The Courier-Journal from Louisville, Kentucky • Page 3

3. (2) A6 THE COURIER-JOURNAL, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1990 ELECTION '90 WRAPUP- KENTUCKY SUPREME COURT Intelligent campaign, helped by foe's inaction, gets credit in Johns victory DISTRICTS DISTRICTS SHOWN IN WHITE HAD CONTESTED races: Circuit, appeals judges elected to state's high court ill I 5 1 i ---iiii iiTiiiitirMirt t'iiniirJ By ANDREW WOLFSON Staff Writer With 26 years of service repre-. senting his heavily Republican-voting eastern Jefferson County turf, the 36th District seemed a lock for GOP state Sen. Eugene Stuart. His opponent, an obscure former teacher, volleyball coach and mid-level state bureaucrat, started with utterly no name recognition among voters and ended up garnering neither big money nor support from some crucial Democratic Party heavyweights.

But by mounting a computer-targeted campaign designed in part to woo women voters, Susan D. Johns captured a victory over the Republican from Prospect "I think Gene Stuart took me for granted," said Johns, who manages purchasing and printing services for the Presbyterian Church (U.SA). "He didnl take me seriously." Republican strategists conceded that Stuart underestimated his 36-year-old opponent, who won 52 percent of the vote. "She started early and Gene did not counter," county Republican i chairman Jon Ackerson said. "By the time he reacted, it was too late." After facing no opposition for 11 years, Stuart suffered from ceived burnout," said 3rd District GOP chairman Bob Adelberg.

"He hadn't been on the stump for a long time, and she was a fresh face." And by stressing his seniority and experience, campaign chairman Ted Jackson said, Stuart may have succeeded only in riling voters already primed to throw incumbents out. But GOP officials and Democrats also credit Johns with running an intelligent and vigorous campaign. Ackerson said she smartly downplayed her party affiliation in a district in which voters traditionally opt for the GOP. "She didn't wave the party flag," he said. Abelberg said Johns pulled off a "master stroke" by reminding residents that Stuart had voted for the $1.3 billion tax increase but not alienating supporters of the school reform package, including The Courier-Journal's editorial board, which endorsed her.

Both Johns and Stuart say the endorsement was a critical factor. Adelberg said Johns also deftly attracted women voters by reminding them her candidacy offered the only chance to keep a woman in the $26,000 Johns ran no radio or billboard advertising. Instead, the campaign distributed 1,500 yard signs and more than 3,000 cards and letters, she said. Although Attorney General Fred Cowan and Lt. Gov.

Brereton Jones campaigned for her, Johns said Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson declined, citing Stuart's support for the proposed Standiford Field expansion and a hospital deregulation bill favored by Humana Inc. Johns also couldn't count on riding the coattails of Democrat Harvey Sloane against incumbent U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell. Liedermann said Johns ran 15 percent ahead of Sloane in the district.

Johns comes by politics naturally. Her father, James R. "Buddy" Johns, a retired funeral home operator, ran unsuccessfully for sheriff against Joe Green in 1977; he was also city Alcoholic Beverage Control commissioner in Mayor William Stansbury's administration. Johns grew up in Jefferson County and Clearwater, where her family lived nine months a year and where she attended public schools. She graduated from Georgetown College, where she earned a master's degree in education.

After teaching at Atkinson Elementary School in Louisville's Portland section and later coaching the University of Louisville women's volleyball team, Johns joined the state Education Department, where she was director of internal services from 1983 to 1986.The next year she was hired by the Presbyterian Church, for which she plans to continue working. As a college student and young adult, she stuffed envelopes and performed other campaign chores for a series of Democrats, including Julian Carroll, Walter "Dee" Hud-dleston and Martha Layne Collins, who she cites as a mentor. Johns lives in a $160,000 house on Runnymede Road in Glenview Hills, which she takes care to differentiate from the more prosperous city of Glenview. She contributed $2,000 to her own campaign and collected smaller amounts from political action committees of labor unions and the National Organization for Women. She also received $500 from author and feminist Sallie Bingham.

STAFF PHOTO BY LARRY SPITZER Susan Johns, who unseated Eugene Stuart in the 36th Senatorial District, conferred yesterday with graphic designer Laura Applegate at Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) headquarters. Senate, after the defeat or retirement of three other women senators during the past two years. Johns said yesterday that even Democratic leaders initially gave her little chance of upsetting Stuart. "We were told there was no way in hell we would win," said her campaign manager, Frank Leider-mann, a veteran of several judicial election campaigns. "We said, 'Just watch Avoiding GOP strongholds like Anchorage and Prospect, Johns and her backers focused on St.

Matthews and Jeffersontown, which had more "switch voters," according to an analysis of past elections. Launching neighborhood walks in March, Johns concentrated on new subdivisions in which residents had no loyalty to Stuart, if they knew him at all. And through targeted direct mail, Johns tried to capitalize And in Warren County, opposition leader Billy Mansfield said he believed voters rejected the Bowling Green plan because it didn't include provisions to let residents vote on any new taxes proposed by the government. "The people are fed up. If they're going to be taxed, they want to be asked about it," Mansfield said.

