Democrat rep Rocky Adkins to run for Gov.

[RLWEBB]

Ladies and Gentleman ...

The original topic was about Rocky Adkins...can we get back to that...there are some things that I would like to know regarding his candidacy and your input is valuable to me...

For the record...

I am a TEACHER (nearing retirement) and while a conservative republican that leans more libertarian, there is absolutely NO WAY in **** that I can or will vote for Matt Bevin in the next election. His actions towards public education has already set public schools backwards (lowering standards for both teachers and students alike--to make charter schools more competitive ???--I cannot figure out the logic in his actions unless there is some hidden financial interests) and seriously jeopardizing our children/students ability to be competitive.

Years ago, before anyone who is currently teaching started their careers, the commonwealth was absolutely desperate for high quality teachers and state workers...to encourage a more intellectual college students to pursue the education necessary for the degrees and qualifications, the commonwealth came up with a compromise (since raising teacher salaries to a competitive professional level was not possible) they instituted an "inviolable (unbreakable) contract" that provided specific benefits including a "defined benefit" pension (that at the time, did not cost the state any money for 27 years)...

Teachers and state workers agreed to work for their salary and the "inviolable contract"...they were promised specific benefits...the teachers have carried out their end of the bargain, now the state must follow through... Any government willing to make and break this type of agreement forfeits the right to be believed on any further contracts with anyone including major industries the government is trying to bring in...

Additionally, the behavior of the Republicans in the General Assembly was disgusting...the "bait and switch" sewer bill is a tactic I would expect from Nancy Pelosi and democrats, not from Republicans who are suppose to behave more appropriately (and I voted against everyone of them that voted for the Sewer Bill-HB159, though some of the votes were hard to cast)...

All of this has had a chilling effect on the education profession...college students who were majoring in education are changing majors because of the uncertainty of benefits and a non-competitive salary...high school students are witnessing very negative interactions (unfortunately also from some teachers as well as the General Assembly representatives and the Governor) and are showing less interest in education as a potential field, and current teachers are counting down the days to retirement or seriously looking at leaving the field all together...there is a real danger that our children and grandchildren may have a significantly lower standard of education than we were privileged to have...

All of that said, I also cannot support Andy Beshear for Governor for a variety of reasons that essentially comes down to my belief that his main function is covering up and/or whitewashing wrong doing in his father's administration and openly politicizing the office of Attorney General...

So that brings us back to Rocky Adkins--where does he stand on the issues (not only on taxes and pensions and education that you all spent 5 pages insulting each other over) especially those related to the 2nd Amendment, Concealed Carry, Wildlife Conservation, Hunting and Fishing, etc...

Any information would be appreciated...

Well, he’s a demonrat which means he supports homosexuality, abortion, gun control, wealth redistribution, illegal immigration, and on and on. I would think that would be all you need to know.

 

[Regulator623]

Well, he’s a demonrat which means he supports homosexuality, abortion, gun control, wealth redistribution, illegal immigration, and on and on. I would think that would be all you need to know.

It will be interesting to see where he stands on these issues...will he stand with the mainstream democrats or stick with his mountain roots?

 

[RLWEBB]

Will he want money from the DNC? If yes, then you know where he’ll stand.

 

[Iceman35]

Ladies and Gentleman ...

The original topic was about Rocky Adkins...can we get back to that...there are some things that I would like to know regarding his candidacy and your input is valuable to me...

For the record...

I am a TEACHER (nearing retirement) and while a conservative republican that leans more libertarian, there is absolutely NO WAY in **** that I can or will vote for Matt Bevin in the next election. His actions towards public education has already set public schools backwards (lowering standards for both teachers and students alike--to make charter schools more competitive ???--I cannot figure out the logic in his actions unless there is some hidden financial interests) and seriously jeopardizing our children/students ability to be competitive.

Years ago, before anyone who is currently teaching started their careers, the commonwealth was absolutely desperate for high quality teachers and state workers...to encourage a more intellectual college students to pursue the education necessary for the degrees and qualifications, the commonwealth came up with a compromise (since raising teacher salaries to a competitive professional level was not possible) they instituted an "inviolable (unbreakable) contract" that provided specific benefits including a "defined benefit" pension (that at the time, did not cost the state any money for 27 years)...

Teachers and state workers agreed to work for their salary and the "inviolable contract"...they were promised specific benefits...the teachers have carried out their end of the bargain, now the state must follow through... Any government willing to make and break this type of agreement forfeits the right to be believed on any further contracts with anyone including major industries the government is trying to bring in...

Additionally, the behavior of the Republicans in the General Assembly was disgusting...the "bait and switch" sewer bill is a tactic I would expect from Nancy Pelosi and democrats, not from Republicans who are suppose to behave more appropriately (and I voted against everyone of them that voted for the Sewer Bill-HB159, though some of the votes were hard to cast)...

