Blog — Whitney Westerfield

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Until the War is Over

Back in May (2014), I made a trip to Frankfort to catch up with a school group that was taking a daylong field trip around the historic sites of the Capitol City.  The Heritage Christian Academy Warriors (4th graders) have made a trip up to the Capitol both years I've been in office, and like any other school group visiting during the interim (when I'm not already up there for session) if I can I make the trek to Frankfort too meet them.  I hate missing a chance to visit with school kids about the job I'm blessed to have — one of these kids from the district is going to have this job one day in the future!

I caught up with the group and took them to the Senate chamber and had a chance to talk to them for nearly 45 minutes.  They asked all kinds of questions and I gave all kinds of answers!  Since we had the room to ourselves and plenty of time, I explained a lot about the kind of things we do, good and bad.  One of the students asked if I had ever been scared doing my job.  Interesting question.  Easy answer.  Yes.

I've been nervous before, about speaking or carrying a bill on the floor, but those are just nerves about sounding stupid or saying something inaccurate or embarrassing.  Fear, on the hand, hasn't been felt nearly as often.  In fact, I can only think of one occasion.  Carrying Senate Bill 8, the "ultrasound bill," in the House Health & Welfare Committee.  The bill, just like others over the years before now, had come out of the Senate and died at the hands of a pro-choice Committee Chairman and pro-choice House leaders — some publicly and unabashedly, and others under cover of anonymity and secret, if not outright deceit.  This year, the bill had sat without a hearing in the House Health & Welfare Committee for over two months when a discharge petition was filed in the house.  A discharge petition, if passed by a simple majority (51 of 100), would remove the unheard bill from the Committee and bring it before the full House for a vote on the floor.  This year, despite 61 co-sponsors of a house bill that contained SB8 language, 49 democrats and a couple of republicans (many of whom brag on themselves for co-sponsoring the same kind of bill) either walked out on the discharge petition vote or simply failed to show up for it at all.  The petition failed to pass.  Naturally, the next move of House leadership was to hear the bill in Committee - it's an election year so they can't ignore the bill altogether.  That's where I come in.

The House Health & Welfare Committee is perceived, fairly or unfairly, as unfriendly territory for conservatives.  Liberals control the membership head count, and the tension between committee members of opposite ideologies is palpable and sometimes expressly shown.  Even the committee members themselves refer to the committee by its common nickname "Hell & Warfare."  This was the lions' den, and I was ordered to march in knowing legislative defeat was certain.

I approached my testimony with great fright, believing I would be attacked or my words twisted by the committee members or the media or both.  But I carried on. I presented the bill calmly and directly, explaining the bill didn't actually do anything to expressly restrict abortion at all (no matter how much I wish would).

My testimony fell on more deaf ears than not. Those who wish to protect abortion rights made half-true claims about the bill, and particularly galling was the act by two of the most fiercely prochoice members of the committee to make the initial motion and second for the bill to be voted on — they knew they had numbers.

I explained the situation as it unfolded (edited for time and content, of course)  to these school kids. I told them how scared I was of that meeting and the battle that would come my way.  It was at that moment when a young man raised his hand to ask this profound question:

So you fight until the war is over?

Yep.

A reporter politely asked me once why we (conservatives) keep fighting for prolife legislation when we know it will continue to be defeated.  We keep fighting because those lives should be protected, and we can't give up until they are.  I trust God's plan, regardless of the outcome.  He can *seal* the mouths of the lions!

 

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Gaming, indeed.

My position against gaming is well known, particularly in Frankfort.  Gaming lobbyists never waste time bringing it up to me.  Despite my personal, philosophical objection to the idea of gaming I'm still willing to have a learned discussion about it.  I'm open to hearing opposing view points.  My job as a legislator requires me to keep an open mind and weigh ideas.  If anyone who supports gaming ever came to me to talk about it I'd be happy to have that discussion, but unfortunately, so far, their arguments have failed even the slightest examination.  There are lots of questions gaming advocates haven't answered.  If they want it to pass, like advocates for any legislation, they must be prepared to answer the questions and own the results - good or bad.

A recent article in the New York Times discussed some of these questions in the context of a study done by a partnership of universities.  It's a short read that I highly recommend, regardless of your position.

