Letter to the Editor: The Absentee Landlord

(Letter to the Editor by David O. Smith)

Mitch McConnell has been Kentucky’s U.S. Senator since 1984, 36 years.

Clearly, he is the most politically powerful senator in the last 100 years.  He is so powerful he had Trump acquitted, he stalled bi-partisan legislation for years, and he has spearheaded the appointment of two Supreme Court Justices under Trump and blocked the nomination of a Supreme Court Justice under Obama.  Impressive, you say.

Yet, Kentucky and each of us are rated 1^st nationwide in child abuse, 38^th  in education,  44th in health care,  39th in economy, 3rd in highest poverty rate,  45^th  for number of high school graduates, 47^th  for number of college graduates, and 36^th  for graduate or professional degrees.  Kentucky ranks 8^th in the nation for states with the biggest drug problem and 50^th (last) in the nation for health and rehabilitation.

He does a lot for his party in Washington and the nation, but what has he done for Kentucky and you?  You’re not going to get the time of day from McConnell unless you are ultra wealthy.

What has he done for Eastern and Southeastern Kentucky after the  collapse of the coal industry?  Nothing is the answer.

The Abandoned Mine Lands Fund, which coal companies paid into, has approximately $2.4 billion unspent.  Wyoming has used their share for schools and highways.  McConnell could have appropriated multimillions of this fund for water and sewer systems, water treatment plants, roads, reclamation of un-reclaimed or pre-law coal mines and stream restoration.  This would have put skilled labor and heavy equipment operators back to work all over our former coal counties.  He hasn’t done it.

Mitch McConnell has to be replaced with someone who cares about Kentuckians and wants to help our schools, healthcare, roads, water quality, and our quality of life.

Mitch McConnell is not Senator John Sherman Cooper.  He is not Senator Henry Clay.  He is not President Abraham Lincoln.  He has destroyed the Republican Party of Lincoln.