Grayson visits Corbin during fundraising swing through state

As part of a statewide exploratory fundraising effort for a U.S. Senate campaign, Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson shook hands and talked politics during a special event in downtown Corbin Monday – the first of eight he will attend in the next month stretching from Lexington to Paducah.

Sponsored by Forcht Group of Kentucky Founder Terry Forcht, his wife Marion and other company employees, the fundraising reception featured a brief speech by Grayson who promised to take his lean approach to government to Washington if elected. Since elected as Secretary of State in 2003, he has pared the budget demands of the office by 10 percent while providing more services, particularly on the Internet, to Kentuckians.

"Having gone from this, it makes me wonder … why can’t government agencies do more with less?" he said. "I’ve seen it happen in Kentucky. I’ve seen it in our office. I want to take that approach to Washington."

Grayson, 37, a native of Edgewood who now lives in Richwood, is a graduate of Dixie Heights High School and the University of Kentucky College of Law. He said his time in the Governor’s Scholars program in high school shaped his view on leadership and civic responsibility.

"A group of us from the Governor’s Scholars program pledged that we wanted to do something about our state. We have problems, economic growth problems and health problems," Grayson said. "We wanted to come back as leaders and make a difference."

After turning down a job on Wall Street, Grayson became the youngest person ever nationwide to serve as a Secretary of State. He has served in the position for six years. He was recently elected to serve as President of the National Association of Secretaries of State, a term he will begin in a few weeks.

Grayson spoke to the crowd briefly about a few important issues – energy, health care and government spending. He said he opposes a proposed nationwide energy tax on the basis that it would strip Kentucky of one of its competitive advantages against other states in luring jobs – cheap utility costs.

Also, he said he opposed any government effort to mandate health care coverage to people, but is in favor of some type of reform to control premiums and out-of-pocket costs.

"There’s a lot at stake in this election," Grayson said of the 2010 Senate race.  "I’ve been really overwhelmed by the outpouring of support of this exploratory effort. I look forward to making this official at some point."

Forcht dubbed Grayson one of the "rising stars" of the Republican Party both nationally and in Kentucky. Forcht added, while introducing him to the crowd, that Grayson has "fresh ideas" and "will continue to look after Kentucky’s conservative values."
"In these tough economic times, Trey Grayson has proven he can appeal to all voters regardless of party and that is a unique characteristic that will allow him to succeed regardless of what he runs for," Forcht said.

Currently incumbent Senator Jim Bunning, and fellow Republican, is officially in the running to reclaim his seat for a six-year term, but the future of his campaign is in doubt. Plagued by fundraising concerns and a possible lack of support from key members of his own party, Bunning plans to decide whether he will continue his campaign in July. Grayson said he would not run against his friend and political idol if Bunning stays in the race.

"I don’t have any plans to run against Jim. He actually encouraged me to pursue this in case he changed his mind about running," Grayson said. "I would not be doing this if he hadn’t done so. I think this will all work out."

Grayson has similar fundraising stops planned for Madisonville, Hopkinsville, Paducah, London, Somerset, Louisville, Lexington and northern Kentucky in the next month. He said that any money donated to his campaign would be returned to donors if he decides not to run for Senate.