Yes, Olivia Krauth is alive.
Yes, Olivia Krauth is alive.
Contrary to recent belief.
Hey, y’all!
Yes, incredibly, I am alive. I did NOT drown while on the first annual editors’ retreat for The Gallery Pass (which took place at a location with both a lake and a pool; primary editor cannot swim + has lifelong fear of going underwater).
Nor did I succumb to my mysterious illness that caused me to projectile vomit for several hours this week (a fact I repeatedly publicly disclosed to thousands of people and am doing so again now because no one hates me more than me). (#HotGirl.)
And I also survived a brief brush with what appeared to be a battle-scarred raccoon army-crawling in my backyard in broad daylight. (Key survival skill: Not going outside.)
Because of all of this, it has been a hot sec since we last spoke, so we have a lot to cover. Gonna move as fast as I can because apparently the last newsletter was one of the longest I’ve ever published so we don’t want that again.
A few programming notes before we fully begin:
We are closer to the start of the 2025 legislative session than we are to the end of the 2024 session. This means I will slowly start ramping things up again.
OGs know The Gallery Pass runs twice a week during the session, but we don’t do that during the summer because hot girls have things to do. (We’re all hot girls here.)
But between gearing up for session and prepping for the election, we need to maybe pick up the pace a lil bit. This means maybe more newsletters, and maybe more newsletters about specific topics.
You can drop any suggestions you have in this form if you’d like. (Yes, you can fill it out again if you already filled it out earlier this year.)
Outside of one person, I think I have finally sent out all of the friendship bracelets that paid subscribers who gave me their address requested.
If you requested bracelets and didn’t get them, respond directly to this email with your name and address.
If you’re a paid sub who didn’t request bracelets but would like some, please also respond directly to this email!
Speaking of friendship bracelets, if anyone happens to have kids who really like gummy bears and/or dinosaurs and/or bracelet making in general, let me know! I have several extra charms and beads that need a good home.
OK, let us begin.
The Dems are straight up not having a good time rn
Who to start with, who to start with.
Can Kulkarni be on the ballot or nah?
Rep. Nima Kulkarni, a Louisville Dem, has been in the most wackadoodle of legal situations to figure out whether or not she’s allowed to be on the ballot this November and get another term.
I simply do not have the time to explain the legalese, but the most recent development is that basically the Secretary of State cleared her to be on the ballot this November, but then her primary challenger finally decided to jump into the legal ring to challenge all of that.
I think my favorite part of all of this is that her primary challenger lowkey like just did not run a campaign and (if memory serves) ignored media requests and also this entire legal debacle until the past week. Welcome to the chat, William.
More folks call for Grossberg to resign
And then we have Rep. Daniel Grossberg, who has been accused by multiple women in Kentucky policy + politics of being straight up creepy and is under multiple investigations for such accusations.
We discussed him last time, but there are some new developments.
Gov. Andy Beshear and Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman have stopped short of calling for his resignation, but Beshear at least was like perhaps some self-reflection would be a good idea rn.
Young Dem chapters in Louisville and Lexington, plus a former campaign staffer, recently joined the growing list of folks/groups calling for Grossberg to step aside.
Grossberg remains in office.
I’d like to call the chief
And then we have Rep. Beverly Chester-Burton, who got arrested for a DUI while I was retreating without service at the lake.
According to police and media reports, she allegedly drove into the opposite lane of traffic for a minute before getting in the right lane and then sitting there.
According to the same reports, she allegedly wanted to call the police chief and said on the way to jail, "These guys act like they haven't ever been to a birthday party."
Apparently, this is her second DUI charge in the last four years: She got charged in late 2020 when she was still mayor of Shively. (She was first elected to the House in Nov. 2022.)
She pleaded not guilty to the latest charge.
Oh, no, not the Dems (political overview edition)
Yes, there’s more.
The Kentucky Party (question mark?)
Some folks are breaking away in hopes of forming a new political party*: The Kentucky Party.
Folks trying to make the Kentucky Party a thing are supporting Jill Stein for president (yes, the Green Party candidate) in Kentucky, with their idea being that if at least 2% of voters go for her, they will be recognized as a political party.
*Michael Adams’ office was like mmm um you need 20% of the vote, actually, but you can be a political organization? Question mark?
LEX18 looked more into the Kentucky Party, which includes some familiar names in the Dem organizing arena, including some who were not thrilled with how Kentucky just kinda ignored its “uncommitted” delegates at the DNC.
The demographics continue to shift
After ~15,000 new voters registered last month, Kentucky’s voter demographics currently break down to 46% Republican, 43% Democrat and 11% Independent — so third-party registration has gone up since I last checked on it and the gap between the GOP and the Dems has widened.
Between a lil decline in the registration numbers and a summer of straight-up not great headlines, the already-not-in-charge-in-Frankfort-except-for-Andy Dems are not really having a good time rn. Isaiah Kim-Martinez at WHAS looked at the situation.
"Democrats have to figure out how we leverage (Beshear’s) popularity, that success that we have seen in the governor's mansion," Cassia Herron, a Louisville organizer and sister of Rep. Keturah Herron, told them.