All of this has had a chilling effect on the education profession...college students who were majoring in education are changing majors because of the uncertainty of benefits and a non-competitive salary...high school students are witnessing very negative interactions (unfortunately also from some teachers as well as the General Assembly representatives and the Governor) and are showing less interest in education as a potential field, and current teachers are counting down the days to retirement or seriously looking at leaving the field all together...there is a real danger that our children and grandchildren may have a significantly lower standard of education than we were privileged to have...

All of that said, I also cannot support Andy Beshear for Governor for a variety of reasons that essentially comes down to my belief that his main function is covering up and/or whitewashing wrong doing in his father's administration and openly politicizing the office of Attorney General...

So that brings us back to Rocky Adkins--where does he stand on the issues (not only on taxes and pensions and education that you all spent 5 pages insulting each other over) especially those related to the 2nd Amendment, Concealed Carry, Wildlife Conservation, Hunting and Fishing, etc...

Any information would be appreciated...

Not disagreeing with you on Bevin necessarily. But I can see both sides.

I guess my question is, as it is to all my educator friends, why weren’t you complaining years ago, long before Bevin? The State legislature has been underfunding your “inviolable contract” for two decades, sometimes as much as 85%, and yet in 16 years of living in KY, I’ve never heard any of my friends say a word until this year. Why weren’t all the teachers up in arms in Frankfort then?

IMO, if they were required, by law to fund the pension fully, al those that voted against doing so, and every governor who signed the funding bill should be in jail.

Also my opinion, if you want Bevin and Frankfort to really listen to you, next time take rifles, not signs.

 

[Regulator623]

Not disagreeing with you on Bevin necessarily. But I can see both sides.

I guess my question is, as it is to all my educator friends, why weren’t you complaining years ago, long before Bevin? The State legislature has been underfunding your “inviolable contract” for two decades, sometimes as much as 85%, and yet in 16 years of living in KY, I’ve never heard any of my friends say a word until this year. Why weren’t all the teachers up in arms in Frankfort then?

IMO, if they were required, by law to fund the pension fully, al those that voted against doing so, and every governor who signed the funding bill should be in jail.

Also my opinion, if you want Bevin and Frankfort to really listen to you, next time take rifles, not signs.

Given that my Dad is a retired school teacher who started in the local system back in the 70's before retiring as an administrator, I got to see the other side of the public education system. The democrat party controls the education system for a reason, endless amounts of money, lots of jobs to use as political pawns...and power in numbers to sway elections. The teachers have been brainwashed to toe the party line, some wanting their own piece of the pie....and some out of fear for their jobs.

 

[Duster]

I don't know if taking firearms to the statehouse during a protest against Bevin would be a good idea. Being he is a Yankee transplant he may think someone in the crowd will take a pot shot at him and get people arrested.

 

[Iceman35]

Given that my Dad is a retired school teacher who started in the local system back in the 70's before retiring as an administrator, I got to see the other side of the public education system. The democrat party controls the education system for a reason, endless amounts of money, lots of jobs to use as political pawns...and power in numbers to sway elections. The teachers have been brainwashed to toe the party line, some wanting their own piece of the pie....and some out of fear for their jobs.

Understand. That doesn't answer my question. There's no official teachers Union outside of Jefferson county to use as pawns, and I refuse to believe that all the teachers are that stupid. The one's I know aren't, though only 1 out of the 4 is a Kentucky native. IMO, while the way Bevin is going about it is wrong, but the cause is partially to blame on the decades of teachers themselves who knew this was coming, and didn't do anything about it.

 

[Iceman35]

I don't know if taking firearms to the statehouse during a protest against Bevin would be a good idea. Being he is a Yankee transplant he may think someone in the crowd will take a pot shot at him and get people arrested.

I'm a Yankee transplant.

What other solution is there? If we get a Democratic governor in a few years do you honestly think anything will change? How did thousands of teachers calling in sick and taking paper signs to Frankfort change anything?

 

[Feedman]

I have heard lots of the same comments from teachers down here an Iceman is correct, Why didn't they do something before now. You ask them that question an they will just look at you an say we were promised a retirement an Bevin is taking it away.
Hell, Bevin is trying to fix it an is the only Govenor to fully fund it the last two years.
The democrats kept kicking the can down the road an telling them everything was going to be ok. Well it's not ok an trying to fix it has started a shit storm

 

[Wildcat]

So what's the answer??? Go back to do NOTHING at all or change it to where it was suppose to be in the first place???

Look at Social Security and Medicare. We all full well KNOW what's coming and coming soon unless we do something now. But by doing something now it's going to hurt people but by doing nothing now it's going to hurt EVERYBODY later.

