THOUGHTS ON UPCOMING GENERAL ASSEMBLY AND ORGANIZING BEFOREHAND
In a conversation with Tialisha | asked if she thought it would be helpful if | put together the information
below as a way to guide our efforts to pass the Seriously Mentally III (SMI) bill.
It is important to note that this bill passed the House on a 75 - 16 vote with 9 not voting. Had the nine
voted we would have had 79 or 80 votes. Based on this, | suggest it is not so important that we put a lot
of effort in the House districts whose member supported us and it is unlikely we can move the 16 who
voted against us. Thus, probably not a good use of our time to work to do that.
Given the above, our efforts should be in the Senate. So | will start there with the Committee members.
Solid supporters there include the chair, Whitney Westerfield, Karen Berg, Alice Forgy Kerr, Gerald Neal.
Danny Carroll did us a favor and voted Yes to get the bill out of committee, but he in 2020 he voted NO.
With the amended language proposed for the bill this year he may remain a Yes, but we don’t know that
for sure so there should be organizing efforts in his district: Ballard, Carlisle, Marshall and McCracken
Counties. | am sure he listens to Commonwealth Attorneys so efforts to keep them neutral in this area
are also important.
Stephen West and Phillip Wheeler both voted Yes in 2020 but turned on us and voted no in 2021, |
suspect Commonwealth Attorneys played a role in their betrayal. West has constituents in the following
counties: Bourbon, Fleming, Harrison, Lewis, Mason, Nicholas, Robertson and Rowan. Finding
supporters there who will approach him and thank him for his vote in 2020 and express disappointment
about the 2021 vote is important. They should try and find out why he changed his mind. The same goes
for Wheeler who represents constituents in Elliott, Lawrence, Martin, Morgan and Pike counties. He’s a
really nice guy but needs to hear from constituents.
Robert Stivers voted for the bill in 2020; and passed and did not vote either way in 2021. He is gettable,
but he needs to hear from a lot of constituents especially mental health providers in his district if we can
find some. He represents folks in Clay, Know, Lee, Owsley, Whitley, and Wolfe counties. He is a former
prosecutor and listens to them so if the Commonwealth Attorneys for these counties can be neutralized
that would be very helpful.
Full Senate analysis. This will be more general. But should provide a guide to help us target our efforts
and make the best use of our limited time.
The Leaders: Robert Stivers, David Givens, Damon Thayer and Mike Wilson all need to hear from
constituents so organizing in the counties they represent is important. Julie Raque Adams is one of our
sponsors so we don’t need to focus on her district.
lam just going to name the following Senators on whose districts we need to focus. | will add info about
them if | have it. Jason Howell, Danny Carroll, Whitney Westerfield (to keep him in our column) Robby
Mills, Adrienne Southworth, Matt Castlen, David Givens, Jimmy Higdon (very nervous and needs
constituent support; all the nuns in his district scare him, so that’s good), Rick Girdler, Max Wise (claims
he’s an abolitionist, but hasn’t been supportive), Brandon Storm, Ralph Alvarado, Brandon Smith, Jared
Carpenter and Michael Nemes.
| purposely did not list any Democrats because | have been assured we have their support and it doesn’t
matter much anyway, because the Senate leadership rarely moves a bill that does not have the support
of 20 Republicans. So it is essential that we get Republican support from those named above.
Here are the names of Republicans whose support | think we have, and if time allows, organizing in their
districts to encourage constituents to contact them is ok. Stephen Meredith (abolitionist), C. B. Embry Jr.
(but | think he is retiring so he may not be back), Alice Forgy Kerr (solid abolitionist), hopefully we could
get Stephen West and Philliip Wheeler back. Plus Julie Raque Adams and Johnny Turner.
So you can see what we are up against. | count only 4 Republicans so we need 15 more from the names
of those above. Other Senators whose names are not in the list above are very unlikely to come over to
our side even if constituents contact them. | am not saying not to work in their districts, but it should not
be a priority.
If we can get Stivers and Givens on board that would be super helpful in the leadership pressing Thayer
to bring the bill to the floor for a vote. So their districts should be priorities.
| hope this is helpful for you in planning the shape and scope of your campaign. | am happy to answer
questions and meet with you. At some point we should meet and go through the bill and the talking
points that are effective with legislators so you can educate constituents.
We really lost an ally in Senator Buford who was a strong supporter. So we should organize in his district
and get constituents meeting with his replacement when we know who that is.
