Farmer v. A Farmer

Posted: October 15th, 2003 | Filed under: Features, Personalities, Politics | No Comments »

At John Riley’s auto body shop at Bardstown Road and Grinstead drive, the wood-paneled walls are dingy from decades of cigarette smoke and paint fumes and lined with photos of granddaughters’ soccer squads, certificates in shoddy frames and faded newspaper clippings. Lining the back wall are several gray file cbinets that look like they haven’t been opened since the Model T era.

On top of one cabinet, sitting like a beacon, was a brand new blue-and-white basketball cap. The campaign artifact was the brightest thing in the office.

It read:
RICHIE FARMER — COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE
So, John Riley, I guess you’re going to vote for Richie?
“Nah.” What’s with the hat then? “It’s for one of the guys that works here. He’s a big UK fan.”

Riley’s wife’s family hails from Manchester, the Clay County town where Richie Farmer became a high school basketball legend some 15 years ago. This is how he comes to know Richie Farmer.

“They’re good friends with Richie’s family. We were just down there and spent some time with them.” What do you think of Richie’s race for agriculture commissioner? “Richie’s a nice kid. He grew up on a farm. But he’s never farmed a day in his life.”
Doesn’t seem like he’s doing a lot of campaigning, does it?
“Hasn’t done any yet, has he?”

The plaint about Farmer’s figuratively clean hands is a standard feature of Alice Baesler’s stump speech. She’s the working farmer, a Dem-ocrat, who is running against L’il Richie, the Republican. A couple Saturdays back at the Capitol Rally in Frankfort — kind of a mini Fancy Farm — Baesler reminded those who listened that Farmer “has missed 21 of the 29 events to which we’ve both been invited.”

The folks in the Louisville Agricul-tural Club are probably wondering the same thing: Where’s Richie? The club is a network of farmers, agri-financers, horticulturists and one guy who shows up now and again in black leather motorcycle garb. It’s met monthly since 1948. Members now gather at UK’s Jefferson County Agricultural Extension Office in a nondescript building in Lyndon.

Richie, after months of back and forth, was supposed to speak to the group on the first Friday of this month. His campaign handler, Kevin Newnam, showed up, with Rodger Bingham in tow. You know, that Kentucky guy from “Survivor.” But not Richie; he was a no-show. The group was advised he had the flu.

Alice Baesler had addressed that same lunch bunch more than a month ago. Then again, she’s one of the gang. Even has her own laminated name tag.
Before that presentation, several of the gathered were willing to discuss the phenomenon that finds a beloved former Wildcat hoopster, with only a passing connection to agriculture and arguably dubious understanding of agricultural issues, as the acknowledged front-runner in the race.

Between bites of the hearty buffet lunch of roast beef, green beans, corn, mashed potatoes and cobbler, Richard Monk weighed in. “The scuttlebutt is that Richie Farmer is not qualified. Unfortunately, agriculture people won’t decide the election.” Across the table, Dick Poe nodded. “It’s frustrating that the Richie Farmer issue is more important than farm issues. It’s the same problem we’ve had in previous years.”

Monk again: “Richie’s not the first carpetbagger to run for the office.The last three or four elected commissioners just had political ambitions.”

Most at the Ag Club seemed to agree that the statewide buzz has Richie winning. One dissenter was Western Kentucky-area chauvinist Steve Allard. “I’m from Owensboro. Nobody in Western Kentucky is talking about Richie.”

East-West rivalry aside, that seems clearly a minority opinion. Some predict Richie will lead the ticket in total votes.

Baesler’s standard address is filled with discourse that sounds, to an inveterate city boy, like real substance, about the real issues confronting the office she seeks. She also peppers her talks with references to basketball, and her opponent’s lack of both experience and expertise. And it’s not like she’s totally lacking in Wildcat credentials herself. For heaven’s sake, her hubby Scotty Baesler, the former Lexington mayor who lost a U.S. Senate race to Republican Jim Bunning in 1998, played for Baron Adolph Rupp. “I’m married to a UK basketball player,” she says. “But the point is, we don’t have the time or funds for on-the-job education.”

