I told you last night that Jeff Noble was being singled out and targeted by the powers that be. Whattya know? He was ousted from the KDP’s State Central Executive Committee. Read all about it HERE.
Here’s but an excerpt:
Jeff Noble // Jun 7, 2008 at 10:23 pm
Thanks for your entry.
I was defeated, but it took some work. The original ballot count for the 3rd District Committeeman was 79 Noble, 78 Longmeyer, and 74 Tandy. The ballots were tabulated and those results were entered on the official tally sheet and that tally was signed by John Sommers, the 46th LD Chair, who had been appointed as a teller. No other signatures appeared on the official tally sheet. The ballots were then sealed. Sommers reported the results as me having won. On the front of the folder in large letters was written Noble – Tim Longmeyer. Inside that folder was the tally sheet with Noble 79, Longmeyer 78, Tandy 74.
At some later point, Walker, who is an IT guy and young KDP staffer working in the tabulation room (and who is not really involved in this at all) was asked to turn the closed and sealed envelope of ballots and tally sheet over to Kerry Morgan, the KDP attorney appointed by KDP Chair Jennifer Moore, because it was believed the “scanner” had misread the results, which had showed me winning. Unbeknownst to me, attorney Morgan took the ballots to another room, opened them and “recounted” the ballots – three times according to her. No one to my knowledge other than attorney Morgan has any idea if the ballots she “recounted” were all of those originally reported or not. Sommers had already left knowing the results had been tabulated, ballots envelope and tally sheet sealed, and he had signed off on that tabulation and reported those sealed results, which again showed Tim Longmeyer and I as having the most votes, 78 and 79 respectively.
In attorney Morgan’s “recount” of the ballots, with no one there from my campaign or apparently anyone else’s to oversee or scrutinise the security of the ballots, the results – take a guess – changed dramatically. The new vote count showed 80 Tandy, 76 Longmeyer, and 74 Noble. At some point from the time John Sommers and Walker the IT guy sealed the ballots and the tally sheet showing my win and Longmeyer’s 2nd place finish to the point of Walker being told to turn the sealed ballots and tally sheet over to attorney Morgan, not only did I lose five votes, but Tandy picked up six, while Longmeyer lost 3.
Amazing.
Make sure you hit the link above to read Jeff’s full account of what took place.
And from another reader who was there for the embarrassing shenanigans:
The KDP conventioneers wrapped up the day with roll calls, affirmations, elections and sundry other tasks involved in making the political sausage. I am NOT saying it was a sausage festival….
Relatively unknown, but soon to be reckoned with, First Congressional District candidate Heather Ryan gave a passionate speech about her fight to unseat “Exxon” Eddie Whitfield (R-Florida) this November. She remarked that at a time of record gasoline prices, Whitfield’s half a million dollars in stock in Exxon and Chevron provide him with a handsome profit each time you fill your tank. She is definitely one to watch.
Bruce Lunsford followed Ryan to the podium, tripping up the stairs but preserving his dignity and laying out his case against Mitch McConnell. He took some of the air out of the room by telling Tales from the Crypt about a young woman who died of head trauma due to lack of health insurance and a couple who committed suicide after losing their home to foreclosure. New campaign slogan? “I see dead people?”
All in all, votes were cast, things were said, stuff was done and this spectator’s eyes glazed over at most of it.
Jennifer Moore needs to stand up on her own and distance herself from our corrupt governor ASAP. Every other Democrat in Kentucky needs offer Jennifer support and encourage her to do so. You should call the KDP in Frankfort at (502) 695-4828. While you’re on the phone, maybe you could ask the party’s executive director Jeremy Horton why he has a problem with Jeff Noble and the rest of us solid Democrats. (Also ask him why he’s had disparaging things to say about us, as well.)
