Wednesday, January 06, 1999
Capitol beckons Lucas
New congressman will feel impact at oath time
BY PATRICK CROWLEY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
WASHINGTON — Ken Lucas figures it will sink in on his way over to Capitol Hill this morning.
“This has been such a big part of my life for the last year, but even with being here in Washington these last few days it hasn't really hit me yet,” Mr. Lucas said Tuesday evening.
“I'm sure when I head out to the Capitol this morning, and walk down to the floor and raise my hand to take the oath, then it will hit me. Then it will sink in.”
Mr. Lucas, the son of a Grant County farmer, the first member of his family to attend college, a business, political and community leader who had a hand in building Northern Kentucky into what it is today, takes the oath of office at noon today as a member of the 106th Congress.
“If you would have told me even a year ago that we would be here, getting ready for the swearing-in, I would have said you were crazy,” said Lance Lucas of Richwood, Mr. Lucas' son.
“But it's happening. And it is just great. It is unbelievable.”
Mr. Lucas, 65, the former Boone County judge-executive and a longtime community, business and political leader in Northern Kentucky, won the Fourth District House race in November over Republican Gex “Jay” Williams in what Washington political columnist Stuart Rothenberg recently called one of the nastiest races in the country.
“Yeah, it was tough, and at times it looked bad,” Mr. Lucas said Tuesday night at the Capitol Hill Hyatt Regency, where more than 100 of his friends and supporters who traveled to Washington for the swearing-in ceremony are staying.
“But if there is one thing I learned in life, it's that the good times are never quite as good as they seem, but neither are the bad times,” he said. “So I was able to handle it pretty well.”
Mr. Lucas is already gearing up for his role in the 106th Congress.
Word was circulating here Tuesday that the House may be voting as early as today or Thursday on recommiting the articles of impeachment
against President Clinton to the U.S. Senate.
There has been talk by Mr. Clinton's attorneys that the two articles of impeachment that passed the House in December are invalid because they were approved by a lame-duck Congress.
But it's not clear if such a vote will be taken.
“It's not on my agenda they gave us,” Mr. Lucas said Tuesday. “And no one has said anything about that to me. I can't really comment on that until I know for sure something is happening.”
The subject of Mr. Clinton is a sensitive one for Mr. Lucas. He ran, successfully, as a conservative in what had been a Republican congressional district for more than 30 years. And he did not tout, nor even mention, Mr. Clinton while campaigning last year.
Northern Kentucky Republicans who hope to knock Mr. Lucas off in two years were hoping the impeachment debate had stretched into January, forcing Mr. Lucas to vote on the articles of impeachment.
The GOP knew Mr. Lucas was in a tough spot if he had to vote on that issue. If he voted for impeachment, he would have alienated himself from a Democratic Party that helped get him elected and which he must work with in Washington.
And if he had voted against impeachment the Republicans back in Northern Kentucky would have a huge issue against him in 2000.
But for now Mr. Lucas is talking about tobacco and creating jobs in Ashland, Ky., and other parts of the 4th District and settling in to his new job and life in Washington.
“There may be some talk that more tobacco legislation is coming up,” Mr. Lucas said, referring to Kentucky's number one cash crop. “I don't know exactly what is being proposed, but I'll fight for our farmers ... and work to make sure the (federal) price support program stays in tact.
“My dad grew tobacco, you know. So I know how important it is to Kentucky's farmers,” he said.
On Tuesday night Mr. Lucas threw a party for many of the Northern Kentuckians who traveled here for his swearing-in.
Among those at the cocktail party were builder Ralph Drees; attorney Bill Robinson; real estate firm owner Jim Huff and his wife, Burt, the chairwoman of the Kenton County Airport Board; Hebron banker Mickey Connor; CIGNA Financial executive Bob Sathe; former Kenton County judge-executive and Independence businessman Biz Cain; and road contractors R.C. Durr and Richard Crist.
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