Please my friends. Invest a couple minutes of your time and read this. There is SO much I have learned from experience and as a student of history. You will recall that: Stephen Douglas said Abraham Lincoln was too ugly to be President. Thank Heaven that Douglas was terribly wrong. Lincoln transformed America and set her on a course of equality. Richard Nixon said John F. Kennedy was too young to be President. Wrong again. He activated and challenged a generation. Jimmy Carter said Ronald Reagan was too old to be President. LOL! Reagan changed the world .. for the better. (I miss him so!) Eddie Girdler says Alan Keck is too young to be Mayor of Somerset. I disagree because of: Steve Crabtree, thats right, ME! I said John Y. Brown III was too young and inexperienced to be a good Secretary of State when we opposed one another for the position. I was dead wrong. John Brown was less than two years older than Alan Keck is today when John, Paul Patton and the Democratic ticket swept into office in 1995, defeating Larry Forgy, me, Tom Handy and the rest of the Republican ticket. Bear with me folks: John and I gave one another what pundits claim will be remembered as an epic political battle in the annals of Kentucky political history. Our electioneering angst eased after the fall election and we both had a chance to catch our breath. Weve grown to respect one another and Im blessed in 2014 to call him friend. John knows Id be there for him in a heartbeat if he needed me. John brought a youthful energy and most importantly, an exciting vision for what the Secretary of States office could have and should have been all along. He conceptualized a plan and worked his plan. He dragged the office, kicking and screaming into a position of national prominence ... maximizing technology and John ran it like an efficient business. However! Despite his family prominence, John was a servant politician and served humbly and with a mature grace beyond his years. He was a huge success. Yup! HUGE! Im humbled to say, had I won .. I would not have done a better job. John taught me it was the maturity of thought, the vision to conceptualize and ensuing ability to execute that mattered more than ones chronological age. When I was determined to run for Mayor of Somerset, Alan Keck boldly contacted me and requested a meeting. I met with him expecting to be amused. However .. I immediately sensed in Alan what I grew to admire in John Y. Brown III. Theres a fire to serve in Alan. I saw that same simmering pot full of ideas in Alans eyes .. bubbling over and yearning for a chance to prove to me and everyone else that he can not only do the job ... but in my estimation .. will do it better than ANY Somerset Mayor in recent history .. including some dear, good old friends of mine. Eddie Girdler is saying you should vote for his same old stale ideas, abysmal record of industrial recruitment, irresponsible stewardship of the taxpayers money and his my way or the highway Obama-esque management style because Alan Keck is too young. Folks, I stake it all on the FACT that Eddie is (as usual) barking up a tree where there just aint no coon. You can bet the farms best blue ribbon prize winning hog that Alan Keck is going to build a talented and experienced team to take Somerset into a prosperous future with sound and secure fiscal thinking, a mature grasp of business and inordinately good people skills that will enable him to create needed buy-in for his rock solid ideas for moving Somerset forward. Alan Kecks faith in God, age, vision, ability, honesty, morality and integrity arent too old, too young, too ugly, too inflexible or too flexible. IT IS JUST RIGHT! PERFECT FOR THIS JUNCTURE OF OUR COMMUNITY HISTORY AND NATIONAL ECONOMIC CLIMATE. The right man for the right job at the right time of our history. Ive not only observed history in Kentucky. Ive been part of it. What Ive learned from it makes me enthusiastically endorse Alan Keck. Ive known Eddie Girdler for 37 years. Ive obviously not known Alan as long but I know him just as well. If everyone knew each of these men .. Eddie and Alan .. as well as I do through my career in news and detour into politics, Alan Keck would be elected by acclamation and without dissent. I TRUST Alan Keck. and to me .. trust is a sacred word as well as something essential for ANYONE to earn my vote. Thank you for reading and God bless! wJohn Y. Brown III Michael Keck Tyler Crabtree Matt Crabtree Cory Crabtree Chris Higgins Ed Holt Stan Roberts Sue Shelton Sue Neikirk Evelyn Denney Dalton Frank Crabtree Sr. Junior Fortenberry Rory Cundiff Gina Bowles Sears Stacey Crabtree Doris Burton Crabtree Tammie Merrick Stogsdill
Posted on: Thu, 30 Oct 2014 23:21:45 +0000