Huntington area: Nick Clooney needs your help in Ashland Thursday night!

Kentucky Democratic Congressional candidate Nick Clooney will be conducting a town hall meeting in Ashland, KY
Thursday, July 8th @ 6:00 in the old AEP building (1701 Central Ave).
The event is free and open to the public.

I encourage anyone who is free to attend. Mr Clooney is a true progressive and is a welcome breath of fresh air when compared to retiring "democrat" Ken Lucas (who publicly contemplated switching to the GOP a few years ago)

--And yes, he is George's dad and Rosemary's brother

He's up against Geoff Davis, a republican with close ties with the religious right in ky. it's going to take all of the help he can get for clooney to keep this district safe.


---------------
Clooney Addresses the Issues

June, 24 2004



By: JUSTIN STORY, Staff Writer
Submitted: 6/24/2004

Everything that I've been through has been a prologue to this moment.'

So said Nick Clooney at a campaign stop at Caproni's Wednesday evening. Clooney, looking to fill the 4th District U.S. House of Representatives seat being vacated by retiring Rep. Ken Lucas, returned to his birthplace, sharing with his audience what he hopes to accomplish in office if elected in November.

The Democratic party nominee spoke before a packed room of supporters at the restaurant, drawing on his past life experiences growing up as a Kentuckian, from childhood in Maysville to joining the Army, living in Lexington and Fort Mitchell and finally to moving back to the area, Augusta, 30 years ago.

'In all these years, I've gone 20 miles,' Clooney said to laughter from the audience.

Since announcing his candidacy last fall, Clooney said Wednesday he has traveled the 24 counties in the 4th District, which extends from Ashland almost to Louisville and encompasses northern Kentucky, talking to citizens and applying the skills he honed as a reporter for Cincinnati news station WKRC.

'I just asked a question and shut up and listened,' he said. 'You'd be surprised what you can learn from people that way.'

Clooney shared with his audience a list of concerns that people in the district mentioned to him, and he said the one issue that people across the board spoke about was health care.

He said many citizens he talked with supported a prescription drug benefit that would help lower the price of drugs as well as re-importation of prescription drugs from Canada.

Clooney also said small businesses should be given tax credits in order to provide health insurance for their employees.

Clooney cited jobs as another issue brought up by many people in the district, specifically bringing up Maysville's Jockey International plant, which will close this September.

He urged a reassessment of NAFTA, saying the free trade agreement has been 'bleeding jobs overseas for a very long time.'

If elected to Congress, Clooney said he would work to ensure the Small Business Administration was fully funded.

Clooney said he has received 'mixed signals' from people in the district about the tobacco buy-out, but that he believes it is 'better to have it than not to have it.'

Funding for veterans and the No Child Left Behind act would increase as well if Clooney were elected, he said.

After his speech, Clooney entertained a few questions from the audience on a number of issues, including funding for the arts, minority communities and accountability.

Phil Weber expressed concern about cuts in arts funding, and Clooney said he would ensure that adequate funding remains in place for 'projects that stretch our imagination.'

On the topic of accountability, Clooney told the audience, 'You've got to ask both of us 'what are you going to do with my money,'' the only reference he made to his opponent, Republican Geoff Davis.

Clooney said if he were elected he would encourage more accountability among Representatives who oversee the spending of federal money.

The audience for Wednesday's event was quite receptive to Clooney, laughing with him as he worked humorous personal anecdotes in his speech and in answers to some questions.

With an ever-present smile on his face, the self-described 'biggest optimist in the history of the world' said he hoped to see the district take 'four steps forward' if he were to be elected.

'If I am honored to be your representative, I will take what I see here and bring it up there (to Washington) and try not to forget it along the way,' he said.

Alice Dunlap, of Maysville, shared the optimism Clooney expressed at the event.

'He's got the hot topics, with jobs, health care and veterans,' she said as people filed out with T-shirts, bumper stickers and yard signs. 'These are things that concern everybody.'