The NKyTribune invited both candidates for the U.S. Senate from Kentucky to make his case for why he deserves your vote on November 8. We are offering their responses as a public service to the voters of Kentucky. The responses are offered in alphabetical order, with Jim Gray as Part I. Rand Paul’s response will appear tomorrow.
JIM GRAY
I am a seventh-generation Kentuckian, and I was born in Glasgow. Through my family business, Gray Construction, my life’s work has been about creating opportunities for people. We worked across Kentucky and the United States, helping companies realize their own dreams to create good jobs. Over 50 years, Gray Construction has helped create over 20,000 jobs in Kentucky and thousands more across America.
In 2010, I was elected Mayor of Lexington, where I put my business experience to work in City Hall. We work together because I know being a partisan leader is not the way to approach the job. Not every Democratic idea is a good one and not every Republican idea is a bad one. And because of that approach, Lexington is on the right track – 15,000 new jobs have been created since I took office. And that approach put Lexington on the right track. Today, unemployment is historically low. And Lexington is an economic engine for the state.
Why I Should Be Your Senator
My top priority as Kentucky’s next Senator is to grow our economy and improve the life of middle class Kentuckians. As a job-creating Mayor of Lexington and as a businessman before that, I have always believed in forward-thinking, innovative solutions to the toughest problems. Those solutions worked. Today, Kentucky faces many challenges, but it also has a unique opportunity to put people to work by building a modern infrastructure for the future, leading the nation in clean coal technology, selling Kentucky-made products around the world, and making our state a hub for advanced manufacturing.
We grew our family construction business from one with $1 million per year in sales to a company that generated $1.2 billion in business last year. Gray Construction is now one of the leading builders of advanced manufacturing plants in the country, and a pioneer in the design-build industry. Every day in Kentucky alone, more than 20,000 people walk through the doors of plants built by Gray Construction. Our company has helped create thousands of good jobs, and we’ve done it by building workplaces for the future in American manufacturing.
In 2010, I ran for Mayor of Lexington so I could give back to the city that has given so much to my family and my business. As Mayor, I turned a deficit into a surplus while still thinking ahead about how to solve our greatest challenges. Lexington has partnered with regional leaders to create the Bluegrass Economic Advancement Movement (BEAM), a massive initiative to turn central Kentucky into a hub for advanced manufacturing. Today BEAM is focused on the future – exports and foreign direct investment – so that Kentucky continues to grow long after we’re gone.
I believe it’s this kind of business sense, experience in local government, and forward-thinking problem solving that’s exactly what we need in Washington and exactly what Kentucky deserves in its next Senator. I’m running for the Senate to be a constructive leader who’s part of the solution, rather than part of the dysfunction. Kentucky can seize this moment.
Q&A:
Q: What are your three top objectives in your first term as U.S. Senator representing Kentucky?
A: I believe the biggest problems faced by the Commonwealth are the challenges faced by working families. My top priority as Kentucky’s next Senator is to grow our economy and improve the lives of middle class Kentuckians. As a job-creating Mayor of Lexington and as a businessman before that, I have always believed in innovative solutions to difficult problems.
I support infrastructure investment – expanding highways, fixing outdated bridges and building high speed internet infrastructure to promote growth. I support replacing the Brent Spence bridge and modernizing and expanding infrastructure to promote economic growth across the Commonwealth.
We must grow our advanced manufacturing capability to expand “made in Kentucky” exports. I believe we should support the Export-Import Bank, promote investment in manufacturing, and stand up to bad actors who attempt to circumvent trade agreements.
Finally, it is imperative that we build better jobs. I support increasing the federal minimum wage, ensuring equal pay for equal work, and investing in education for the modern economy. It is essential that we invest in our workers and encourage our businesses to do the same.
Q: What are potential voters telling you they expect from their Senator?
A: They expect their senator to represent their interests, work in a non-partisan fashion, and collaborate to break through the partisan gridlock in Washington to get things done.
Rand Paul’s presidential ambitions and ideology have contributed to the gridlock in Washington, and he has repeatedly put Senate floor grandstanding before getting things done for Kentucky.
Conclusion: Open remarks
Rand Paul knows more about the cornfields of Iowa and the coffee shops of New Hampshire than he does about Kentucky and Kentuckians’ problems. In fact, he took office in January 2011, and 3 months later he was in Iowa and New Hampshire – helping his father in the family business of running for president.
Paul’s record is clear. His eyes are on White House, just like his father has been all these years. He’s known to be loud and ineffective. Not one of his bill’s has become law. He has proposed budgets that drastically cut defense spending and the military. Respected members of his own party have criticized him for out of line priorities and questioned his understanding of the needs of America’s national security.
As a Senator my focus would stay right here at home. I’m for a thriving economy that gives Kentuckians opportunity. I’m for affordable healthcare for all Americans – we have to fix the Affordable Care Act, not turn back to the old days when insurance companies called the shots. I’m for affordable education that doesn’t leave students with a mountain of debt when they get out of college. And I’m for protecting Social Security and not privatizing it.
Most of all, I’m for Kentucky, and I need your support on Tuesday, November 8, at your local polling place.
I’ll vote for you. I think you have done a good job in Lexington and would put Kentucky first as opposed to your opposition who seems to view the job as a stepping stone to the Presidency. On the other hand, I think you would have had a much better chance of winning if you had run against Andy Barr rather than Rand Paul.