Yee-haw, new voters!
That just reminded me: Y’all have until Oct. 7 at 4 p.m. local time to register to vote in time for November’s election. I REPEAT: OCT. 7 AT 4 P.M. YOUR TIME. You can register to vote right here.
From the education policy + politics front
I’m going to try my very best to hustle through this because I can already tell this newsletter is going to be way too long.
On the school choice amendment
County political parties can advocate for/against proposed constitutional amendments for now, a judge ruled.
Public school districts still can’t advocate for/against said amendments. Main difference here is school districts run on public funding.
The first TV ad dropped. This one comes from a group with ties to Sen. Rand Paul and pro-school choice billionaire Jeff Yass.
Titled “Helps Everybody,” the pro-Amendment 2 ad features “public school supporter” and teacher Randy Adams, who appears to be the same Randy Adams who made headlines a few years ago for going on a Facebook rant against state education guidance encouraging educator to use students’ preferred pronouns.
At the time, Adams was a principal in Anderson County and also a pastor.
I fear I don’t have the time nor the stamina to fully fact-check the rest of his claims rn.
On the JCPS task force
The should-we-maybe-consider-breaking-up-JCPS task force visited Central HS two weeks ago to listen to around 90 minutes of public comment.
Honestly, it went exactly how you would think, but perhaps better. There was minimal screaming and we got to hear from several JCPS students (yee-haw)!
While the task force specifically outlined two questions it wanted people to respond to, many people lowkey ignored that and most comments were a mix of:
Advocating against breaking up the district
Hyping up the district/Central (especially the Central students who spoke)
Acknowledging JCPS isn’t perfect and there are things to fix
Advocating against breaking up the district
Pushing state lawmakers to do more on their end before *gesturing wildly at task force* doing something like create another task force
And asking politely to maybe not break up the district.
Some of the highlights from the comments:
Co-chair Rep. Kim Banta, a NKY Republican with a history of working in public schools up there, jumping in about 30 minutes in to say, with a rather confused look on her face, that they are not “talking about splitting up the district,” which was met with laughter from the crowd, which was met with more confused shrugs from Banta (shown above).
Splitting up the district can’t be done by this task force in this short of a period of time, Banta continued. (There is no legal way to break up a school district in Kentucky law, period.)
Lyndon Pryor from the Louisville Urban League: Y’all continue to “seek to solve problems that no one has asked to be solved.” (He’s around the 34-35 minute mark.)
Former JCPS board chair Chris Brady, who was on the board during the state takeover attempt in 2018 and left the board at the end of 2020, lowkey appeared out of nowhere to lightly roast the task force: “Let’s not kid ourselves: the reason for this public comment is to try and give this task force what it desperately lacks: legitimacy.”
The task force’s next meeting is Tuesday evening at Male HS for another fun public comment period.
Quick hits
Wild to include this in the “quick hits” section, but NKU recently announced it, too, will be disbanding its DEI office.
As we discussed last time around: UK broke up its DEI office in mid-August.
As a reminder, Kentucky’s GOP-dominated legislature didn’t actually pass any of its anti-DEI legislation earlier this year after it couldn’t decide how far it wanted to take things.
They’re discussing the topic more in the interim and may likely bring it back up during the 2025 session.
Not sure if I’ve mentioned this before, but Dem Gov. Andy Beshear and GOP Auditor Allison Ball continue to be beefin’ over who gets access to some sensitive state data on abuse and neglect.
The most recent update (I think) is a judge telling them to try to work it out before any sort of legal challenge goes further.
Thanks to a few million dollars in donations from ~special interest groups,~ the Kentucky GOP is doubling the size of their Frankfort headquarters.
Absolutely devastating news: The lizard man that deserved to be on every Kentuckian’s “I Voted” sticker LOST his election. #JusticeForCash.
Things to put in your planner for the week
Lawmakers will be in Frankfort (and Louisville) for a handful of meetings sprinkled throughout the week. Here’s the shortlist of what I’ll be watching:
We have the AI Task Force, which seems to be rapidly becoming A Thing To Watch, in Frankfort at 11 a.m. on Tuesday.
And the JCPS Task Force is back in action at another community listening session. This one will be at Male High School at 5:30 p.m. also on Tuesday.
There will be several more interim legislative meetings next week, so just be prepared for that.
Counting down to…
29 days until the deadline to register to vote in Kentucky. (Oct. 7)
53 days until no-excuse, in-person early voting starts in Kentucky/Halloween. (Oct. 31)
58 days until Election Day. (Nov. 5)
121 days until Kentucky’s 2025 legislative session. (Jan. 7, 2025)
Where else to find me
Twitter: Follow The Gallery Pass for all newsletter-related updates, and my personal Twitter for that + everything else.
TikTok: Right here.
Instagram: Present. (Sorry, no lake pics yet.)
Venmo: … if you’re interested.
Subscribe: Just in case you’re seeing this and not subscribed, please do so.
OK, hopefully Substack doesn’t say this newsletter takes a whopping 15 minutes to read like it did with the last one. Talk soon, bye!