People's House backs Pennington; candidate pens another worker song
EDITOR'S NOTE: The People’s House Project has endorsed Alonzo Pennington for Congress in the First District. "Alonzo is a musician, a hunting guide, a dad and a true champion for the working class,” said Krystal Ball, founder and president of the organization that backs grassroots Democratic candidates like Pennington, 38, who lives in Princeton, the Caldwell County seat.
Added Ball, a former MSNBC host: "He's not going to Washington to get along; he's going to turn the whole place on its ear, and working people will finally get a seat at the table. Oh, and you are going to love his campaign songs. Go, Zo! "
The People's House seeks challengers for Republican incumbents in Midwestern and Appalachian congressional districts, according to the organization's website. “Our candidates are classically Progressive, true to their working- and middle-class roots, and focused on issues of consequence to those who work not for personal fulfillment but for a living.”
Pennington faces Dr. Paul Walker, a Murray State University English professor, in the May 22 Democratic primary. Rep. James Comer, R-Tompkinsville, has no opposition in the GOP primary.
By BERRY CRAIG
AFT Local 1360
Alonzo Pennington might not be another Joe Hill, labor’s legendary troubadour.
But not many congressional candidates pause on the campaign trail to pen pro-worker songs and croon them on music videos.
A singer-songwriter and hunting guide from Princeton, Pennington is running in the May 22 First District Democratic primary. His latest composition is "Gonna stand for the working people." It's on his Facebook page:
It’s been too many years
Since we’ve had someone that cared.
Somebody who gave a damn,
Someone who isn’t scared
To stand up to big corporations
Who take more than their share.
We need somebody that’ll lead the way,
that’ll represent us here.
Why does gender matter so much
When it comes to getting paid?
They’re short-changing our working women
Each and every single day.
Why does the color of your skin
Have to do with what you get paid?
Well, I know that it’s time
We all stand up and say,
We’re gonna stand for the working people
And fight for a fair wage.
We’re gonna make sure that they follow up
With the pensions they’re supposed to pay.
We’re gonna stand with the working families
When duty comes to call.
It’s time we had public servants
Who will serve us all.
When the children are hungry,
And our veterans live on the streets,
When single, hard-working parents can’t get help,
And they’re treated like dead beats.
They push their pharmaceuticals
And deny natural remedies.
It’s time we stand up for ourselves,
And shoulder-to-shoulder, we’re all gonna sing,
We’re gonna stand with the working people
And fight for a fair wage.
We’re gonna make sure that they follow up
With the pensions they’re supposed to pay.
We’re gonna stand with the working families,
When duty comes to call.
Because it’s time we had public servants
Who will serve us all.
Pennington and Dr. Paul Walker, a Murray State University English professor, are vying in the primary for a crack at Rep. James Comer. The first-term Tompkinsville Republican has no primary opposition.
Pennington and Walker are running on pro-union platforms. Both oppose "right to work" and support the prevailing wage.
When Comer and Matt Bevin squared off in the 2015, GOP gubernatorial primary, both touted RTW and called for repealing PW. “If you want to get good-paying manufacturing jobs into Kentucky, right-to-work is a prerequisite,” Comer said.
He and Bevin vowed to make passing a RTW law a top priority if they won. Bevin won the primary and the governorship and he eagerly signed a RTW bill and PW repeal legislation in 2017 after the GOP flipped the Democratic-majority state House of Representatives. The Republicans had controlled the senate since 2000.
Pennington and Walker are courting union support in the district, which sprawls 300 miles eastward from the Mississippi River. Pennington recently dropped by the LIUNA Local 1214 hall in Paducah.
Meanwhile, the Kentucky State AFL-CIO's COPE committee voted to make no recommendation in the Pennington-Walker contest.