Michael Kelley: Kentucky's Best-Kept Progressive Secret

Wishing you lived in Western Kentucky so you could vote for Real Democrat Heather Ryan? If you live in Kentucky's Fourth District, which runs through Northern Kentucky east from Louisville to Ashland, you're in luck!

You've got a Democratic Congressional Candidate you can be proud of.

On September 18, I sent an emailed question to the four people in Kentucky who are running as challengers on the Democratic ticket for a seat in Congress: Bruce Lunsford (Senate), Michael Kelley (KY-4), David Boswell (KY-2), and Heather Ryan (KY-1).

I asked each of them the same question:

I would be very interested in your response to the following excerpt from Senate testimony this week, particularly in how you, as a new Member of Congress, would work to restore Congress' Article One power and responsibility.

(At that link, long-time former GOP Congressman Mickey Edwards of Oklahoma testified before a Senate hearing on the rule of law and excoriated Congress for abdicating its Constitutional responsibilities of oversight and balance of power.)

Only Dr. Michael Kelley, Democratic nominee for the Fourth Congressional District seat of incumbent Geoff Davis, bothered to send an answer. In thanks and due respect, I am posting his response in full:

(More after the jump.)

We have seen a failure of duty in all the branches of our government. We have seen the executive branch veer off wildly into uncharted territory. Territory in which the Constitution, human rights, civil rights, and the Geneva Convention are no longer respected.

The Judicial branch went off the rails right from the start when they selected the president in 2000 in a decision that was both bold and indefensible.

The "fourth branch" of government, the press, has similarly let us down by backing such nonsense as "Saddam masterminded 9-11" and "warrantless wire tapping is somehow needed to fight terror."

When seen in this light, it seems that Congress' failure to up hold their constitutional duty to serve as a check and balance to an administration run amok is only moderately contemptible.

The fear of being accused of "being soft on defense," being a "defeatocrat," "unpatriotic," failing to "support our troops," to name a few, turned congress into a grouping of boot-lickers. As long as the majority of congresspersons care more about their own job security than the nation's long term well-being, this will not be the last failure they will produce.

I am a family doctor who is running in hopes of straightening out some of these messes. I'm not taking PAC money, lobbyist money, or bundler money. I'm not taking one red cent of special interest money. This makes my odds longer, but if elected I'll get in with no strings attached. If elected I will not forget Congress' "power of the Purse," and I'll not ever place my own self interest before the nation's best interest.

That's how a real Democrat talks, y'all. Tomorrow, more on the outspoken Dr. Kelley.

Cross-posted at Blue in the Bluegrass.