As we march toward the primary election date of May 19, 2026, a date when thousands of Kentuckians will cast their votes for their choice of candidates who they believe will provide them with honest representation, many would be surprised to know that some elections have already been decided as the result of vote buying, voter intimidation and good old corrupt politics.
Take a moment to consider the words of Aesop, the famous Greek storyteller, when he wrote, “We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office.” It is time to end the decades-old practice of allowing a handful of powerful and corrupt individuals to control local government and local elections and sit in smoke-filled backrooms and call the shots of who is, and who is not, among the chosen few.
For those who might not have heard the phrase “smoke-filled room,” the phrase can be traced back to 1763 in Boston when a small group of men, yes men, met behind closed doors to select candidates for public office. During those meetings, the room was filled with cigar smoke which was so thick that it made it difficult to see from one end of the room to the other. Sadly, the decisions made in those smoke-filled rooms were made in secret without any concern for anyone. Worse yet, not much has changed and those smoke-filed rooms still exist today.
It has long been a joke in Eastern Kentucky that most votes can be bought with a pint of moonshine and a fifty-dollar bill. While that might still be true, today vote buying in the mountains has grown much more sophisticated. Today corrupt officials hang onto their power by promising construction contracts, school jobs, public employment, or promising business owners that their business will win the next so-called sealed bid for whatever is needed and paid for with taxpayer dollars.
So, one is left to ask the rhetorical question of why should anyone care? Many are heard saying that it is impossible to clean up corrupt government. Corrupt politicians have been around for decades, and many know that they will be around for as long as people allow it to happen. The only way change will come is when these dishonest and corrupt politicians are investigated, indicted, prosecuted and sentenced to prison. There is nothing more powerful than seeing a once powerful politician march into a federal courtroom in an orange jumpsuit shackled at the waist and ankles awaiting sentencing for their corrupt crimes.
So, as voters, taxpayers and people who are fed up with the corruption which has plagued our communities for decades, it is time to take a stand. It is time to pick up the phone and call the Federal Bureau of Investigation or the Kentucky Attorney General’s office and report threats you or your family have received if you vote for a certain candidate; report any information you might have about threats to teachers or their families if they do not vote for a certain candidate; report any information about bribes paid for the appointment of anyone to a public government position; and report individuals who have visited your home with threats of any nature regarding the way you or your family needs to vote.
What these corrupt individuals fail to understand is that this year is also a federal election. Voter intimidation or vote buying is a federal crime. This election cycle is the time for change. This election cycle is the time to end the decades long practice of lining the pockets of corrupt politicians and their political cronies with taxpayer dollars. It is time to return honesty to government and restore transparency to the business of government.
What everyone needs to understand is that it is too late to report voter intimidation and vote buying the day after the election. It is time for those corrupt individuals to start looking over their shoulders and start worrying that their names might just be on the next indictment, which will strip them of the power which was bought through vote buying and voter intimidation.
In the words of Thomas Jefferson, “There is only one force in the nation that can be depended upon to keep the government pure and the governors honest, and that is the people themselves.”
