http://www.courierjournal.com/localnews/2002/08/14/ke081402s258716.htm
Record number in Jefferson small-city races
Libertarians file in 3 races for Congress
By Al Cross and Sheldon S. Shafer
Libertarian Party candidates filed for Congress in three of Kentucky's six districts by yesterday's deadline for independent and minor-party candidates in the Nov. 5 election.
In Jefferson County, election officials said a record number filed for office in the county's 83 small cities.
The Libertarian candidates for Congress are:
Robert Guy Dyer of Horse Cave, in the 2nd District, which includes Owensboro, Bowling Green, Bullitt County and a small piece of southern Jefferson County. He is in a race with the incumbent, Republican Ron Lewis of Stephensburg, and Democrat David Lynn Williams of Glasgow.
John Grote of Fort Wright, in the 4th District, which stretches east and north from Oldham and Shelby counties to the West Virginia border. He opposes Democratic Rep. Ken Lucas of Union and Republican Geoff Davis of Fort Mitchell.
Mark Gailey of Berea in the 6th District, which covers the Bluegrass region. He faces Republican Rep. Ernie Fletcher and independent Gatewood Galbraith, both of Lexington.
Gailey was a Libertarian candidate for the state House in 2000. He and the other two candidates could not be reached for comment yesterday.
In 2000, Libertarians ran in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 6th Districts. The party did best in the 3rd, where state party chairman Donna Walker Mancini got 2.9 percent of the vote. In the other districts, Libertarians received less than 1 percent.
This year, Mancini focused her efforts on races for the new merged government of Louisville and Jefferson County, filing for mayor and recruiting 10 Metro Council candidates to run with her.
There was only one new filing yesterday for positions in the new government. Independent Damien Brown filed in District 23.
Four candidates are on the ballot for Metro mayor -- Democrat Jerry Abramson, Republican Jack Early, Independent Bryan Bunch and Mancini.
Two Democrats will have no opposition for council seats -- Louisville Alderwomen Denise Bentley in District 1 and Cheri Bryant Hamilton in District 5. A Libertarian, Richard Hogue, filed earlier against Democrat Barbara Shanklin in District 2, where there is no Republican running.
Twelve other council districts will have one or more minor or third-party candidates on the ballot, along with a Democrat and a Republican. The most crowded race will be District 13, which will have five candidates -- Republican Sharon Woodring, Democrat Ron Weston, Independent Ray Pierce, Libertarian Claude Bohn and William Clinton Hardy of the Constitution Party.
Districts 10 and 23 will each have four candidates.
Minor-party candidates shied away from the races for county offices. As the 4 p.m. filing deadline passed, Ron Holmes, who won the Democratic primary for coroner in May, had no opposition and will appear alone on the November ballot. That essentially ensures his election to replace longtime coroner Richard Greathouse, who is retiring after serving seven terms.
A Democrat and a Republican will compete in each of the races for the offices of Jefferson property valuation administrator, county attorney, county clerk and sheriff. Also on the ballot will be races for Jefferson judge-executive and A District commissioner -- two offices that will have few or no duties after merger. And there will be elections for three magistrates and three constables.
With an all-day rush yesterday, election officials said they had a record number of candidates filing for offices in Jefferson County's suburban cities. They speculated that the flood of filings may be related to uncertainty in the small cities about the impending city-county merger.