Thursday, January 27, 2000
Roeding targeted by zealots
Hay, Cetrulo may split GOP
BY PATRICK CROWLEY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
FRANKFORT — This is the thanks the anti-abortion movement gives one of its greatest soldiers in the state legislature.
State Sen. Dick Roeding, a Lakeside Park Republican who has stood tall for a decade in Frankfort when it comes to pushing, supporting and voting for bills designed to reduce abortions, has drawn a primary challenge from Robert Hay, one of Northern Kentucky Right to Life's political hit men.
Bob Cetrulo, the Covington lawyer who heads the local Right to Life organization, has tapped Mr. Hay — a first-term Boone County commissioner from Florence — to try to knock off Mr. Roeding.
Apparently the current Senate Republican leadership — Mr. Roeding is president pro tem — isn't moving aggressively enough for Mr. Cetrulo on some of the abortion-related legislation that GOP lawmakers from Northern Kentucky have filed.
So Mr. Cetrulo and Mr. Hay put their single-focus heads together and decided to go after one of the Republicans who not only helped build the party in Northern Kentucky but who also has carried the flag for years for the anti-abortion movement.
This, as I have said time and time again, it what happens when zealots get a grip on power.
They promote their cause at all cost, no matter who or what gets in the way.
Republicans should have seen this coming.
All they had to do was look across the aisle at how Mr. Cetrulo, Mr. Hay and former state Sen. Gex Williams trashed Democrats who fought for anti-abortion legislation in Frankfort.
Former lawmakers Bill Donnermeyer of Bellevue and Joe Meyer of Covington, both Roman Catholics opposed to abortion, drew the wrath of Right to Life for not jumping high enough when Mr. Cetrulo said “leap.”
Many GOP candidates over the years have jumped into bed with Mr. Cetrulo, who seduced them with his pledges of support and his attacks on Democrats — and Republicans, too, if they didn't drop to their knees and kiss his ring.
The problem is, if you go to sleep with a political boss like Mr. Cetrulo, you have to wake up with him. Maybe more Republicans who are opposed to abortion but recognized the autocratic tendencies of Mr. Cetrulo should have stood up to him along the way.
None did. Now, as one GOP lawmaker from Northern Kentucky said Tuesday, the 11th Senate District primary between Mr. Hay and Mr. Roeding “is going to tear the Republican Party apart in Northern Kentucky.”
That is no stretch. Mr. Hay has already come out with some nasty swipes at Mr. Roeding, basically saying the retired 69-year-old senator — who has never shown signs of fatigue or wear in Frankfort — is too old to relate to working people and families with children in school.
On that point, it should be fascinat ing to hear how Mr. Hay explains how he can relate to families with children in school, since he chooses to home-school his own six kids.
Mr. Hay also may try to make the race a Boone vs. Kenton contest, which could be trouble for Mr. Roeding if Mr. Hay is able to exploit the parochialism of voting for a candidate based on where he or she lives.
Most of the district's voters live in Boone County, though Mr. Roeding, who lives in Kenton County, has run well in the Boone in past elections.
Mr. Hay's candidacy also could be bad news for Kenton County's other Republican senator up for re-election this year, Jack Westwood of Erlanger.
With Mr. Roeding facing a primary, some of the money that would have gone to Mr. Westwood — who is challenged by Independence Democrat Jaimie Henson — may now be diverted to the Roeding camp.
That's just too bad. This is about abortion, and Mr. Cetrulo has spoken.
Patrick Crowley covers Kentucky politics for The Kentucky Enquirer. He can be reached at 578-5581, or (502) 875-7526 in Frankfort, or by e-mail at crowleys@cinci.infi.net.