"There was too much power in the hands of a few." Both votes capped highly emotional debates on documents that Daviess, Warren reject city-county mergers By KIRSTEN HAUKEBO and CARY B. WILLIS Staff Writers One trial court judge won and another lost in the races for the 1st and 2nd Supreme Court district seats Tuesday. In complete but unofficial returns, Hopkins Circuit Judge Thomas Spain had 53 percent of the vote in Western Kentucky's 1st District, defeating Court of Appeals Chief Judge J. William Howerton of Padu-cah. In the neighboring 2nd District, with 98 percent reporting, Hardin Circuit Judge William Cooper had 48 percent of the vote to Appeals Court Judge Charles Reynolds' 52 percent.

In the 4th Judicial District, which includes only Jefferson County, Justice Charles Leibson won easily. The outcomes are not expected to cause dramatic shifts on the high court. Supreme Court districts roughly coincide with congressional districts the 1st District is made up of 23 counties in Western Kentucky and the 2nd District is made up of 14 counties in Northwestern Kentucky. Justices serve eight-year terms. State Supreme Court justices earn $73,807 a year.

Justice Donald Wintersheimer of Covington was unopposed for reelection in the 6th District. 1st District Howerton and Spain vied for the seat of retiring Justice Roy Vance of Paducah. Howerton is a conservative who has portrayed himself as fair to business; Spain is a respected trial judge who has won support from plaintiffs lawyers. The high court is considered to have shifted recently toward favoring plaintiffs in suits against businesses. Howerton, 59, has been on the appeals court for 14 years and has been chief judge for four.

Before that he was a laywer in Paducah, as well as the city's administrator, and has the backing of many Paducah business leaders. But he is no favorite of labor due to his philosophy of considering the economic impact of decisions as well as individuals' rights. Spain, however, was endorsed by the statewide AFL-CIO political action committee. He also had the backing of the Kentucky Academy of Trial Lawyers, which gave him the Henry J. Pennington Outstanding Trial Judge Award in 1983.

In his campaign, he emphasized that he understands people's problems from his day-to-day experience in the trial courts. Spain, of Madisonville, was the better funded of the two candidates. He said yesterday he was "delighted" with the results and said it was a "long hard race" in the large district. Spain said he campaigned on weekends and evenings while working full-time. With all 440 precincts reporting, the unofficial totals were: Spain 45,397 Howerton 39,479 2nd District Reynolds will fill the seat of retiring Justice William Gant of Owensboro.

Cooper said Tuesday he was philosophical about his loss: "I'm not the kind of person who gets a fire in his belly about politics." And he said he was gratified that the vote was so close, adding that the voters "obviously liked us about equally well." Reynolds could not immediately be reached. Unlike the candidates in the 1st District race, Reynolds and Cooper relied largely on their own funds to campaign. Cooper, of Elizabeth-town, had some well-known supporters among them Jack Ballan-tine, one of the originators of the Kentucky Defense Council, and Thomas Spain Defeated Howerton in 1st Charles Reynolds Won over Cooper in 2nd Charles Leibson Wins race for judge in 4th Sheryl Snyder, former president of the Kentucky Bar Association. But he declined to take contributions because he said that could cause voters to believe he could be influenced by givers. Instead, he put down $100,000 of his own.

More than half of Reynolds' roughly $67,000 total funds came from his own pocket. Reynolds has earned a reputation for hard work. After he was hospitalized last month with chest pains, he said he would cut his workday from 16 hours to 12. He rarely stepped beyond traditional lines in his opinions during his 14 years on the Appeals Court. In the race, the 66-year-old Bowling Green-based judge stressed his administrative efficiency and large family.

Cooper, 49, is highly regarded in the legal community as a trial judge and scholar. He has been chosen to serve as a special judge in high-profile cases and has written jury instructions that are used across the state. And he's well-liked by lawyers who have practiced in his court. With 391 of 401 precincts reporting, the unofficial totals were: Reynolds 45,000 Cooper 41,180 4th District Leibson earned 72 percent of the vote to defeat Louisville lawyer and former Alderman Henry Triplett. Triplett ran a low-key race and said he wouldn't care if he lost.

Leibson, 61, was voted the state's outstanding judge by the Kentucky Bar Association this year. He has earned a reputation as an independent thinker who has frequently found himself in the minority among the seven-member high court in deciding emotional issues. In an Oct. 17 Courier-Journal profile of the candidates, Triplett said he was running mainly because he didn't like to see uncontested races. Leibson raised more than $115,000 to iinauce his campaign.

Triplett, on the other hand, promised state election-finance officials he would raise less than $3,000. i Tuesday, Triplett, 62, laughed when he said he "didn't quite make $2,000" in campaign funds. And he said he didn't do any llth-hour campaigning. "I got up, voted, worked all day, then came home," he said. With all 444 precincts reporting, unofficial totals reported by the Jefferson County clerk's office: Leibson 118,647 Triplett 45,532 8 JS 1 u- on survey results that showed voters found Stuart out of touch with his constituents.