For 20+ years we've talked about the KY teachers and their retirement and the public schools, in all that time NOBODY did anything to ever try to fix it and make it right. All they did was throw some money at it and make promises to fix it and make it right which they never did. All they did was "kick the can down the road".

Now someone tries to fix something, hurting some in the progress and he's the evil one come to Earth.

Do not blame the one trying to fix it with his hands tied behind him but blame the ones that did NOTHING for years and years.

 

[ribsplitter]

I would like nothing more than to cut most of that state fat and throw it in the trash. Let people babysit there own spawn . I get so tired of paying for other people's shit.

 

[Duster]

Look at Social Security and Medicare. We all full well KNOW what's coming and coming soon unless we do something now. But by doing something now it's going to hurt people but by doing nothing now it's going to hurt EVERYBODY later.

Get the government to pay back what they stole and they would be fully funded for many many years.

 

[Wildcat]

Get the government to pay back what they stole and they would be fully funded for many many years.

Nope. Do the math. There is NO money at all in the SS system. Just a bunch of IOU's. Congress over the years BORROWED the money to pay for certain public programs, guess which ones. they ARE listed in the budgets. Because of the IOU's they pay the money from the general fund. Ever if they paid back every single penny of the SS IOU's there will not be enough to cover it for but a few years.

Medicare is the same thing except very few borrowed from it. Obama TOOK over $700 million from Medicare to help start Obamacare with the promise he would pay it back in 2 years. In the 6 years he was in office since he took that money he NEVER paid one dime back. Now the older people are stuck with the bills for Obamacare. The only way out is to raise our rates.

 

[grouseguy]

Ladies and Gentleman ...

The original topic was about Rocky Adkins...can we get back to that...there are some things that I would like to know regarding his candidacy and your input is valuable to me...

For the record...

I am a TEACHER (nearing retirement) and while a conservative republican that leans more libertarian, there is absolutely NO WAY in **** that I can or will vote for Matt Bevin in the next election. His actions towards public education has already set public schools backwards (lowering standards for both teachers and students alike--to make charter schools more competitive ???--I cannot figure out the logic in his actions unless there is some hidden financial interests) and seriously jeopardizing our children/students ability to be competitive.

Years ago, before anyone who is currently teaching started their careers, the commonwealth was absolutely desperate for high quality teachers and state workers...to encourage a more intellectual college students to pursue the education necessary for the degrees and qualifications, the commonwealth came up with a compromise (since raising teacher salaries to a competitive professional level was not possible) they instituted an "inviolable (unbreakable) contract" that provided specific benefits including a "defined benefit" pension (that at the time, did not cost the state any money for 27 years)...

Teachers and state workers agreed to work for their salary and the "inviolable contract"...they were promised specific benefits...the teachers have carried out their end of the bargain, now the state must follow through... Any government willing to make and break this type of agreement forfeits the right to be believed on any further contracts with anyone including major industries the government is trying to bring in...

Additionally, the behavior of the Republicans in the General Assembly was disgusting...the "bait and switch" sewer bill is a tactic I would expect from Nancy Pelosi and democrats, not from Republicans who are suppose to behave more appropriately (and I voted against everyone of them that voted for the Sewer Bill-HB159, though some of the votes were hard to cast)...

All of this has had a chilling effect on the education profession...college students who were majoring in education are changing majors because of the uncertainty of benefits and a non-competitive salary...high school students are witnessing very negative interactions (unfortunately also from some teachers as well as the General Assembly representatives and the Governor) and are showing less interest in education as a potential field, and current teachers are counting down the days to retirement or seriously looking at leaving the field all together...there is a real danger that our children and grandchildren may have a significantly lower standard of education than we were privileged to have...

All of that said, I also cannot support Andy Beshear for Governor for a variety of reasons that essentially comes down to my belief that his main function is covering up and/or whitewashing wrong doing in his father's administration and openly politicizing the office of Attorney General...

So that brings us back to Rocky Adkins--where does he stand on the issues (not only on taxes and pensions and education that you all spent 5 pages insulting each other over) especially those related to the 2nd Amendment, Concealed Carry, Wildlife Conservation, Hunting and Fishing, etc...

Any information would be appreciated...

Rocky is a solid supporter of public education. His father is a retired administrator and his daughter is a Finance Director. Rocky also taught a year himself after college.

One of his priorities is to fully fund the ARC every year, which will correct the underfunding issue by itself over time.

 

[Feedman]

Rocky is a solid supporter of public education. His father is a retired administrator and his daughter is a Finance Director. Rocky also taught a year himself after college.

One of his priorities is to fully fund the ARC every year, which will correct the underfunding issue by itself over time.

Do you think he has a chance of getting the democratic nomination?