Brad Cummings

Ballot access for 3rd Congressional District Libertarian candidate Edward Martin has been challenged by Brad Cummings, the chairman of the Jefferson County Republican Party.

Martin submitted the requisite number of petition signatures to place his name on the ballot, but he is also a registered Republican – a status that may threaten his candidacy as a libertarian.

The challenge will go before a judge, who will consider its legal viability. The Libertarian Party, however, aims to contest the challenge.

"We've got a Supreme Court case, I've just got to find a lawyer," said Libertarian Party chair Ken Moellman.

Gov. Steve Beshear's (D-Lexington) morning appointment of Jefferson County Attorney Irv Maze to a circuit court judgeship has already provoked ire from local Republicans, given the timing of the announcement of Maze's new post.

As a new circuit court judge, Maze leaves a vacancy in the Jefferson County Attorney's office that will now be filled by an appointee selected by Metro Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson - a Democrat. If Maze's appointment had occured two days earlier, however, Tuesday's candidate filing deadline would not have passed, and a Republican entrant could have forced a special election for judicial post.

Jefferson County Republican Party Chair Brad Cummings denounced the move as manipulated to avoid the election.

"There is no doubt this was orchestrated by the Abramson and Beshear administrations and is another example of Mayor Abramson going over the heads of the voters so that he can place his cronies into office," said Cummings in a statement today. "When given the option of either allowing the people to choose or making decisions behind close doors, Jerry always goes with his own self interest."

Arguing "it would be like robbing a bank only to return later and open a checking account," the Jefferson County Republican Party has taken aim at the forthcoming visit by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and U.S. Rep John Yarmuth (D-Louisville) to Ford's Louisville Assembly plant.

"We are truly shocked that Speaker Pelosi and Congressman Yarmuth would have the audacity to step foot into that plant after passing an SUV tax earlier this year, only adding to Ford's current problems and further threatening their workers," Jefferson County Republican Chair Brad Cummings said in a statement dispatched today. "It's the height of hypocrisy to pretend they care about these dedicated people."

Yarmuth and Pelosi are scheduled to hold a closed-door roundtable discussion at the Ford plant tomorrow afternoon.