In one letter, mailed only to registered GOP women voters, Republican Marge Tessier, the incoming chair of the Metropolitan Louisville Women's Political Caucus, noted she was supporting Johns despite her party affiliation because of Johns' positions on women's issues, including her pro-abortion stance. In another letter sent last week to Democratic and likely swing Republican voters, Johns sought to exploit Stuart's thin legislative record during the past four years. "Is it right that while eastern Jefferson County suffers from land development and traffic congestion problems, the incumbent's only bill concerned cemetery development?" she asked. Outgunned by Stuart in fund-raising he spent about 40,000 to her people to hear state House Speaker Don Blandford, D-Philpot, a Daviess farmer, equate acceptance of the pro-merger claim of lower taxes with "believing in the Easter Bunny." Altogether, merger advocates estimated that the opponents had out-spent them by a margin of 2 or 3 to 1. But Tuesday night Deane, the Daviess opposition leader, estimated his group collected about $40,000, in the same ballpark as the advocates' pot of roughly $45,000.

Both sides ran a myriad of newspaper, television and radio ads; Deane's group also sold T-shirts and bought billboard space. Meanwhile, in Warren County, the contest much quieter and cheaper. Evans, the merger supporter, said his group hoped to collect between $15,000 and $20,000, while Mansfield said his group would raise only $5,000 to $6,000. The Warren County merger advocates' lacked a chairman: The original chairman, Bill Jackson, resigned after getting threatening telephone calls. No one stepped in to replace him.

There were similarities between the two merger proposals. Both called for a large urban county council 17 members for Warren, nine for Daviess consisting of a mix of district and countywide if i I 7 nil i urn t. "It went down in flames. For other communities considering this, I would say spend your energies elsewhere." Owensboro Mayor David Adkisson, who supported the merger proposal By CYNTHIA CROSSLEY and PAM RUHNQUIST Staff Writers Voters in Daviess and Warren counties rejected proposals Tuesday to merge city and county govern- ments. Even in Owensboro, where a merger appeared to have the best shot in the state in years, voters decided 18,995 to 7,514 more than 2 Vi to 1 to stay with what they already had, County Clerk Mike Libs said.

The turnout was about 68 percent of those registered to vote, he said. "It went down in flames," said Mayor David Adkisson, a co-chairman of the pro-merger campaign. "For other communities considering this, I would say spend your energies elsewhere." In Bowling Green, voters said "no" to merger 15,442 to 4,814, more than 3 to 1, according to the Warren County clerk's office. The voter turnout was about 59 percent. "We got beat very handily.

I'm very disappointed," said Craig Evans, a pro-merger spokesman. "It's very difficult to get people to accept change. But I think we've planted a seed." Owensboro's merger plan appeared to have everything in order the support of the community's political leaders and many of its civic and business leaders, plus the backing of the local newspaper. But Adkisson said Owensboro may have been doing too well lacking perhaps a necessary crisis to convince voters the form of government needed to change. The merger opposition leader in Daviess County, Si Deane, said voters rejected the Daviess plan because it would have been "too expensive and concentrated the power in the hands of a few.

There would have been no cost savings, no jobs eliminated, no efficiencies whatsoever." HOME seats. Both councils also included a top official a mayor in Bowling Green and a county judge-executive in Owensboro elected countywide. But while all the Warren County council seats would have been filled by non-partisan elections, Daviess County would have had four partisan races, for the three at-large council seats and for the judge-executive seat. The proposals also called for general-, partial- and full-service districts, to denote the level of services supplied. For both, the designations followed current county, small-city and large-city boundaries, respectively.

In a special election, Manchester attorney R. Cletus Maricle defeated his former law partner, Oscar Gayle House, 8,020 to 6,866, for circuit judge in the 41st Judicial District. The election was held to fill the remainder of the term of Clay M. Bishop, who retired in August. The term runs through the end of 1991.

Maricle, who has been active in Democratic politics, lost to House in Leslie and Jackson counties but won by a large enough margin in his home county of Clay to ensure his victory. In other special local elections and referendums in Eastern Kentucky Tuesday: PIKE COUNTY Pike County residents in seven areas, representing about 10,000 acres, voted not to be annexed by Pikeville. The combined vote totals in the seven areas were 710 to 135. The annexation would have affected approximately 3,500 people. WHITLEY COUNTY Republican Ronnie Moses defeated Democrat Jenny Hart Watkins 3,817 to 3,223 for property valuation administrator.

The election was held to fill the term of Thomas "Duster" Harris, who resigned in May. cDtfl 1 took roughly three years to write. Some civic leaders in both communities had kicked around the merger idea for about seven years before that. Campaigns in both counties were highly visible and sometimes entertaining. Daviess County drivers traveling on Ky.

54 through Whites-ville passed by a sign that compared Adkisson to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and a merger to an invasion. Also in Daviess County, somebody set fire on Halloween night to some of the pro-merger yard signs in an affluent Owensboro subdivision. Prior to that signs were stolen, residents said. A week and a half before election day, Daviess County's anti-merger forces packed the Owensboro Sportscenter with more than 1,200 DELIVERY 800 866 221 1 (Eonricr-Slotttmtl if.