By BERRY CRAIG
AFT Local 1360
Labor-supported House hopeful Martha Emmons didn't go home empty-handed from Thursday night's Western Kentucky AFL-CIO Area Council meeting in Paducah.
Council President-elect Kyle Henderson, Plumbers and Steamfitters 184 business manager, presented the Paducah Democrat with a memento from his local's head-turning Labor Day parade float: a "FLUSH Randy Bridges" sign.
Bridges is her union-busting Republican opponent in the Third District race.
The float featured an oversize replica toilet with a pair of feet and legs protruding upward from the bowl. “We just thought they needed to be flushed,” explained Henderson, who was elected without opposition at the regular monthly meeting.
In addition to Bridges, "they” are anti-union GOP Gov. Matt Bevin, state Sen. Danny Carroll and state Reps. Lynn Bechler, Richard Heath and Steven Rudy.
The signs were stuck on the bottom of the upright commode lid and on the sides of the float. Local 184 members carried similar signage in the parade.
Union-backed Democrat Julie Tennyson, Carroll's challenger, also dropped by the meeting. But a "FLUSH Danny Carroll" sign wasn't available.
Tennyson is seeking to unseat Carroll in the Second Senate District. Emmons and Bridges are vying for the Third House District seat vacated by Paducah Democrat Gerald Watkins, who retired to run for the city commission.
Emmons and Tennyson are among several candidates who earned Kentucky State AFL-CIO endorsements last spring.