Comer’s back, and so is his harshest critic

Many, me included, wondered what Kentucky agriculture commissioner, former state representative and unsuccessful 2015 gubernatorial candidate Jamie Comer would do after his loss in the spring race and the expiration of his term later this year.

Comer had pretty much decided to move back to his hometown of Tompkinsville, return to private enterprise and withdraw from the political scene, but a surprise announcement changed all that.

U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield, who represents Kentucky’s gerrymandered First District that stretches from the Mississippi River to the Appalachian foothills, declared his intent to retire from Congress after this term and not run for re-election. A day later, Comer announced a change in plans, saying that he plans to run for Whitfield’s vacated seat.

Even before Comer announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for governor, he was considered by many to be the front-runner in the race. But his campaign was plagued by the emergence of a third party whose sole goal in life appeared to be to torpedo Comer’s campaign and his political career. Armed with rumors of Comer’s alleged abusive relationship with a college girlfriend, a Lexington blogger named Michael Adams began a relentless assault on Comer’s character, his past and his performance as agriculture commissioner.

Although Adams was acting independently of any outside party or candidate, Comer blamed his antics on campaign rival Hal Heiner. The ex-girlfriend in question wanted no part of Adams’ efforts, yet he continued and she felt compelled to speak out after the Lexington Herald-Leader did a story on his allegations. The fallout, and particularly Comer’s handling of the situation, are thought by many to have resulted in his 83-vote loss to Matt Bevin in the gubernatorial primary. Bevin was able to slide through the Comer-Heiner divide to claim a surprising nomination.

It would be worth a political junkie’s time to search online for the Kentucky Roll Call analysis written by Lowell Reese on Sept. 25, in which he asserts that Comer’s campaign decided to make the abuse accusations public for a variety of reasons, which ultimately (in Reese’s opinion) sank his campaign.

But the question I had after Comer announced that he’ll be running to replace Whitfield was if we’d seen the last of Adams. Was he content to bask in his successful takedown of Comer’s gubernatorial aspirations, or would he reappear to continue his anti-Comer crusade?

It didn’t take long for that question to be answered. A day after Comer’s announcement, a Facebook page called “Comer for Congress” showed up online. Contrary to its title, it’s not a pro-Comer site. Instead, it appears to be one of Adams’ creations, as it links to a variety of Adams’ blog posts and other items critical of Comer.

This all makes one wonder: Why is Adams so vehemently against Comer that he’s going to show up anytime Comer runs for office? He originally started his anti-Comer efforts on the strength of the domestic abuse allegations, but later expanded his net to cover Comer’s management of the state’s industrial hemp program, some criminal activity by friends and other guilt-by-association innuendoes.

The press did a poor job looking into Adams and his motivation for his anti-Comer efforts during the gubernatorial primary. Since the First District is primarily rural (its largest cities are Paducah and Hopkinsville) and far-removed from the major metro areas of Kentucky (most of the region is in the Nashville television market), it’s doubtful the big-city reporters will do any investigation of Adams.

And once again, an innocent victim in all this mess – Comer’s college girlfriend – will be dragged into a discussion she never wanted any part of. The Kentucky Roll Call piece contains some disturbing assertions that private investigators were tailing her in New York City, where she now lives, and digging into her childhood and young adulthood in western Kentucky. Politics can be a vicious game, but innocent third parties should never be pulled into the battles, especially when they’ve stated over and over again they just want to be left alone.

Some have been quick to declare Comer the front-runner based on his name recognition and his performance in the GOP gubernatorial primary, but it’s premature to bet money on his nomination or election. Whitfield’s chief aide, Michael Pape, is also planning to run. Todd P’Pool, a western Kentucky local official who ran a statewide race four years ago, is mulling over the possibility and plans to announce his decision after the November election. And a liberal Kentucky blogger with contacts in both parties has posted that Sen. Mitch McConnell is backing another candidate’s entry into the race.

Tompkinsville, the county seat of Monroe County, has been a home to congressmen before. Dr. Tim Lee Carter represented the old Fifth District, Kentucky’s traditional Republican stronghold, for 16 years before retiring. He was succeeded by Hal Rogers, who was first elected in the old Fifth. But when Kentucky lost a representative after the 1990 census, and the congressional districts were redrawn to include Owensboro and Bowling Green in the same district in an ill-fated attempt to enable former Kentucky House Speaker Don Blandford to succeed Congressman William Natcher, Monroe County got moved from the Fifth District to the First District. And suddenly, a county in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains was placed in a district composed of flatland counties to the west.

Will Comer be able to follow in Carter’s footsteps? Probably not, if Michael Adams has anything to do or say about it. It will be interesting to see just how involved he gets in Comer’s congressional race, or if the information he dredged up during this year’s GOP gubernatorial primary comes into play.