Tuesday, April 21, 2015

A Geoff Young Survey

Name: Geoff Young

Age: 58


Occupation: Energy efficiency expert


Resident of: Lexington – Fayette County


Social media (Facebook, Twitter): FB – personal home page of Geoffrey M. Young


Website: Young4Ky.com


Party affiliation: Democratic


Previous elected positions: None, Rand for Ky House in 2012 and for US

Congress in Ky's 6th District in 2014. Lost the Democratic primary on


5/20/14 by 39% to 61%. E. Jensen (D) lost to Andy Barr (R) in November 2014 by a landslide. I would've beaten him.

1. What would be your top policy priority if elected? 

Cleaning up corruption, including at the very summit of the Kentucky Democratic Party. Also, defending the Roe v. Wade decision against foolish, right-wing politicians who want to make all abortions illegal or impossible to obtain. The fact is that in parts of the world where all abortions are illegal, the abortion rate is higher, not lower. The leaders of the "Right-To-Life" movement are dead wrong and have been misleading their followers for the last 42 years. Planned Parenthood is the most effective abortion-reducing organization that exists anywhere. See my web site for more details.

2. What experiences qualify you to serve as governor?

I have 36 years of serious involvement in the political arena, most of that time working on issues. The issues have run the gamut and include energy policy, foreign policy, transportation policy, protecting the environment, fighting racism, promoting economic development, promoting cooperatives of all types, protecting civil people's rights, and preventing and ending unjust wars all over the world. I worked in Frankfort for 14 years, most of that time as the Assistant Director of the Kentucky energy office, known as the Ky. Division of Energy at the time and now reorganized. I learned a lot about the law by working on energy utility company cases, including rate cases, in front of the Public Service Commission. I have an analytical mind and a highly developed BS detector, which I use against right-wing politicians all the time.

3. What is your stance on expanded gambling in the state?

I feel that gambling should be legal. The Kentucky Constitution should be amended to allow it.

4. What is your stance on a statewide right-to-work law and local county right-to-work laws?

If elected, one of my ambitions is to be Kentucky's most pro-union governor ever. I oppose right-to-bust-unions laws, always have opposed them, and will oppose them until my dying breath. They are immoral. They make it almost impossible for individual workers to get together to defend their economic interests against corporations, their lawyers, and their hired members of Congress. The Chamber of Commerce has made a major political blunder by supporting right-to-bust-unions laws and right-wing Republican politicians. They've tarnished the reputation of a once-respected business organization. They now represent only the right wing. I'd like to meet with as many Chambers as possible to discuss how they can move back toward a more balanced position that respects the rights of working people.

5. What are your plans for the Kentucky health care exchange and how do you plan on putting them into effect?

Governor Beshear's decision to implement the Affordable Care Act – "Obamacare" – in Kentucky was the best thing he did in two terms. Sometimes I wonder if it's the only good thing he did in 8 years. More than 400,000 Kentuckians now have health insurance and no longer have to live in terror of a catastrophic illness or accident. I'd make sure that Kynect enrolls even more Kentuckians. that any problems in the system are solved efficiently, and that we move in the direction of single-payer health insurance in the US and Kentucky as rapidly as possible. The GOP plan – just let the people die – is immoral and always has been. If more tax revenue is needed, the richest Kentuckians should be asked to pay more. They haven't been pulling their weight for the last 3 or 4 decades, and the middle class has been suffering because of it.

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