By BERRY CRAIG
AFT Local 1360
Greg Stumbo wants his old job back, but his campaign is going to the dogs.
Okay, just one--a pup named Theo. "He's a good dog, and he knows a good candidate when he sees one," said Meredith Scalos, Stumbo-for-attorney-general campaign director of operations and spokesperson.
Team Stumbo knows a good prop, too. Theo's picture is featured in a fund-raising email for Stumbo, who was AG in 2004-2008.
(Stumbo is also a veteran Democratic lawmaker who was House speaker from 2009-2017.)
Theo belongs to a friend of Kassidy Stumbo, the candidate's daughter, according to Scalos.
"We are inside of four weeks until we have the chance to send a message to Matt Bevin, opioid manufacturers, and their hand-picked lobbyist candidate, that from Pikeville to Paducah, Kentucky will once again be for the people, not special interests," the email says.
"In the weeks until election day, we're putting together a team of Kentuckians ready to fight against the corruption and corporate control of our government, but outside Washington money is flooding in to try and cut down our people power."
The email includes a link where people "can be like our buddy Theo and take the time to volunteer" to help elect "an Attorney General that serves them" and not "a former lobbyist that won't."
Stumbo's opponent is Republican Daniel Cameron, who was Sen. Mitch McConnell's general counsel.
"Voters in Kentucky should be getting more worried about Mitch McConnell’s recent staffer and Republican nominee for Attorney General Daniel Cameron," saysthe Democratic Attorneys General Association. "Cameron’s lack of legal experience and his Washington, D.C. connections to McConnell are clearly concerning qualities for someone who wants to serve as the chief legal officer in the state."
Cameron, too, has allied himself with GOP Gov. Matt Bevin, who's seeking a second term. "With Cameron’s lack of experience and cozy relationship with McConnell and Bevin, Cameron is not the type of leader Kentucky voters can trust to hold those in power accountable, and he’s not qualified to do the work," DAGA adds. "When it comes to who they can trust to represent them and put their interests first, Daniel Cameron just doesn’t cut it."
The Kentucky State AFL-CIO unanimously endorsed Stumbo, gubernatorial hopeful Andy Beshear, the outgoing AG; and the rest of the Democratic ticket.