Call it a protest vote if you want. I'm voting for Billy Harper.
In an embarrassing primary food fight between Anne Northup and Ernie Fletcher, "supporting the winner" just doesn't cut it this time.
Harper offers a consistent conservatism and no-nonsense style Kentucky could use if we are to escape backwater status. And with Democrats likely to nominate a baggage-laden politician, Republicans would do well to represent themselves with someone not encumbered with evidence of questionable judgement.
Harper's support of KERA is a little tough to forgive, but that is overwhelmed by his continuing involvement in education and his current solutions, which involve more than just spending more money and would likely reverse a lot of KERA's damage while placing us on a course for substantial gains.
Economic development is something everyone talks about, but really belongs in the hands of someone who can move it along with more than just subsidies.
Pulling the state out of debt will require someone with a solid mandate. Listen closely to Harper. It isn't immediately apparent, but he is the type of leader who can inspire people to look beyond partisanship and toward the vision of the little guy from Paducah who said and meant "and I mean NO!"
