LOUISVILLE MAYORAL RACE AND JACKIE GREEN

There are some interesting things coming to light concerning Independent for Louisville Metro Mayor Jackie Green. As most of you know I ran as an independent for Louisville Metro Mayor in 2006 so I can sympathize with the plight of Jackie Green.

Mr. Green showed up to attend the "debate" sponsored by Home Builders Association last week and was denied entry. In fact, though he is a legitimate candidate he was not even invited. From my experience as an independent this is nothing new. In 2006 there were several debates between Jerry Abramson and Kelly Downard that I was not invited to nor was allowed to participate in.

The reasons given were simple. These were private events paid for and sponsored by private groups with an audience of their private paid members and not open to the public. Jackie Green just experienced the same thing first hand.

Read here for more: Jerry's kids Louisville's Alt-Weekly LEO Weekly

While both party candidates Democrat Greg Fisher, and Republican Hal Heiner, have touted the need for openness and transparency only one has backed that up with action. When asked to respond about this situation Hal Heiner stated this:

“When the Heiner Campaign accepted the Home Builders invitation we were unaware Mr. Green would be excluded from the forum,” says Joe Burgan, Heiner’s campaign manager. “Moving forward this campaign will urge those planning debates and forums to be as inclusive as possible. Louisvillians deserve an open and honest debate on the issues and that debate should include all candidates.”

I would expect no less from Hal Heiner and it was the right thing to say and do.

Greg Fisher on the other hand is basically doing the same old song and dance we have come to expect during this campaign. In short, not answering anything controversial and proving he is nothing more than the standard Abramson hack who does not believe in openness as he says he does.

Totally expected.

In the meantime I contacted Jackie Green on June 24 explaining I understood his situation, but I had also noticed that according to the Jefferson County Clerk's office, he was not even listed on the ballot for the General election. http://elections.jeffersoncountyclerk.org/pdfs/JCCandidateFilings_G10.pdf look on page 4.

Yet the Clerk's office also has this link: http://elections.jeffersoncountyclerk.org/pdfs/RegistryofCandidates_G10.pdf check out page 3 where it clearly shows Jackie Green is a candidate.

For anyone sponsoring debates this could be a confusing situation depending on which link you choose to look at to invite candidates.

While not making excuses for the HBA, personally I found out firsthand how pathetic the exclusionary practices are for outside candidates from those such as the HBA, I also believe this could lead to other venues that perhaps would inadvertently exclude legitimate candidates from consideration.

And in my opinion Jackie did not miss much in this situation. There was no "debate." Both invited candidates were given a prepared list of questions in advance and allowed time to prepare a response. They not only were not allowed to question each other, no one in attendance was allowed to ask questions either. That is not a debate by any stretch of the imagination.

Kudos to Heiner for standing up and keep up the fight Jackie Green!