Election results analysis: Estimated 29% preferred their votes not be counted or chose accused gunman over Denise Harper Angel. Dissent voiced by nearly 13,000. Click to continue...

Regardless of how liberal or conservative we are, Kentuckians all want the same things.

We all want better schools, safe streets, low taxes, fair wages, job security, affordable energy, good roads, and accurate elections. We all want to know someone will take care of us if we get sick or hurt. Yet somehow, for as long as we can remember, Frankfort has been unable to substantially deliver any of this for us.

Maybe it's because when one of the two major parties introduces a solution, the other side's natural inclination is that it must be a bad idea. They automatically find a reason to oppose it instead of working toward a compromise. Maybe it's because campaigns on both sides are funded by the same corporations that profit from these problems remaining unsolved. Maybe it's because the people we've sent to Frankfort aren't truly serious about doing their jobs and there's no true incentive for them to achieve anything. Re-election is as easy as calling corporate fundraisers then saturating the public with an advertising blitz.

Whatever the reason, Kentucky voters – Democrats, Republicans, and independents – have all had enough of the back-and-forth, corporate-fueled politics that have been standing in the way of progress for decades.

The same impoverished conditions that embarrassed Kentucky in 1960's documentaries still exist today. Every fifth child in Kentucky is born into poverty. One in five families lives on less than $300 a week. Kentuckians spend more on health care than people in Switzerland, Norway, and France, and yet our infant mortality rate is higher than in Cuba, Taiwan, or Lithuania. More than half a million Kentuckians have no health care coverage at all.

Instead of losing sleep over these conditions or even lifting a finger to help those in need, our legislators waste our time and money about as fast as we can send it to them. There was no shortage of support last year for giving the world's largest coal company the equivalent of $80 per taxpayer in a year when it was posting record profits. There's no shortage of non-binding resolutions to honor football teams, golfers, and cheerleaders. There was no shortage of votes to shut down the legislature early because a basketball game was on TV. In short, there's no shortage of anything that doesn't address the true concerns of Kentucky's voters, and why would there be?

While countless Kentuckians struggle with expensive medical bills or no coverage at all, our district's current state senator, Denise Harper Angel, has accepted campaign contributions from PACs run by Eli Lilly Pharmaceuticals and insurance companies like Humana and Anthem. While energy prices are at record highs and we continue to burn fossil fuels, she has taken money from LG&E and Columbia Gas. And while the banking industry has seen unprecedented increases in profits from outrageous, unregulated fees, our senator has been in the pocket of Citigroup, Fifth Third Bank, the Kentucky Bankers Committee, and BB&T.

But Ms. Angel isn't an unusual case in Kentucky. While a few of our senators and representatives are farmers and hard working people, many are also wealthy lawyers and executives in private companies. They serve in the legislature almost as if they're hobbyists around a model railroad set. On top of our legislators' disinterest in doing serious work in Frankfort, they are also swarmed by an army of special interest lobbyists who outnumber them by a ratio of five to one.

That is why I am doing this. I may not be the most qualified person who ever ran for office, but what use is hiring the most qualified applicant if they have no intention of doing their job? People have been voting for "qualified" politicians since I was a kid, and yet the same problems persist.

I take pride in being more passionate than qualified, more angry than qualified, and more willing to do whatever it takes to put Kentuckians and Kentucky's government back on the same side.

We may not be able to end the corporate influence in Frankfort, but we can refuse to be a part of it.

Unlike Denise Harper Angel and so many others, I refuse to accept campaign contributions from special interest groups and corporate PACs. My campaign is supported only by individual voters like you, which means when I am elected, I will answer only to you.

My campaign is about what we as Kentuckians want and deserve; to know that our taxes and our efforts are being used for the greater good of Kentucky; for Kentucky to be an innovator in the way it takes care of its own people; for us to feel like paying taxes is the least we can do for what we get in return.

Our state government must realize it has an obligation to help those who cannot help themselves. Kentucky must take better care of its people. Even if these objectives require small sacrifices of some, the benefit for the greater good of our society will be incalculable.

I promise to introduce as much of the legislation on this page as is humanly possible, and to fight for it on the senate floor, or to be dragged out kicking and screaming. As your state senator, I promise to be the most vocal and memorable advocate of statewide universal health care, election reform, workers' rights, living wage, equally fair taxation, ethics legislation, and the elimination of paid lobbying.

Please join this Ballot Revolution. I need the help and contributions of ordinary individuals like yourself in order to make this happen. We've already lost way too much to be afraid we have something to lose by fighting for it now.

I will not disappoint you if you send me to Frankfort as your state senator on November 4, 2008.

Thank you for your support,

Scott Ritcher

Sept. 4, 2008
An open letter to Denise Harper Angel:

Drop the lawsuit and give the money back

Dear Ms. Angel,

Republican John Albers is effectively out of the race following his arrest, and now you have filed a lawsuit seeking to disqualify my candidacy which is the only other choice on the ballot. I'm certain the people of the Louisville neighborhoods you represent would not define "democracy" as an election with only one candidate to choose from.

As an incumbent Democrat in a district registered nearly 70% Democratic, this election should be a cakewalk for you. Yet not only are you suing to remove another candidate from the ballot, your campaign has been funded by thousands of dollars in contributions from corporations and special interest groups whose goals conflict with those of ordinary Kentuckians.

There is simply no need for an incumbent Democratic state senator to run a campaign with this kind of money. Corporate, PAC, and special interest money comes with a lot of baggage. At the very least, it creates an appearance of impropriety when the interests of your corporate contributors do not sync with the interests of the people in our district. Some of your contributors' objectives even conflict with your own stated positions on important issues such as health care.

Many of the groups fueling your campaign are connected to giant pharmaceutical, insurance, energy, and banking companies. These power brokers have Americans locked into a system of paying outrageously higher fees for levels of service that pale in comparison to what our friends in other countries receive. What's even more mind-boggling is that I know you're in favor of removing the limits on how much these corruptive special interest groups can give campaigns.

My campaign is not taking a single cent of this dirty money. To my knowledge, Mr. Albers has not accepted any of these contributions. Even Barack Obama is making a point in his campaign for the presidency and setting an example by not touching it. With these dirty funds in your pocket, your campaign has managed to raise nearly ten times that of my campaign, which like Obama's, is supported only by individual voters.

So Ms. Angel, since our district's voters are registered overwhelmingly Democrat, like yourself; and since your Republican challenger is no longer a factor; and since the leading Democrat in America is advocating against participating in this money train; I'd like to invite you to prove that these corporate, PAC, and special interest contributions have no affect on your work in Frankfort. I'd like to invite you to return these contributions.

If you cannot, do not, or will not give back the thousands of surplus dollars these big-money interests have given you, then I'd like to invite you to drop the lawsuit against my candidacy. You told the Courier-Journal you're not concerned about losing to me, right? Let's see if the voters really care about corporate and special interest money by ensuring they have a choice on the ballot between a candidate who takes it and one who doesn't.

Corporate money and lawyers may be able to secure the election for you, but what good is that if you get it without our respect?

Sincerely,
Scott Ritcher