The debate in Kentucky circles the often cited "let the people decide" sales pitch.  I posed to gaming supporters during the 2014 session the following hypothetical:  If we moved such a law forward, and put the gaming expansion matter on the ballot for voters to defeat or pass, would the gaming industry consent to spend just as much money advertising the woes of gaming as it does advertising it's merits?  Supporters conveniently fail to say out loud what everyone in state politics believes - the best ad campaign usually wins.  How many of you reading this believes the gaming industry would be outspent by those of us who oppose gaming?  Casinos made about $35 Billion in 2011. The Family Foundation and the Kentucky Baptist Convention don't exactly compete.

While I'm at it, here are a couple more questions that must be answered by the gaming industry:

  1. What portion of your patrons are in the middle and lower income groups of the communities/regions where the casino exists?

  2. What do you do to educate your patrons that you are taking steps to attract prolonged gaming? For example, do you inform them that slots are designed to entice more gaming (i.e., "near misses" and penny bets)?

  3. What financial information about patrons do you collect?

  4. How much do middle and low income gamblers lose as a percentage of their income?

  5. What impact do casinos have on existing businesses in the areas where they operate?​

  6. Excluding management, what are the mean and median incomes for your job positions?​

  7. What losses in revenue do churches and non-profits experience when a casino enters a region?​

  8. Similarly, do churches and non-profits experience an increase in service requests and outreach in regions where you operate?​

  9. What amount, if any, do you set aside to provide for financial education programming and does that programming use a curriculum that cautions against gaming habits? How do you make your patrons aware of the education programming?​

 These are just a few to start with.  So far, I haven't had a conversation with a gaming supporter that didn't bring up a handful more that went unanswered.  I'm not holding my breath.

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Thomas W. Westerfield

Thomas Watkins Westerfield

December 23, 1939 – September 11, 2012

A Christian.  A son. A brother. A student. A farmer. A basketball player. A teacher. A husband. A father. A friend. An administrator. A leader. A disciplinarian. A comforter. A builder. A tinkerer. A disaster responder. A Ham Radio operator. A thinker and a doer.  Above all, He was a servant.

One year ago today, my father, Tom Westerfield, died while doing something he loved - running an antique Allis Chalmers tractor - on the small farm I share with my brothers.  My mother, five brothers and I miss my father today more than ever, and I continue to encounter moments when I wish I had his counsel.   Among the most difficult truths I face are that I'll never have a child to grow up hearing him laugh and learning from his incredible intellect and wisdom, and that I couldn't share my Senate victory with him.  But I also know I wouldn't be where I am today without him.

On behalf of the Westerfield family, thank you for your prayers, encouragement and service to us over the last year.

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Coffee

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Come out for Coffee with the Senator! I've got my colleagues in the House that represent a part of Christian County, Reps. Lynn Bechler (4th), John Tilley (8th) and Myron Dossett (9th), joining me for a legislative coffee!

Where: Starbucks in Hopkinsville, 110 Clinic Drive

Who's Coming: YOU!

When: Saturday, August 31st, 2013 at 8:00am

Hear from us and let us hear from You!

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Marriage

I campaigned during 2012 for the Kentucky State Senate saying often that traditional marriage was under attack. Most folks didn't realize at the time what I and other watchers of the law saw coming, the United States Supreme Court was on a collision course with traditional marriage arguments in cases involving California's Proposition 8 (a gay marriage ban) and the Defense of Marriage Act ("DOMA"). Oral arguments before the Court are this week and a ruling will come in a few months. Traditional marriage protections, including Kentucky's constitutional amendment, are in danger of being ruled unconstitutional and thus struck down. Make no mistake, the battle over marriage is underway and unfortunately, there are many instances where we're losing.

Marriage is a sacred covenant between a man and a woman and God, yet this idea is being torn down and diminished. So many strive to paint such values as discriminatory.

Take this passage from a blog article today:

Pastors in Canada are already facing lawsuits for simply preaching about marriage from the Bible. Tolerance is demanded of Christians but in this pluralistic society, little, if any, tolerance is afforded to Christian beliefs. Christians aren’t the antagonists here, but they do seem to have fewer rights than those engaging in lawfare to bring about forced acceptance.

Read the article here for several examples of this trend: Christians being persecuted for their beliefs which are seen as discriminatory all while the discriminatory work of anti-Christian activists are seen as anything but.

The author of this post nails it and I encourage you to take a look.

I hold out hope that the Court will not strike down laws that the people have chosen in various states to enact, Kentucky included. But as long as God's will keeps me in the State Senate I will continue to advocate for the protection of traditional marriage that represents the relationship and covenant God intended.

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