STEVE RAWLINGS HAS EARNED YOUR VOTE
The Race for the Senate Kentucky Senate District 11
In a recent edition of the cleverly named Larry’s Letters which endorsed Marianne Proctor in her bid to retain her House seat I wrote:
There are two types of candidate for public office. The first is the candidate that offers platitudes and content free statements of visions and goals which are at best aspirational. Then there are the candidates who are exquisitely open, honest, and precise when it comes to the positions that they hold and who are unafraid of staking out a position that some might call “controversial” while others call those same positions “common sense”.
I was remiss. I should have remembered that there is a third type of candidate; one whom I always hope doesn’t appear on a ballot. This is the candidate who in addition to offering only “…platitudes and content free visions and goals which are at best aspirational…” also displays a penchant for the mischaracterization of their opponent’s record and positions either directly or by innuendo.
It is precisely that type of politician who gives both public service and politics a bad name.
In my life, I have been a career public servant who wrote public health policy and I had a very brief and unsuccessful run for an elected position. In each case I operated on a hard and fast rule: Always tell the truth. With that in mind let’s explore the two candidates who would replace the retiring John Schickel who has served nobly as the Kentucky Senate District 11 Senator for 16 years. Nobility in office is important.
Steve Rawlings has nobly served his constituents in Kentucky House District 66 since he won the seat in 2022. During his tenure in the Kentucky House Mr. Rawlings has served on the following House Committees: Education, Judiciary, and State Government Committees and on their interim joint Senate-House counterparts. In his tenure Mr. Rawlings has sponsored 25 bills including several state constitutional amendments which are scheduled to appear on a future ballot for our consideration. Of the bills that have been passed in both chambers four have become law. The others are still in committee.
Mr. Rawlings has been endorsed by: Northern Kentucky Right To Life; Kentucky Right To Life; Commonwealth Education Opportunities (a grassroots organization that identifies, organizes, and trains Kentuckians to support conservative educational policies); Make Liberty Win ( a political action committee dedicated to electing men and women to state legislatures who will defend the US Constitution); The NRA; and Representative Thomas Massie (R) KY- 4.
Mr. Rawlings is basing his candidacy on seven pillars:
Education;
Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness;
States’ rights;
Religious liberty;
Voter integrity;
Opposition to medical tyranny;
Gun rights.
I urge you to visit Mr. Rawlings’ page for more on these pillars. They tell you who Steve Rawlings is as a person and what you can expect from him as your State Senator.
Duane Froelicher is also running as a Republican to replace John Schickel. Mr. Froelicher is a local business man, former president of the Rotary Club, a former member of the Florence, KY city council, and a candidate for Florence Mayor. Mr. Froelicher’s campaign page provides the reader with a choice of either learning about him or learning about what issues are important to him and where he stands on those issues.
Unfortunately, while Mr. Froelicher’s page is long on telling us what he wants us to know about him it is short on his explanation of his positions on the three issues on which he is running:
Pro-supporting young women in sports
Supporting our police and our veterans
Protecting our values and rights
While Mr. Froelicher offers us a photograph of himself with Riley Gaines the former highly ranked swimmer from the University of Kentucky turned political activist opposed to the participation of men claiming to be women in women’s sports, he offers nothing in terms of his precise position on transgenderism, LGBTQ issues, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) or his view on so-called Gender Affirming Care.
There is the same lack of depth concerning the other two issues Mr. Froelicher is running on; Supporting Police and Veterans and Protecting Our Values and Rights.
While Mr. Rawlings offers us a record in office that can be examined which I have done, Mr. Froelicher offers this regarding his six years on the Florence City Council:
“Additionally, Duane has served three terms on the Florence City Council, where he collaboratively was responsible for passing zoning laws and regulations. ‘I love it,’ Duane recounted, ‘the six years I was on the Florence City Council, we had exponential growth. One of the first items that I voted on was Berkshire Farms, which is where Menards is today.’ Subsequently, the zoning change Duane voted to approve has created many jobs for Boone County residents. These efforts exemplify how he helps the community grow and prosper in any way that he can.”
In short, Mr. Foroelicher’s tenure on the Florence City Council appears to consist of being present to vote. Mr. Froelicher has yet to complete the Ballotpedia survey as has Mr. Rawlings but Mr. Rawlings has a legislative record to examine. Apart from voting on issues Mr. Froelicher has none. However, we can examine his own words. In a recent mailing (April 10, 2024) Mr. Froelicher wrote:
“During the early weeks of this campaign, I have been bombarded with questionnaires from organizations wanting me to commit to how I will vote on hypothetical legislation in the future. I want you to know, I am not filling out those questionnaires. My bond is to the people of Boone County and my commitment is to do what I believe is right as God has given me the wisdom to determine.”
In other words, it’s none of our business how he might vote on a future vaccine or mask mandate or the introduction of LGBTQ literature in our grade and high schools. We just need to trust what he asserts to be “right.”
God gave Mr. Froelicher something else; Commands and one of those commands is to not bear false witness.
In a 2022 interview with Spectrum 1 News Mr. Froelicher had this to offer about his opponent, Dr. Julie Metzger Aubuchon, the current Florence Mayor:
“My opponent voted to demolish our swimming pool. In the future, we want to expand the pool, and make sure that’s a viable option for all citizens of the city of Florence.”
That is quite the assertion and it is totally false. It is, in fact, a demonstrable lie. Mayor Aubuchon clearly explained her record on the pool issue in the Spectrum article and the Editor of Spectrum 1 News added a note stating that a post publication review of the facts did not support Mr. Froelicher’s assertion. When asked to offer clarification or explanation of his allegation Mr. Froelicher offered none. At a minimum an apology to Mayor Aubuchon was and remains, in order.
But Mr. Froelicher isn’t finished. In a campaign mailing Mr. Froelicher wrote:
”Finally, I have lived my life believing the best barometer of what a leader will do moving forward is to look at what they have done in the past. My opponent in this race ran for the State House in 2022. After he won the election, he ignored some of the most important committees that had the most positive impact on the lives of working people. I will tell you right up front; I am going to Frankfort to work for you, not special interests.”
Just has Mr. Froelicher falsely accused Mayor Aubuchon of voting to “demolish” the Florence pool he is now — again without evidence— accusing Representative Rawlings of working for “special interests”.
Mr. Froelicher is practicing the politics of personal destruction that we see on display everyday, most notably in the current presidential campaign when false charge after false charge is being hurled at Donald Trump to interfere with his campaign and potential election. Why? Because the democrats will do anything to win and so apparently will Mr. Froelicher.
To lie about your opponent’s position on a high visibility issue such as the Florence pool when you were present for every vote and presumably the discussion surrounding those votes which the record shows is clearly in opposition to Mr. Froelicher’s assertions about Mayor Aubuchon’s alleged intent to “demolish” the Florence pool, is ignoble.
To suggest that your opponent in a race for Kentucky Senate is the handmaiden of special interests and not doing the biding of the people he represents when his record as a State Representative makes it clear that he is in fact the “People’s Republican” is equally ignoble.
From time to time there are the words of others that are timelessly perfect. This is one of those times:
“Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last?”- Joseph Welch, special counsel for the U.S. Army to Senator Joseph McCarthy
A final word. While I am a resident of Union, Kentucky which is part of Kentucky Senate District 11 and I am endorsing Representative Rawlings for the Kentucky Senate, I am not affiliated with his campaign nor have I made any campaign contributions in cash or kind. Nor has Representative Rawlings participated in the development or review of this piece or paid for its production.
25 April 2024
Union, Kentucky