She drew plenty of chuckles from the attentive Ag Club with this rhetorical aside: “Richie Farmer knows what a three-pointer is. Does he know what a three-point hitch is?”
And her normal closing is clever: “I’m the real farmer in this race.” It is also the truth.

There is meaning to what Baesler tells those who pay attention. “I ran a farm for 15 years. I grew 100 acres of tobacco. I delivered a calf. I know risk management. I worked for the state agriculture department for seven years. (She resigned that position to run this race.) I organized Kentucky Women In Agriculture.

“We need education to foster quality, which will increase business for farmers. The biggest zucchini squash isn’t the best. How cabbage is boxed makes a difference how it sells. In the past, we’ve had difficulty finding infrastructure for value-added money. We need food processing plants within the state. Kentucky is the No. 1 beef producer east of the Mississippi. But 85 percent of that leaves the state to be processed. We need facilities here to keep that money here.”

To be fair to Farmer, in the rare moments that he’s actually addressed issues he’s made similar statements about expanding infrastructure. Specificity has been rare, however.
So what is the thrust of Richie Farmer’s campaign? His bumper stickers feature a ball going through a basket. On the front of a campaign card passed out at appearances, there’s a picture of Richie in his home white Wildcat uniform, dribbling around an opponent. On the back, under the words “Experience” and “Leadership,” are set forth these pertinent qualifications for the position of agriculture commissioner:

Lifetime Career Notes

• Inducted into the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame
• Member of 1992’s Unforgettable senior class
• Mr. Basketball ’88 and McDonald’s All-American
• Record-setting Five Sweet 16 appearances

L’il Richie’s UK career stats are also there. Look closely and you realize this former Cat “star” averaged only 17 minutes per game (2,047 minutes/118 games). And he tallied but 898 points for the Big Blue, which comes to 7.6 points per game.

More than a few concerned citizens are wondering: A member of the Unforgettables or not, are those really agriculture commissioner-quality numbers?

The candidate certainly thinks so. We couldn’t get him on the record — numerous attempts to interview Farmer for this story failed, including a scheduled one-on-one after the Ag Club talk, where he was MIA — so, to help you out, here’s how he answered a couple of questions in a Kentucky Farm Bureau survey.

“What will you do to maintain a trust factor between the department and agriculture groups, the Governor’s office and legislators?”

Richie: I believe that communication is the key to maintaining good relationships between the Department of Agriculture, the legislature and commodity groups. Having played basketball at the collegiate level, I know the advantages of taking charge at times and also taking a back seat at times. Most of all, I will be a team player.

“How will you help farmers improve public perception with regard to agriculture and the general issues that surround it, including environmental concerns, food safety, biotechnology and trade?”

Richie: As I have stated before, I believe this is one of my strongest areas. Farmers have a great story to tell, and I will use any name recognition I have gained through my experience with UK basketball to help them tell it.

So here’s the choice. Alice Baesler operates a tobacco and cattle farm in Fayette County. (She has two grown children and two grandchildren.) She was president of the National Agricultural Women’s Leadership Network, a member of the U.S. Burley Tobacco Advisory Council and the Kentucky Farm Labor Task Force, and state secretary of the 4-H Club. She also spearheaded a successful effort to open Cuba for Kentucky agribusiness. “You should have seen the smiles on those kids down there eating Weisenberger funnel cakes for the first time.”

Richie Farmer’s mantra is that he’ll surround himself with quality people. But he hasn’t named names. His double major at UK was in agricultural economics and agribusiness management. He’s an investment adviser in Clay County, where he lives with wife and three sons. While he isn’t involved in farming or agribusiness in any way, it is important, before you mark your ballot, to remember that L’il Richie scored 51 in the state championship game in ’88 (his team, Clay County, lost to Ballard). He was on the Wildcat club that got its heart broken by Christian Laettner. And he’s banking that you’ll find his hoops career unforgettable.

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