Proud to be a Democrat yet? Who knew there would come a day when Kentucky would be wishing for Jerry Lundergan to once again be party chair while at the same time wishing for Ernie Fletcher to be governor again? (Interesting note: Lundergan once bailed the current governor’s political director out of personal bankruptcy only to have said political director turn on him not long after. The political director went on a witch hunt with the aid of Mark Nickolas and worked tirelessly to trash Lundergan. He succeeded. Scary when the truth comes out, eh?)
Wake up. We’ve got to save our Commonwealth from itself.
Update: We have spent (literally) the entire afternoon speaking to more than a dozen people involved in yesterday’s convention process and have determined that the ballots were never left alone with one singular person at any time and that Kerry Morgan was never alone with the ballots in question.
Those dozen or so people included folks involved in all aspects of the process. Many of them aren’t familiar with each other outside of convention and, well, aren’t friends. But they all gave us similar answers and responses that lead us to believe everything was sound and honest. (Trust me: We wanted to believe otherwise.)
In order to put this issue to rest, we think Jeff should quietly file an appeal. All ballots were initially scanned by computer (including ballots that have since been invalidated by hand recount) and may be reviewed. We’re not sure what the Party’s specific process is, but we’re confident Jeff Noble knows it by the book and will use his knowledge to help get answers.
Regardless of outcome, an appeal would resolve any concern anyone may have.
Yay politics!
Update Sunday Evening: Jeff just posted his take on things. Looks like he’ll appeal to settle things once and for all. Always a stickler for the process, he’s doing the right thing by saying he’ll be happy no matter the outcome. Good move on Jeff’s part.
11 responses so far ↓
1 David Adams // Jun 8, 2008 at 10:21 am
Corrupt governor? Tell me more!
2 westkyian // Jun 9, 2008 at 11:24 am
Heather Ryan can beat Ed Whitfield – what she needs is money. The papers down here will give her ZERO free media. If she can’t buy it, she ain’t gettin’ it.
Whitfield’s little press releases that take credit for Democratic ideas get carried like they’re the Gospel of Mark. Grrrr…
3 northernkentuckian // Jun 9, 2008 at 6:33 pm
I am extremely disillusioned with politics in Kentucky. This convention was my first – I wasn’t expecting to be handed lists of “suggested” candidates to vote for. Nice democratic process.
4 vernon // Jun 9, 2008 at 7:32 pm
I have attended many of the state demo conventions and I want to assure northernkentuckian that this was the most disorganized that I have attended. This is also the first time in my memory that the electioneering reached the level that I witnessed at this one. Hopefully this will not be the standard for future conventions. We democrats can act and do better. People need to speak up and say enough is enough.
5 Flowrider // Jun 9, 2008 at 9:32 pm
I’ve been following this discussion a bit. Sorry for lurking under the bridge so much – I try not to say anything at all when I don’t have anything nice to say, and there haven’t been a lot of nice things coming to mind recently. This one’s a bit of a “last straw” though.
The update here exonorates Kerry Morgan – multiple sources apparently claiming no wrongdoing – which seemed like a no-brainer anyway, but thanks for the update. Where, then, is Mr. Noble’s apology to Morgan in his linked update? Where is yours for implying wrongdoing where there was none?
Keeping people honest is one thing. Making things up due to a belief that the Governor and the party and anyone that stands with them can do absolutely no right (and always has terrible intentions) is another. Slanderous and libelous accounts of this sort are not what we should be about.
Jeff Noble, and this blog, owe Jennifer Moore and Kerry Morgan an apology for these posts. And to Governor Beshear for a thousand other off-topic things and the current “corrupt” comment. I’ve never seen you provide one bit of evidence for this common accusation of yours.
It blows my mind that people could have such amazingly short memories. Longing for Lundergan back my foot…
6 jake // Jun 9, 2008 at 9:47 pm
I don’t owe anyone an apology– especially Jennifer. She’s the Party Chair and is subject to public scrutiny, as she has said to me both publicly and privately several times. The same goes for Kerry, as an appointed attorney who served at the pleasure of the Chair.
