Attorney General Russell Coleman discussed a wide range of priorities this weekend on WKYT’s ‘Kentucky Newsmakers with Bill Bryant’. See below for highlights or to watch the interview, click here. (The Attorney General’s interview begins at the 11:30 minute mark):
Domestic Violence Prevention and Prosecution
"There are examples across this Commonwealth of offenders continuing to offend, continuing to harm. Our goal is deterrence. We want to punish those offenders. We want to incapacitate them. But the gold standard in law enforcement, and that's in any of these offenses, but especially domestic violence, is to deter the conduct. And so, my priority, as Attorney General this short session of the General Assembly, is to seek enhanced penalties for repeat offenders, those that continue to offend. We want to elevate these misdemeanors, a series of misdemeanors, to felony offenses.
"I applaud the leadership of Chairman Tipton… The bill that Chairman Tipton carried, enhancing these penalties passed out of the House of Representatives unanimously. Think about that. Unanimously. We are rowing together, and my hope is at the end of this session, we'll be able to enhance these penalties. And then it's up to me. It's up to prosecutors and law enforcement."
Launch of Kentucky’s First Ever Statewide Youth Addiction Prevention Initiative ‘Better Without It’
"What we're talking about is an environment where one pill can and is killing our sons and daughters. I stood with Coach Brohm from the University of Louisville and Coach Mingione from right here in Lexington—talk about an extraordinary, charismatic man that really lives his faith—to announce this effort. It's called ‘Better Without It.’ It is use of, and we will slowly be rolling out NIL announcements with UK players, with UofL players, with Western players down in Western Kentucky University, but the use of coaches looking at the camera and saying—You want to play on this court? You want to wear this blue jersey? You're better off without it. You're better off not taking this substance.
"What we're selling is a prevention message. What we're selling is you're better off without it. And we know that someone like me pounding that podium telling kids don’t do drugs—we know that the efficacy is questionable. My kids don’t listen to me anyway, but we know that our kids listen to influencers. They listen and they buy products based upon what they see on social media. We’re going to leverage that and do good with that and save lives.”
$110 Million Kroger Settlement
"Kroger was part of the problem. Kroger is part of the solution. We're taking that money, the $110 million—half of that goes to cities and counties through a formula, going to counties like Harlan County to help mitigate the harm there by the drug epidemic. The other half of the money goes to the Opioid Abatement Commission to fund efforts like our Better Without It effort, to fund efforts like Coaches Against Overdoses, a program that I was chatting with earlier today that's leveraging relationships between high school coaches and the influence they have over their players to talk about prevention. We have to do a better job of taking those resources from those that created the harm, created this market for dope, this market for opioids, and doing good with these proceeds."
Justice for Scott County Sheriff’s Deputy Caleb Conley
"The toughest day and the proudest day—they existed together—that I’ve had in the year plus as Attorney General, was a couple weeks ago in that Scott County courtroom as the judge sentenced this menace. Deputy Conley lost his life on the side of I-75 less than 10 seconds after he exited his cruiser—he was ambushed. Life without possibility of parole, plus 70 years. This offender also shot a gentleman here in Fayette County, someone that will be dealing with significant medical issues for the rest of his life. This was an outcome that I was pleased that we were able to protect the Commonwealth from this shooter. He’ll never harm anyone again.
"That’s the kind of collaboration that we’re going to do in the AG’s office, because working together with the Fayette County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office, the Kentucky State Police, the AG’s office—that’s what I’m talking about when I say we need to tear down silos. That was a great example of that."
Senator Mitch McConnell’s Legacy
"Senator Mitch McConnell has been the most significant elected official in my lifetime, and the most significant elected official in this Commonwealth since Henry Clay. He will leave a long, long shadow. I look forward to collaborating with whomever serves in that role after Senator McConnell leaves office. But he has had a dramatic impact in our Commonwealth and his legacy is a strong one and one to be proud of.
"At one point, I was honored to serve as Senator McConnell’s legal counsel. I was an FBI Agent that lost the ability to walk. I was a paraplegic. I left my dream job as an FBI Special Agent. Senator McConnell changed the trajectory of my life by affording me the opportunity to serve as his legal counsel. I was honored to do that. Honored to still work on issues that I cared about, law enforcement issues, with a limp. I could do that with a cane and with a limp. I couldn’t be an FBI Agent anymore. And Senator McConnell is both a friend and a mentor that I respect deeply."
Original source can be found here.