More than a YEAR has passed and Todd Hollenbach has finally renounced Frank Simon’s endorsement! This comes after more than a year of Joe Sonka and myself constantly pressuring Todd in person to do so. We told you about this letter last year. It’s wonderful that Todd finally grew some balls and did the right thing.
Here’s what Todd said:
“I cannot accept the support of Dr. Simon, now or in the future, for so long as his public support is considered to be an affirmative embrace of intolerance or exclusion.”
Note that Todd indicated he couldn’t accept Simon’s support as long as he’s considered to be intolerant. Meaning he would accept his support if he wasn’t considered intolerant. Nice. Click here (PDF Link) to read the full letter.
For the record, a prominent newspaper editor in Kentucky asked Todd Hollenbach to release his letter to the public last October and Todd REFUSED. Here’s what the editor had to say to me in an email at that time:
I called Mr. Hollenbach and asked what he was going to do, if anything, about the endorsement he got from the Simon group. He said he had sent the group a letter disclaiming the endorsement as long as Dr. Simon’s presence in it signaled intolerance and exclusion. He read me the letter over the phone. I then asked whether I could have a copy. He FAXed me a copy, but insisted it be on a confidential basis.
Now, you tell me, why was Todd afraid to publicly renounce Frank Simon? Why did he wait nearly a year from the endorsement to make things public?
Oh, and Thom Karmik or the anonymous KDP staffer he blamed is back from vacation on Bluegrass Report. It seems Jennifer Moore condones the behavior of her staff members slandering and libeling fellow Democrats. Jennifer isn’t responding to telephone calls and emails to address concerns from State Central Executive Committee members– or us, so we hope she’s prepared to deal with everything we’re about to publish in the coming days. Details of scandal, blackmail, threats of reprisal… I’m gonna talk about it all.
P.S. Walter, no one was “hiding behind (the) unfair attacks against Todd Hollenbach” – we merely reported what Todd did and did not do. Unfortunately, he made it clear he wasn’t interested in renouncing Simon LAST YEAR when it counted. Despite what you and the KDP have pedaled, Todd hid out for a year. There was no “jig” to be up.
UPDATE: Click here to read Joe’s take on things.
13 responses so far ↓
1 Yellow Dog // Aug 5, 2008 at 10:52 am
Give ‘em hell, Jake. This shit from the “new and improved” KDP has gone on way too long.
Just want to reiterate that the only purpose of rejecting a public endorsement in secret, then telling a critical newspaper editor about the rejection but demanding he also keep it a secret is this:
Stop the public criticism arising from the endorsement without pissing off the nasty endorsee’s supporters whose votes you still want.
Slimy, Toddie – very, very slimy.
And whoever that editor is should have told Toddie to shove it. The endorsement was public; either his rejection is public, too, or it doesn’t count.
Why do I think that “prominent editor” works for the worthless C-J?
2 jake // Aug 5, 2008 at 10:54 am
Good points, Yeller.
Can’t confirm where the editor works, but the editor certainly did tell Todd to shove it. And they tried their level best to get the thing published.
3 Patrick Kelley // Aug 5, 2008 at 12:36 pm
You know, it occurs to me and I’m sure it occurs to the other two or three people who read and occasionally participate in what passes for political discourse here; who are you Jake? I feel like I’m looking at angry text messages going back and forth between sixth-graders on their cell phones.
If this is a political forum, where are the REAL issues? One of the things of which I have always been proud as a Democrat is our legacy of compassion. Our capacity to feel sorry for those who live in pain, poverty, and desperation. But that trait seems to be completely missing from this forum.
I have tried to find something of substance here and have failed to do so though I suspect that failure is not really mine. Of course I realize that this forum is oriented more toward Kentucky issues than national issues but any thinking person should understand that the two cannot be completely separated. Especially given the conduct of the radical right-wing republican agenda which was, until last year completely unchecked.
So I would assume that a forum like this would spark discussion about national issues of such great import. I tried to find something on the ongoing, massive, illegal, domestic surveillance perpetrated on the American people. Not there. I looked for some discussion about the secret service’s new power to declare free speech zones to contain, control and, in effect, criminalize protest. Stop for a second and try to fathom that. At a presidential rally, parade or appearance, if you have on a supportive t-shirt, you can be there. If you’re wearing or carrying something in protest, you can be removed. Not a word here about that.
