Let’s go back to early 2008 leading up to the candidate filing deadline. Congressman Ron Lewis previously filed for re-election but rumors swirled that he had changed his mind and wanted to retire. Despite many assurances that Lewis would run, 10 minutes before the filing deadline, Daniel London had his then-wife walk into the Secretary of State’s office to file Lewis’ withdrawal papers and his own candidacy papers — essentially trying to steal a congressional election.
Fortunately, officials at the National Republican Congressional Committee were skeptical. They were closely watching events leading up to the filing deadline and had a plan in place in case Lewis/London were not forthright. They weren’t. Fortunately, Brett Guthrie was recruited and was waiting in the wings to file at the very last minute only if Lewis retired as was rumored. The rumor turned out to be true.
This is a well-documented event that Republicans still talk about. Publications such as Roll Call, Politico, The Washington Post and many local papers (Google it) wrote about the foiled plot. If transparency is an issue, London has no leg on which to stand.
Had Lewis properly announced his intention to retire, London could have filed to run legitimately but so could anyone else who was interested. By their own actions, potential candidates and voters were cheated out the chance to have choices. Once word got out across 2nd Congressional District about the deceit involved, there was outcry among party members and ultimately, London withdrew from the race. Both he and Lewis issued public apologies. (Google it.)
Now, London is running for county judge-executive and publicly has endorsed Democrats for two other county offices — over Republican candidates. How much more can Republicans tolerate from him?
This is a unique election for the office of county judge-executive. No Democrat filed so the election will be decided solely by Republican voters. If you are a Republican, can you trust Daniel London? Learn about the other two candidates and choose one of them. My endorsement goes to Keith Taul for county judge-executive.
Kathy Sargeant, Former Chair, Hardin County Republican Party
This letter was first published by The News Enterprise, click here for source link.