Share This Link

Kentucky Taxpayers Saved Millions When Primary Runoff Averted
from The Kentucky Gazette

Kentucky county clerks and other elected officials breathed a sign of relief when the final votes where tallied in May’s primary election: No runoff primary election was necessary.

So was the determination of Secretary of State Trey Grayson when the winning slate of candidates for governor and lieutenant governor in the Democratic and Republican Party primary elections received at least 40 percent of the votes cast. (Kentucky Revised Statute 117.275).

Democratic candidate Steve Beshear and running mate Daniel Mongiardo got 41 percent (142,838) of the votes cast by their party May 22. Republican candidate Ernie Fletcher and running mate Robbie Rudolph captured 50.1 percent (101,328) of the votes, according to the tallies certified by the Secretary of State’s Office.

Not only did the primary’s outcome ease the nail-biting of nervous county clerks and election officials, but it saved the counties millions of dollars.

If Grayson had determined that a runoff primary was necessary June 26, there would have been voting machines to program, absentee ballots to print and distribute, copies of the ballot to publish – again!

It would have been the counties that would have been responsible for most of the cost.

“We would estimate that $5-7 million was saved,” Les Fugate, deputy assistant secretary of state, said. “Counties would have been responsible for most of that, with the state picking up a little over $1.25 million.”

Voter turnout was moderate, with 348,238 of the 1,591,091 registered Democrats (21.9 percent) casting their ballots in the May primary. Republican turnout was slightly less, with 202,339 of the 1,033,860 registered (19.8 percent) making it to the polls.


Sullivan University Breaks Ground on New Pharmacy School

It was a wonderful example of entrepreneurial spirit last month in Louisville when a private college began work on a new College of Pharmacy. Sullivan University held groundbreaking ceremonies at a Gardiner Lane site for its pharmacist training facility, which plans to open next year and start producing graduates annually three years later.

It will be 32,000-square-foot building with a working pharmacy, a compounding laboratory and four research labs. News reports indicate many states have pharmacist shortages and Kentucky’s is one of the worst. As the pharmaceutical industry creates more and more new medications to cater to the aging baby boom generation, the number of drug outlets has rocketed, and many of those stores are open 24 hours a day. Each needs pharmacists, a job that tends to pay in the neighborhood of $90,000 annually.

A.R. Sullivan, founder of Sullivan University, stepped into the breach and invested.

“We like to think that we are life-changers,” Sullivan told more than 300 at the groundbreaking July 25. “We continue to just quietly plug along and do good things for good people.”

The first class is expected to have around 65 members, but that should grow and Sullivan eventually ought to be filling the gap with nearly 100 pharmacists a year.

The University of Kentucky is building a new, bigger College of Pharmacy, too, which will be 280,000 square feet when completed in three years. UK has increase its annual class size from 104 to 132 and could grow to 200 a year after its new facility is complete.


Manufacturing Game Plan Calls for a Different Type of Winning
by Jim LeMaster

There's a picture in my new KAM office of Adolph Rupp joking around with the "Rupp's Runts" UK basketball team.  Coach Rupp was laughing, as were all of the players, including myself. One of my KAM coworkers walked in, looked at that photo, and asked me, “Was Coach Rupp like that? Did he joke around a lot?” 

I chuckled and said, “No, not very much. … He was a pretty serious guy when it came to basketball. It was all about winning. Nothing else much mattered.”

Thinking back through the years, that “winning” attitude instilled in me by “The Baron” has served me quite well. As a member of Rupp’s Runts, we went 27-2 and almost won the national championship despite not having a starter taller than 6-foot-5.

Whether arguing a law case, winning elections, leading one of Kentucky’s largest corporations or serving on various boards and leadership teams, I love to win and make things happen. I’m especially proud to have been part of Gov. Martha Layne Collins’ and the General Assembly’s winning effort to bring Toyota to the Commonwealth. It taught me a lot about manufacturing and its value to Kentucky’s long-term prosperity.

So as I begin my tenure as president and CEO of KAM, I do so with one thought in mind: Winning.  But this time around, it’s a different type of winning.

Manufacturing is a high-stakes “game” in which winning means much more than trophies and championship banners. People’s lives are at stake. Kentucky families depend on our good-paying jobs and benefits.

If Kentucky manufacturers leave our state, or if new ones don’t locate here, the economic impact will be severe. Churches won’t be built; charities won’t be funded; houses and commercial buildings won’t be constructed; fewer cars, pizzas, appliances and houseboats will be sold; and our state tax revenue will decline, impacting basic government services for all Kentuckians.

That’s why I’m committed to reaching out and working closely with anyone and everyone who’s willing to roll up their sleeves and attack the issues that are preventing Kentucky manufacturers from competing better in the global economy. We’re reaching out and forming alliances with chambers of commerce, economic development officers, political and education leaders and other groups who want to change Kentucky for the better.

Our vision, “By 2012, Kentucky will be one of the world’s most desired locations for manufacturing,” is rock-solid. To achieve the vision, we must act quickly and boldly to improve education and workforce development and do all we can to lower costs for Kentucky manufacturers.

Although we are Kentucky’s largest and most powerful industry, unlike some other industries, we must compete in the global marketplace. Our competitors are not around the block or even in the same city or state. They are in China, India, Mexico, Europe and anywhere else in the world where labor and technology are available to make things.

But as my involvement in sports, politics and business has taught me, I’m not afraid of a fight. And neither are Kentucky manufacturers. We have the smartest, most efficient, technologically advanced, creative and resourceful workers in the world. We just need to get our elected officials, policymakers and other leaders on the same page and working on the same agenda to promote and grow Kentucky manufacturing. Then the Commonwealth’s future will be secure for years to come.

It all comes down to what KAM and the industry stand for: Manufacturing. Prosperity in the Making. I urge all of you to join us in this challenging, exciting, and above all, winning mission.


UofL Takes Lead in Bringing NewNet Node to State

We all owe some thanks to the University of Louisville Office of Information Technology for its role in gaining Kentucky a connection node on the new ultra high-speed Internet network being put in place across the country.
 
NewNet is the successor to Internet2, which started in the mid-1990s when research universities formed a coalition because they felt the commercial Internet did not meet their speed and capacity needs. UofL, the University of Kentucky, other colleges and K-12 schools in the state have been connected to the 10 Gbps (billion bits per second) backbone Internet2 for years. It enables researchers to collaborate with colleagues; high-definition, real-time video conferencing; virtual field trips to other cities and countries; and use of remote equipment.

The network in use today is being replaced with a 100 Gps backbone known as NewNet, but our state wasn’t slated for one of the network’s 26 switching nodes. Fortunately, UofL officials found out last year that a NewNet cable would come within 100 yards of existing cable in downtown Louisville and took the initiative.

Knowing that regional optical networks are a key criteria for creating node sites, Tom Sawyer, acting UofL vice president of information technology, urged University of Kentucky and the state Council on Postsecondary Education officials to fast track efforts to develop a Kentucky RON. Then he lobbied Internet2.

NewNet will help UofL and UK compete in research and recruit faculty, and Kentucky and its people to compete in the global information economy. There “probably will be a lot of economic development and other benefits we haven’t started to see,” said Mike Dyre, director of research and development for the Office of Information Technology. “It’s bringing Kentucky into the 21st century.”