By Angela Hatton
Paducah, KY – Jobs are top priority for the five Kentucky democrats running for US Senate. They met last night in Paducah for their last debate before the May 18th primary. Maurice Sweeney of Louisville, James Buckmaster of Henderson, and Darlene Price of Whitley City joined frontrunners Dan Mongiardo and Jack Conway. In his opening statement, Mongiardo said healthcare, energy, and transportation are three sectors ripe for job creation.
"We're blessed with being at the very heart of our nation when it comes to our population centers. North to south, east to west, Chicago to L.A., you've got to come through Kentucky. Yet our roads and bridges and our locks and dams are crumbling, we need to invest."
Conway said the US needs to reinstate a small business lending program, and he promised to help preserve the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, which is slated to close in five years. Buckmaster, a self-proclaimed conservative Democrat, says only small businesses can create sustainable jobs.
"You start getting this high in the sky, apple pie jobs from the government, the green jobs, and whatever else, they're not sustainable, and when the money runs from the government, the jobs run out and you're right back where you started from on the streets."
Price favored ending corporate interests in politics, what she called the "disease" that causes economic turmoil.
"If we don't end this, 30 years from now, a bunch of candidates are going to be sitting here talking about the lack of jobs here, the lack of jobs in the Purchase area, and we're going to be saying, gee why doesn't anything get done, I wonder why nothing gets done. Well, this is why."
The winner of the democratic primary will go on to face either Trey Grayson or Rand Paul in the November election.