Democrat Virginia Woodward is very near to having her state senate seat taken in backroom dealings in Frankfort. Here's the story:
Dana Seum (rhymes with Slime) Stephenson was the Republican on the ballot on November 2. However before the election a circuit court judge ruled her ineligible to take office. The Kentucky State Constitution requires a state senator to have been a resident of the state for 6 years prior to taking office. Stephenson had moved back to Kentucky and immediately filed for the election, making her ineligible to hold office. "Black Letter Law" as lawyers sometimes say. Open and shut. Three months is not the same as 6 years.
Courier Journal Article
The decision that she was ineligible came too late to have the ballots reprinted and also too late for the Republicans to field another candidate. However Stephenson, despite being ineligible to serve, still got about 1,000 more votes than Woodward. Stephenson didn't even appeal the court decision proclaiming her ineligible.
More after the jump...
So - Woodward wins, right? She got more votes than any other eligible candidate so it's an easy call, right? If you agreed with that statement then you obviously don't know how Kentucky power politics work.
In Kentucky, all state election disputes are settled by the state senate, and the state senate is controlled by Republicans. And in the state senate Dana Seum Stevenson will find her biggest supporter - her dad, Dan Seum. So daddy will be in the Republican majority who will be voting whether to seat his little girl in the state senate.
And who is Dan Seum? Dan Seum was a Democrat State Senator from Louisville that switched party allegiance a few years ago to give the senate to the Republicans. Not a popular fellow in Democrat circles here.
Woodward has filed suit to keep the senate from seating Stephenson, but right now the courts are saying they will defer to the senate. If the courts don't intervene by January 4, the senate will certify Stephenson the winner, despite not being eligible to run.
Here's daddy's email address in case any of you would like to tell you don't appreciate his attempt to walk over the KY constitution to give his little girl a seat.
dan.seum@lrc.ky.gov