Speaker of the State House and Democrat candidate in a large field, Jody Richards of Bowling Green spoke to supporters at the Centre on Main emphasizing what he called Kentucky's unique position in the national push for energy independence.
“We've got the corn and the soybeans, plus a 200-year supply of coal that we can clean up,” he said.
“We're also centrally located and we're starting to expand our refining capacity. All this is good economically for us, if we play our cards right.”
He quipped that the new emphasis on ethanol, biodiesel or biomass “isn't anything except moonshine with a few additives, and Kentucky's had experience with that.”
It got a laugh, but Richards went on to say part of playing the cards right is to put the state's economic development initiatives directly under the governor's office.
“I'd create a cabinet position for economic development, perhaps at the expense of one of the current cabinet levels, that's technology- and knowledge-based,” he said.
Citing his long experience in the State House and as the House Speaker, Richards said he had the budget-building experience to see his ideas come to fruition.
“And we can't leave out the small cities in the state,” he said.
For too long, he continued, the new jobs have gone to the Louisville-Lexington-Northern Kentucky triangle, “because that's where the media is and where politicians get credit.”
He said this strategy “leaves a lot of people, especially those west of Interstate 65, out of the economic uplift.”
The new jobs moving in, he said, “will have to be new jobs that stay.”
“Too often,” he said, “a plant will move in, but as soon as the incentives are exhausted, they pull up stakes and move on. This has to stop.”
Richards also says veterans' affairs requires a cabinet status.
A former professor at Western Kentucky University, Richards, who got his first summer job at Camp Loucon, said education is near and dear to his heart.
“I'm calling for 60 percent of the state's budget go to education, and that includes beefing up early child education, all-day kindergartens, increase teachers' salaries in three years to match surrounding states, and start a first-in-the-nation principal's academy,” he said.
He said discipline in schools needs a fresh and serious approach, and high-tech education needs to be provided “if we're to attract the good-paying high-tech jobs.”
For seniors, Richards said he would focus on affordable prescriptions “and creating a healthy insurance climate.”
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