47 million Americans without health insurance? No mention of it here. The foreclosure crisis? Not in BIG JAKE’S HOUSE. Instead, readers of this forum are exposed to inter-party junk which appeals to the lowest common denominator.
We’re all getting sick and tired of the fact that every time somebody tries to discuss something substantive all we get in return are a bunch of pre-packaged talking points substituted for real discourse.
So, here we are. Jake and his choir still singing the same song about the same tired, stupid, irrelevant piece of tabloid-style junk as they were last week. Jake is still seeking his pathetic validation from the obsequious sycophants to agree with his every word and so the discussion is stalled. It is stalled for nothing.
This entire line of discussion if filled with nothing but Ad Nauseum assertions based on very weak and very hasty generalizations. One would think, given the fervor with which Jake insists he is being treated unfairly, that he would manufacture better proof than he has to this point. The very definition of an Ad Nauseum fallacy is that an assertion is more likely to be true the more often it is heard (or read). This is why the subject here always stays the same. This explains the constant repetition of this worn out story.
It’s time to move on folks. Many of us do not believe you Jake. Others do believe you. Let it go man.
4 jake // Aug 5, 2008 at 12:43 pm
This isn’t a forum for public discussion. It’s our own take on issues, as is very clear at the top of our site.
As I have repeatedly said, this isn’t where we discuss national issues. It’s all about Kentucky. There are plenty of other places for you to find out what’s going on in the rest of the country and in the world at large.
Yeah, the health care situation is mentioned here. Repeatedly. The mortgage crisis is mentioned here. Repeatedly.
You don’t like it? Don’t read it. Because I’m certainly not the only person talking about this and this certainly isn’t the only website in Kentucky discussing the libel and slander coming from the KDP. It is definitely your right to ignore evidence that’s put before you and you’re free to proclaim that you believe it’s photoshopped. But again, don’t like it? Don’t read it.
It’s pretty simple, kids. Don’t like it? DO NOT READ IT. If you can’t stomach constant discussion of the scandal and corruption that plagues Kentucky– both Democrats and Republicans– move along.
5 Gunti // Aug 5, 2008 at 12:48 pm
Patrick Kelley, that schtick is so old and silly and uninventive. Really.
Here’s a txt message for you:
“U R A Fucking Idiot”
6 vernon // Aug 5, 2008 at 12:53 pm
I would like to say this is the most informative
and up to date blog site in the commonwealth. You apparently have the best sources of anyone on the web and I enjoy using your site to keep up to speed on breaking news in Ky. Keep up the good work.
7 Joe Sonka // Aug 5, 2008 at 1:31 pm
patrick kelley = WATB
8 Yellow Dog // Aug 5, 2008 at 3:55 pm
Allow me to repeat, “Patrick:” If you don’t like what you read here, go away and stay away. Start your own damn blog, where you can post whatever interests you and nothing else, which is what all the rest of us do.
And the link at your “name” is broken. Is that deliberate?
Joe: Sorry to be out of it, but what’s WATB?
9 jake // Aug 5, 2008 at 3:57 pm
Whiny Ass Titty Baby
10 Yellow Dog // Aug 5, 2008 at 4:13 pm
Jake – of course. Thanks!
11 Fascinated Bystander // Aug 5, 2008 at 10:40 pm
Hey Patrick Kelly,
If you don’t like it, why the hell are you reading? Go write your own blog and cover whatever crap you want to. Good Gawd! You are a WATB!
FWIW, I LOVE this site. I’m embarassed that I didn’t know it existed until seeing a link to it in the comments sction of the CJ when the Felner story first broke. Since then, I probably look at this site about three times a day.
12 Patrick Kelley // Aug 7, 2008 at 11:04 am
Good job folks. You’ve sucessfully proven my point. What a shame you can’t prove your own.
13 jake // Aug 7, 2008 at 11:06 am
Dun dun dun… the turtle head hits cloth!
Leave a Comment