The Political 43rd: Aspects of the District as Political Motivators - Mike Czerwonka

Asked what aspects of the district, when he first ran for the office in 2002, had influenced his decision to run, Czerwonka did not start by describing the district. He first explained himself, and then his district. His own belief in “honor, dignity, and integrity” and “taking risks when the risk is worthy,” combined with several other personal motivations, were the first allusions he made, before making any reference to aspects of the district itself.[4]

The factors motivating Czerwonka to enter the pursuit of the 43rd district seat included several aspects of the district itself. When asked if there were characteristics of the district that motivated him to run for office, Czerwonka’s response included references to four main concerns for the district. He took issue with (1) misrepresentation caused by a poorly redrawn district, (2) the character of incumbent Paul Bather, (3) his concern for the political disenfranchisement of those who could not fight for themselves, and (4) the atrocious state of the district, including corruption and poor educational standards.

(1) Misrepresentation. His frustration over lacking representation after the redistricting of the 43rd in 2001 almost propelled him to his own representative seat in Frankfort in 2002. The Democrat-controlled state House and the Republican state Senate had been at odds. According to Czerwonka, the House had concocted a redistricting plan that would, they had hoped, rid them of Rep. Paul Bather, while still allowing them to keep the 43rd seat. “…[The] Democratic controlled House of Representatives redrew the boundaries such to ultimately rid itself of the most morally reprehensible scumbag that has ever been elected to public office in Kentucky, Paul Bather.”[5] The Senate, not wishing to call opposition onto their agenda, had not challenged the gerrymandering scheme. Supposedly, the resultant redistricting had been meant to displace Bather by combining starkly contrasting constituencies who would not support a black, centrist, former Washington, D.C. Republican turned conservative Democrat. In the process, the conservative parts of the district were left bereft of any real representation, stranded in a district where they were held as a part of a permanent, artificial minority vote.

(2) Paul Bather’s Character. Not to say that Czerwonka thought Bather was worth keeping. Czerwonka would later refer to him in very colorful language, including, “morally reprehensible scumbag.”[6] He would have been just as motivated to replace Bather if the redrawn 43rd had never come about. Summarily, he disagreed with Bather and equally disagreed with the misrepresentation resultant from the Democratic efforts to displace Bather.

(3) Political Disenfranchisement of the Helpless. Czerwonka’s reasoning implies a complete inability on his part to separate political corruption from its indirect, intangible effect on the children of the district. From his first answer to his first question, he interpolated that a representative “should be someone that you [would] be proud to introduce to your children.”[7] He points out that the extraordinary gerrymandering resulting in the 43rd district, the inordinately high electoral corruption there, and the controversy surrounding his own efforts to put poll watchers in every precinct there were all inordinately flagrant corruption stories. Each of these stories made national news despite being very localized, small-time problems at first glance. In Czerwonka’s eyes, that makes his district one of the most notoriously poorly represented collections of neighborhoods in the U.S. Considering that this country, he reasons, supposedly guarantees representation to its people by right, there is no difference between raising children in a corrupt electoral environment and directly robbing Louisville children of their rights.

(4) Corruption, Education, and General Disarray. Regardless of the children, the history of the district, especially its reputation for corruption, was a recurring theme in Czerwonka’s discussion of his political motivations. He spoke in terms of his district’s political demography, to highlight that in 2002 political affiliation was not the important distinction to this constituency. He then explained the closeness of that race, expressing the margin of his defeat in votes received. “Even though we were out-registered 4-1 (Democrats vs. Republicans) in party registration in the 43rd LD, we only lost by 695 votes out of 10,000 total votes cast.”[8] More to the point, he cited the number of votes he perceived to be fraudulently received:

It was during the 2002 election that the Jefferson County Republican Party failed to place Precinct Poll Workers in 53 individual precinct positions. Most of the vacancies were in West Louisville and Portland, an area of the county that was a significant part of our district. We had over 25 calls of voter fraud on Election Day 2002. Upon investigation by the FBI it was determined that in only 1 of the 13 precincts that they investigated did the number of ballots cast match the signatures in the voter registration books. They also mentioned that they were able to identify where men signed the registration books next to women’s names.[9]

But Czerwonka also cited tangible concerns for the kids in his district. Still discussing his reasons for his first run in 2002, he used one of his favorite phrases to describe his modus operandi: “I also believe that when confronted with this type of [corruption]…you must be willing to fight the battles on behalf of those who can’t fight them for themselves, primarily the children.”[10] What he means by this is that the children of the district suffer directly in very practical, concrete ways. From the high violence rates, to the low education standards, to the degradation of living conditions in the poor parts of the district, Czerwonka believes that the youngest residents of the 43rd suffer the most at the hands of his political opponents.

[4] First Czerwonka Survey, Page 1. Available at URL: http://gabe.250free.com/DiscoveryQuestions1_Czerwonka_Answers.pdf
[5] First Czerwonka Survey, Page 1.
[6] First Czerwonka Survey, Page 1.
[7] First Czerwonka Survey, Page 1.
[8] First Czerwonka Survey, Page 1.
[9] First Czerwonka Survey, Page 1.
[10] First Czerwonka Survey, Page 1.