By Ashley Sidebottom, staff writer
CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. – Campbellsville University hosted her second in a series of gubernatorial candidate forums with Lt. Gov. candidate Irv Maze speaking on behalf of his running mate Jonathan Miller, state treasurer who is a Democratic gubernatorial candidate.
Miller awoke with the flu, but that did not stop him from announcing his health care plans for the Commonwealth from his bed; however, he decided it would be in everyone’s best interest to stay at home and send his running mate to discuss their gubernatorial campaign at CU.
Maze serves as Jefferson County Attorney and began his third term in that office on Jan. 2, 2007. He is a 1972 graduate of Indiana University and a 1975 graduate of the University of Louisville School of Law.
Maze discussed many of the successes of both Miller and himself throughout their careers, including the establishment of the Kentucky Affordable Prepaid Tuition program, creation of military family benefit programs, offering support of ConnectKentucky, dealing with abandoned property, increasing DUI prosecution, decreasing truancy, especially at elementary school levels, and aggressively acquiring child support payments.
Miller’s innovative “Health for the Commonwealth” plan announced March 5 will make Kentucky healthier through a goal of universal health care to be phased in over four years, and moving the Commonwealth forward on cancer curing research.
Maze said the focus of the Miller-Maze campaign is on education. He thinks Kentucky “can do better.”
“It’s not right to just accept the status quo. If a change isn’t made, there’s going to be more of the same,” Maze said.
Audience members asked Maze a number of questions during the forum.
Maze said he is “not sure” what will happen in the democratic primary in May, but thinks his and Miller’s track records will count for something.
“We need different now, and you have to show you have the ability to get the job done,” Maze said.
Maze said no official announcements about tax reforms or revenue enhancements had been made, but said it is a problem that needs to be addressed.
The answer to economic development throughout the Commonwealth is education, Maze said. “Education is an investment and it is the only way out of the hole we’re in.”
While Miller-Maze was referred to as an “urban ticket,” since the candidates are from Lexington and Louisville, Maze said he is sensitive to small communities and “if anyone suffers, we all suffer.”
Problems in the cities are the same problems in small communities, “just on a different scale,” Maze said.
“We are all in this together. We are not running for governor of Lexington or governor of Louisville,” Maze said.
Regarding the jails, prisons and detention centers throughout Kentucky, Maze said the issues are growing and have been ignored, but is something that “cannot be ignored for long.”
Maze also discussed issues with state retirement since the money will be gone in a matter of years.
“We have to make a change quick,” Maze said, but also noted that a change could only be made to the system for future employees, because it would not be fair to “change the rules in the middle of the game” for current state employees.
For more information about Jonathan Miller, Irv Maze or their campaign, visit their website at http://www.miller-maze.com.
Dr. Mary Wilgus, dean of the college of arts and sciences at CU, welcomed everyone to the forum, and Dr. Ted Beam, senior pastor at First United Methodist Church in Campbellsville provided the invocation for the event. Mark Johnson, chairman of Campbellsville and Taylor County’s Industrial Development Authority, introduced Maze.
The sessions are sponsored by CU’s Kentucky Heartland Institute for Public Policy (KHIPP) and Team Taylor County.
John Chowning, vice president for church and external relations at CU and executive assistant to the president who is the founder of KHIPP, said all of the major candidates have been asked to participate in the forums.
Each gubernatorial forum is open to the public.
Chowning said each of the candidates will also be featured on his TV-4 television show, “Dialogue on Public Issues” which is shown on Mondays and Wednesdays at 1:30 p.m., Mondays at 6:30 p.m. and Wednesdays at 7 p.m.
Chowning said that six other candidates have already committed to dates over the next several weeks, with the next being held Wednesday, March 21 with the Hon. Anne Northup, Republican candidate for governor. Announcements will be made on each candidate forum during the series.
“We invite everyone to come hear these candidates and to watch the show on our TV-4,” said Chowning.
For more information on the events, contact Chowning at (270) 789-5520 or at jechowning@campbellsville.edu.
Campbellsville University, now celebrating her Centennial year, is a private, comprehensive institution located in South Central Kentucky. Founded in 1906, Campbellsville University is affiliated with the Kentucky Baptist Convention and has an enrollment of 2,310 students who represent 100 Kentucky counties, 32 states and 28 foreign nations. Listed in U.S. News & World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges” 14 consecutive years as one of the leading Southern master’s colleges and universities, Campbellsville University is located 82 miles southwest of Lexington, Ky., and 80 miles southeast of Louisville, Ky. Dr. Michael V. Carter is in his eighth year as president.