Senator Alice Forgy Kerr

I am told that Senator Alice Forgy Kerr represents the 12th District in Fayette County. She has been elected to represent us in every election since 1998. I have not been able to find much evidence that she has actually represented us. During the election Kerr ran a lot of ads touting her breast cancer bill. As a woman, as a cancer survivor (though thankfully not breast cancer), and as a Kentuckian, I was offended that she was not willing to work equally hard for virtually identical legislation when Senator Ernesto Scorsone introduced a year earlier. Was she representing me or any other constituent? No. Kerr and her Republican cohorts were holding back a great bill for political gain. In doing so they showed that they did not care about the victims of this disease. Their only interest was in who got to bragging rights.

What has she done for the 12th in her rolls as Chairwoman of the Economic Development, Tourism, and Labor Committee and as Vice-Chair of the State and Local Government Committee? Does she fight for us on the Appropriations and Revenue Committee, the Education Committee, or the Health and Welfare Committee?

Senator Kerr has held office since 1999, in part because the master fundraiser US Senator Mitch McConnell raised money and backed her heavily. Despite a GOP roll through congress, in 2004, not even McConnell could beef up her lack luster performance enough to win the race against Ben Chandler.

Ah yes, those were the days. I still remember the Herald Leader's efforts to find something good to say about her. Their result was to call her a well-meaning individual who was in way over her head in the Kentucky Senate. Her work in the Senate sometimes makes me question the well-meaning part of that statement. Her record tells us that she doesn't care about us, our problems, or about the job she is supposed to be doing. She is not just in over her head, she is taking us down with her.