GOP feuding in Nelson County
EDITOR'S NOTE: We received this statement from Don Thrasher, Nelson County GOP chair: "As a Committee we were compelled to pass the Resolution because Mr. McCoy has engaged in advocating legislation that is contrary to the values of the Republican Party platform. The County Committee will no longer stand by and watch our Republican State Representative not act in the best interest of the very people that trusted him to do so.
We are encouraging our sister county committees to take a stand with us. We invite anyone to join with us in our fight against big money, political action committees and corporate interests influencing legislation that hurts small business and working families."By BERRY CRAIG
AFT Local 1360
James DeWeese of Teamsters Local 89 tipped us off to a feud in Nelson County between Republican state Rep. Chad McCoy of Bardstown and local GOP bigwigs.
McCoy usually toes the party line, especially on union issues. He's on the USW District 8 "Wall of Shame" for voting for "right to work" law and for repealing the prevailing wage in 2017. McCoy has been all in for sticking it to organized labor since. (Deweese, also from Bardstown, unsuccessfully ran against McCoy in 2016 and last year.)
Anyway, McCoy has riled the GOP county committee over his support for a bill that would have hiked the state gas tax by a dime a gallon and slapped a user fee on drivers of electric cars.
The Nelson County row reflects the whole state GOP, which is demonstrably a house divided. The legislature is composed of Bevinites, anti-Bevinites and in-betweeners.
Almost always, incumbent governors cruise to renomination, usually without opposition.
But Gov. Matt Bevin attracted a trio of challengers in the Republican gubernatorial primary. One, state Rep. Robert Goforth of East Bernstadt in Laurel County, gave the gov a run for his money. He collected more than 101,000 votes and carried a slew of counties, mostly in eastern Kentucky, Goforth's neck of the woods.
Unlike McCoy, Goforth isn't part of the Bevin-led GOP band of union-busters.
Anyway, here's part of the story James sent us. There's another one on the topic that's cross-posted on Forward Kentucky from the Bardstown Kentucky Standard.
County GOP criticizes Rep. McCoy over support of gas tax, vote for bank tax break
By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio
Wednesday, May 22, 2019 — In what may be a first for the local Republican party, the Nelson County GOP county committee issued a resolution during its meeting Tuesday that takes 50th District state Rep. Chad McCoy to task for his support for legislation that would have raised the state’s gas tax by 10 cents.
House Bill 517 would also have created a user fee for those who drive all-electric vehicles, who currently don’t contribute anything to road maintenance since they don’t need to buy gasoline or diesel fuel.
According to a party press release, McCoy supported the gas tax hike while also voting to give banks a significant tax break — a tax break which cost the state approximately $100 million a year.