Paul’s comments keep getting scarier

Viewpoints

August 23, 2010

Willie Sawyers Special to the Register The Richmond Register Mon Aug 23, 2010, 02:00 PM EDT

BEREA — If Rand Paul wants to get the federal government out of our lives and leave us on our own, why then do we need to send him to Washington to represent us?

What exactly will he be doing there if he’s elected to the U.S. Senate? Working hard not to bring federal dollars and help to an area with unique geographical and socioeconomic disadvantages?

Why should we send a senator to Washington who will not use his influence to address the pressing needs of his constituency?

These are the obvious questions that come to mind after ingesting another set of statements from Republican Paul that get scarier by the minute.

Paul recently told an Associated Press reporter the drug problem in eastern Kentucky “is not a real pressing issue.” Maybe it’s not from where you’re sitting, dear doctor, but here on the front lines it’s safe to say that 90 percent of the crime in this part of the state is drug-related.

Paul also wants to cut federal support to undercover drug operations and substance abuse programs. Coming from a doctor, that’s certainly a nice platform on which to perch.

After getting pounded by law enforcement officers and politicians in eastern Kentucky, Paul waffled on the statements, admitting drug abuse is a problem.

Butt instead of his and the federal government’s help, he wants to “empower” local police agencies and communities to come up with new and better ways to deal with it.

Yeah, we’ll get right on that, doc. All these three-and four-man sheriff’s departments in eastern Kentucky are very eager to assume more drug enforcement duties. Fiscal courts will gladly set aside thousands of dollars for undercover buys, even though they can’t afford to house the prisoners they already have in their possession.

Drug abusers who want to come clean but need a little help will be able to go — well, we will have to get back with them once we’ve become empowered.

Is Rand Paul so locked into his less-government ideology, which makes him the darling of the TEA Party activists, that he refuses to acknowledge any instance when government help and tax dollars would inherently benefit eastern Kentuckians? That’s another scary thought.

Congressman Hal Rogers understands this. When he assumed representation of eastern Kentucky from the immensely popular Democrat Carl Perkins, Rogers could have given into his Republican ideology and refused to use his influence to help his district.

But instead, Rogers saw the “pressing” needs of his constituency and has done more for eastern Kentucky than Perkins ever thought possible.

We’d still have to pay to drive on a decent road into Manchester and Hazard if it wasn’t for Rogers. Towns along the Kentucky and Cumberland rivers would be petrified every time a deluge comes without flood control project funding secured by Rogers.

The drug problem would be more than a pressing issue — it would be an outright epidemic without the UNITE program initiated by Rogers and funded mostly with federal dollars.

UNITE has the manpower, money and the jurisdictional freedom to counteract and pursue drug dealers and pill pushers all across eastern Kentucky and into neighboring states. The program also counsels and treats drug abusers.

Recycling would be just a dream in eastern Kentucky without the leadership and support of the PRIDE program, another Rogers initiative. The list of his accomplishments goes on and on.

It’s a shame we have to protect and defend these worthwhile and essential federal programs from a man who wants to be our next leader.

That Rand Paul wants to represent us in Washington is a scary thought. It’s obvious he doesn’t know us.

Willie Sawyers is the publisher of The Sentinel Echo in London, a CNHI newspaper. Contact him at wgsawyers@cnhi.com. The Richmond Register is a CNHI

newspaper.

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Paul’s comments keep getting scarier

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