Jeff’s story was worthy of publication. So far, the only thing I can confirm is that Jeff is wrong about Morgan having been alone with the ballots.
And the only thing my update proves is that no one was left alone with the ballots. No one has been able to prove to me that ballots were not tampered with or that nothing shady went down. I’m not alleging wrongdoing, but since Jeff is filing an appeal, I’m willing to leave things up in the air until a final decision has been reached.
It blows my mind that everyone hates Jerry Lundergan purely because they read about him on Mark Nickolas’ website. Fucking around with Party money is a big deal. But if that’s all he’s done, I’m not sure he’s the devil
And an apology to Governor Beshear? HAHAHA! Have you seen the man’s approval rating? It’s low for a reason.
7 41st LD // Jun 10, 2008 at 10:12 am
For the record, this is not the first case of shinnanigans that have occurred regarding individuals in the 41st LD. The voting process for the 41st LD’s National Convention Delegate Voters was equally worrisome. Which resulted, in this writer’s opinion, in an entirely unscrupulous outcome.
At the end of the day, in this writer’s view, what happened to Mr. Noble should not be that shocking. Especially considering the tactics used by some to obtain positions of power within the state party. Tactics that fly in the face of the standards that the Democratic Party stand on.
8 Forks of Elkhorn // Jun 10, 2008 at 1:18 pm
41st LD: Maybe they don’t really “stand on” those principles, but rather just “lean on” them now and then as a crutch with now and then meaning whenever an election rolls around, whether on the ballot at the polls or in a State Convention while electing Cnogressional Committeemen.
The latest rumor going around Frankfort today is that the Party Chairwoman will be leaving that post once she completes her duties as a delegate to the Denver convention. Presumably the Legal Counsel she appointed will be leaving as well. Maybe that’s all she ever really wanted out of this.
Hopefully she’ll get the Louisville Committeemen election straightened out before she leaves.
9 Flowrider // Jun 10, 2008 at 5:52 pm
“low for a reason” – yes, the budget that Fletcher screwed him with. I’m no shill, but it’s tough to finally see an honest guy in office make tough decisions and then get derided for the sake of integrity and transparency. No politician is perfect, but come the heck on, folks. Low approval ratings and decisions you disagree with do not equal corruption.
And public scrutiny is not the same as alleging corruption where none exists. Scrutiny and slander are completely different animals. Your and Jeff’s post alleged that Morgan and Moore somehow colluded to ensure that Morgan would privately recount ballots and fix the results . This apparently did not occur, though while you acknowledged this, you completely ignored the charged nature of the original post and acted is if no wrong was done while continuing to allege some unspecified wrongdoing. Not that I expect an apology, nor do the two wronged parties, but one is most certainly in order.
You’re like the little-conspiracy-theorist-that-could — no matter what happens, something fishy is going on back there!
10 Travis Spears // Jun 10, 2008 at 9:42 pm
“Not that I expect an apology, nor do the two wronged parties, but one is most certainly in order.” Since you spoke for the two wronged parties did they have put you up to this comment? You say you already know they aren’t expecting apologies. Have they said so? That’s ok. The answer to whether or not Noble or Jake or anyone else owes “the two wronged parties” an apology will come whenever the party gets around to discussing the appeal. Noble and Moore are friends – everyone knows that. Its wrong for any one here to say why he felt so strong as to make such an accusation since many of the comments here say he is usually very level-headed. Thats what the appeal is for, to answer questions for all of us.
11 41st LD // Jun 11, 2008 at 9:37 am
The fundamental issue now is transparency. The State Party Leaders must be open and honest about what happened in Lexington Saturday.
According to reports here, one official decided that Jeff’s election was “close” enough to warrant a recount. What standard was the official applying? Are there rules defining what “close” means or how “close” do vote totals need to be before ballots are recounted?
These are just a few questions that need to be answered before this issue is laid to rest. Until then, there will be a dark cloud looming over the leadership, in this writer’s opinion.
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