Comer confident despite campaign 'turbulence'

Mon, 05/11/2015 - 9:12am — John Embry

James Comer, Republican Candidate for KY Governor

ERLANGER, Ky. – At a breakfast meeting in Northern Kentucky last week, state Agriculture Commissioner James Comer told local Republican officials and business leaders who have endorsed his candidacy for governor that he will win the general election in November.

But to get there, Comer urged his audience to help him turn out his supporters in what he said will be a tougher test — the May 19 Republican gubernatorial primary.

"This has been a rough primary," Comer said. "We're getting some turbulence."

For Comer, it was about to get more turbulent. On Monday, The Courier-Journal reported that a former college girlfriend said in a letter to the newspaper that he was physically and mentally abusive to her and took her for an abortion.

On Tuesday, with his wife T.J. Comer at his side, he emphatically denied the allegations. "Everyone who knows me knows the charges are completely incompatible with everything I stand for and everything I am," he said.

Comer said his campaign had been gathering steam before the report and will press on to victory.

He's facing two opponents who are running as Frankfort outsiders and have used their personal wealth to fund their campaigns. As of mid-April, Matt Bevin, a tea party favorite from Louisville who unsuccessfully challenged Mitch McConnell last year in the GOP primary for U.S. Senate, had loaned his campaign $1.25 million.

Hal Heiner, a businessman and former member of Louisville Metro Council, had loaned his campaign $4.2 million and has had advertising support from a super PAC that does not disclose its donors.

A fourth candidate, Will T. Scott, a former state Supreme Court justice from Pikeville, has struggled to raise money and polls show him trailing.

Comer, meanwhile, said the fact he has been able to raise about $2 million in contributions — more than double what his opponents have raised combined —shows a broad base of support.

He and running mate Chris McDaniel, a state senator from Northern Kentucky, are running under the slogan "Real conservative leadership for all Kentuckians."

Comer says his record as agriculture commissioner and during 11 years in the Kentucky House proves he can work productively with Democrats and that he is the only candidate with the ability to push into law the conservative goals most Kentucky Republicans share: a right to work bill, lower taxes, smaller government and opposition to all things Obama.

James Comer, known as "Jamie," is a farmer from Tompkinsville, the county seat of heavily Republican Monroe County on the Tennessee border.

His father James "Sam" Comer, is a retired dentist. His mother Sandra, who passed away in 2010, was a teacher.

"He comes from just a good, solid Monroe County family," said Louis Lee Carter, a former teacher and now property valuation administrator in Monroe County.

Carter describes the young Comer as a hardworking and likeable boy. "You could tell back early he was going to be a winner," Carter said. "... He's just a real good boy who's always been a go-getter. Even in school he held numerous offices."

Comer, who at age 42 is the youngest candidate in the race, said he decided to run for governor now because, "We need to change directions in this state. ... And I'm the only person running for governor that can pass a bold agenda through the General Assembly."

Comer was Kentucky state president of the FFA in 1990-91 and he earned his bachelor's degree in agriculture from Western Kentucky University in 1993.

A first marriage ended in divorce. He married T.J. in 2003. They have three children: daughter Reagan, 10, son Harlan, 7, and daughter Aniston, 4.

He owns James Comer Jr. Farms, and is in partnership with his brother Chad in a business called Comer Land and Cattle. He said he and his family own about 2,100 acres in Monroe County and Tennessee. "This year we'll grow corn, soybeans, wheat and beef cattle. May sell some timber," Comer said.

He became interested in politics while traveling to political events with his grandfather, who was chairman of the Monroe County Republican Party.

"My first experience with Jamie Comer was when he was a very young boy tagging along with his grandfather Harlin Comer to Republican district meetings," said David Cross, a Clinton County attorney and GOP member of the state Board of Elections. "Harlin Comer was highly respected and a tremendous influence on Jamie."

At age 27, the younger Comer won a landslide election in the Republican primary for state representative for the 53rd District in 2000. And no candidate from either party challenged him as he was re-elected to five more two-year terms.

The young legislator had powerful guides in Frankfort. House Republican Leader Jeff Hoover represented a neighboring House District. And Republican Senate President David Williams represented some of the same part of the state as Comer.

"Jeff Hoover has been a big mentor. He's someone I've known a long time and I respect him and his leadership ability," Comer said. "... David Williams was an effective Senate president, a strong leader. I did not agree with his leadership style at times but he was effective for the people in my House district."

But one vote during his time in the Kentucky House he says he would like to take back was a vote in 2005 for House Bill 299, which made it possible for lawmakers to make more money from their state pensions — a vote that his primary opponents are attacking.

"It was a long time ago and it was something, like many pieces of legislation, happened at the end of a legislative session," Comer said. "And it's something I will correct as governor."

Comer said that if elected ,he will push for a law that will end pensions for future state legislators and allow current and past lawmakers to "opt out" of their legislative pensions. "I will be the first legislator to opt out," he said.

In 2011 he won landslide elections in the primary and general elections for the agriculture commissioner's office. And his first major act as commissioner was a politically risky one — asking Democratic State Auditor Adam Edelen to audit the tenure of his predecessor, Richie Farmer.

He said he knew an audit of Farmer, a Republican and popular former University of Kentucky basketball player, would not sit well with some Republicans.

"But we found out that a lot of services the department was supposed to provide weren't being provided. … And there were several employees that were getting paid that weren't coming to work," Comer said.

That audit confirmed those discoveries and led eventually to Farmer's conviction on charges of theft of public funds. Farmer is now serving a 27-month sentence in federal prison in West Virginia.

As commissioner, Comer says he's been able to improve services with a smaller budget. He said his decision to privatize the department's fuel testing program eliminated 12 state government positions and the sale of testing equipment allowed him to return $1.65 million to the state treasury.

He's championed the legalization of industrial hemp as a cash crop with great potential. In 2013 he successfully advocated passage of a law — with overwhelming majority support — that will allow his department to license farmers to grow hemp if federal restrictions are eased.

The Farmer audit and the hemp effort proves Comer is willing to make tough, bold decisions, said Sen. Paul Hornback, R-Shelbyville. "And he's made the department more efficient and done an outstanding job as commissioner," said Hornback, who chairs the Senate Agriculture committee.

For his part, Comer said he could have made a safe decision to run for re-election as commissioner.

But he and his wife concluded he could do "much more good for the people of Kentucky" as governor.

"It was a tough decision when you know you'll be outspent, a tough decision when you know how nasty these big races can get," Comer said. "Although I will admit this one has become much nastier that I ever would have dreamed."

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By Tom Loftus
The Courier-Journa

Date: 05-08-2015

Kentucky Press News Service

Editor's note: This is the second in a series of profiles of Kentucky's Republican gubernatorial candidates.

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JAMES R. COMER JR.

Age: 42

Hometown: Tompkinsville

Family: Wife, T.J., three children

Religion: Baptist

Party: Republican