have a confirmation from Jefferson County GOP. Wonder if the MSM will pick up on this, they seem fixated as of late of rumors of the similar actions from the Democrats.
2 Scott Budnick // Jan 28, 2008 at 1:14 pm
Is Francene still dating Dan Mongiardo? She’s just not trustworthy.
3 Anonymous // Jan 28, 2008 at 1:26 pm
Disclaimer: I’m not from Louisville, although I do have relatives in the area.
I lost all respect for Jack Richardson IV when he started trying to shoot down Ernie Fletcher EVEN BEFORE ANYONE HAD ANY INKLING THAT ANNIE NORTHUP WOULD LOSE HER SEAT TO JOHN YARMUTH AND WOULD BE A CANDIDATE FOR GOVERNOR. (caps intentional)
The GOP establishment in this state does have a history of preselecting candidates. They did it in 1991 when they got behind Larry Hopkins. They did it in 1995 when they got behind Larry Forgy. They did it in reverse in 1999 when they refused to get behind anyone to run against Paul Patton and they stuck us with peppy Peppy. They did it in 2003 when they got behind Ernie Fletcher. And they did it in 2007 when they encouraged Northup to challenge Fletcher.
This is an open primary and anyone ought to be free to run — just like the D Senate primary where anyone, be they Horne or Lunsford or the bleacher guy or anyone else.
This is a little different than the special election in Hazard, because of the timing and the nomination process. You can’t have an open primary for a special election, so the parties have to choose the person they think will have the best chance of winning. In primary elections, the people decide (Francene is right).
And Annie — if you wanted to run, why didn’t you come out early? Theineman (sp?) announced a long time ago. Why are you waiting till the last minute and then having your surrogates (or Mitch’s surrogates) go out and try to get him to withdraw? If you’d gotten in early, perhaps you wouldn’t have had any challengers. But you waited until there was already a credible candidate in the race. Deal with it.
4 David Adams // Jan 28, 2008 at 1:33 pm
Yep. Sounds like our guys.
5 James K. // Jan 28, 2008 at 2:11 pm
Anyone can run in the primaries. This is America still…I think.
But the heads of both parties should stay out of primaries until there is a nominee. The Governor should not encourage people to run for US Senate or endorse one Dem over the other in a senate race in EKY, no more than McConnell or the Jefferson County Chairman should tell Thienemann to get out to the Congressional race for Anne Northup.
Who do these people think they are? Their arrogance is appalling.
6 Steve Magruder (I, not D or R) // Jan 28, 2008 at 3:41 pm
I don’t see any issue with the governor or any other party official _encouraging_ somebody to run. But it’s anti-democratic to _discourage_ people from running.
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