Message to Rep. Hal Rogers: Kentucky Deserves Better

About 50 KFTC members rallied in front of the Somerset office of U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers on Friday afternoon to send a message that the region needs a member of Congress who will work first for the people.

"We want good jobs, clean water and air, and safe and healthy families. We want competent, honest, and transparent representation in our government," said rally emcee Doug Deorrfeld. "Right now we don't have these things. But we have the opportunity to demand them and make a good future for ourselves."

Several young people spoke and said Rogers' policies are not giving them hope for being able to stay in eastern Kentucky to fulfill their dreams.

"I have a vision for my future that's harder and harder to realize," said Cody Montgomery, a non-traditional student at Morehead State University from Magoffin County. "The reason that I am having doubts about not only my future, but that of the entire 5th District, is directly related to Rep. Rogers. Over the past 30 years Rep. Rogers has pushed an agenda that has fallen far short of nurturing the people of the 5th District."

Montgomery talked of the government assistance that helped his grandmother raise him, programs such as food stamps, SSI and WIC (Women, Infants and Children) that are now threatened with severe cuts under Rogers' leadership.

Ada Smith of Letcher County said she wants to create communities where young people don't feel forced to leave. "I'm not surprised when my friends tell me they're moving away," she said.

But she said policies promoted by Rep. Rogers do little to help the region or give young people a reason to stay. She and other speakers noted that several of the poorest counties in the nation are in Rogers' district, and that his district was recently rated 435th – or next to last in the nation – on a broad variety of quality of life indicators.

"Rogers has shown little concern about the long-term poverty of the region," Smith said. "We need to bring real solutions to the table."

The speakers noted that Rogers and his Senate colleague Mitch McConnell hold important positions of power in Congress and are in a unique position to help Kentucky. Rogers is the chair of the House Appropriations Committee.

Instead, Roger has used his position to push policies that will hurt people in his district and throughout Kentucky.

Those include the elimination of federal job training programs, changes that make college less affordable, cuts to low-income heating assistance, and protections for tax breaks for the wealthy.

The speakers also noted his opposition to alternative energy programs and his attacks on the Clean Water Act and other laws that prevent polluters from poisoning air and water.

Stanley Sturgill, a retired coal miner form Harlan County, called out Rogers for supporting cuts in more than 30 education programs "when your own district suffers in all aspects of education."

"He voted nine or more times against alternative energy. He voted five or more times against women receiving equal pay," Sturgill added.

Read a copy of the letter delivered to Rep. Rogers.

The speakers also noted that Rogers has presented no proposals for creating jobs or helping the economy.

"I want to know why he's not working for jobs," said Lee Ann Paynter, of Danville.

Shekinah Lavalle made the trip to Somerset to Louisville to let folks know that Rogers' policies affect all Kentuckians, not just those in the 5th District. She also spoke of the the benefits her family received when she was a child from government assistance programs, and how programs under attack by Rogers are helping her get through college. 

After the rally, participants entered Rogers' office to deliver letters to Rogers or other items other items that symbolize what's important to them about Kentucky or their community. Erica Urias of Pike County left a bottle of her family's well water, while others left books and photographs.

Here's a video of the rally.