David L. Williams
Encyclopedia
David Lewis Williams is a lawyer and politician from the U.S. state
of Kentucky
. A Republican
, he has represented Kentucky's 16th district in the Kentucky Senate
since 1987. When Republicans gained control of the state senate in 2000, Williams was chosen as President of the Senate
, and he has held that post continuously since. In September 2010, he announced he would seek the Republican nomination for governor
in the 2011 gubernatorial election
. On May 17, 2011, David Williams secured the Republican nomination over Tea Party backed Phil Moffet. He lost the general election to incumbent Democratic
governor Steve Beshear
by 20 points.
on May 28, 1953. He is the only child of Lewis and Flossie Williams. Williams' father was a schoolteacher and basketball coach, but rural Cumberland County High School was unable to pay him a high enough salary to support his family, so he ran for clerk of the Cumberland County
fiscal court. After his initial election, he never faced any opposition for the office, which he held for 28 years. Because of his father's office, David Williams met several politicians, including Senator
John Sherman Cooper and Representative
Tim Lee Carter
, early in life, which he credits for his interest in politics. In his teenage years, he became affiliated with the Young Republicans
.
While attending Cumberland County High School, Williams was a strong student and captain
of the football
team. He served as class president and successfully lobbied school administrators to re-instate the senior trip to Florida
. After high school, he attended the University of Kentucky
, where he was a member of Kappa Alpha Order
Fraternity. He earned a Bachelor's degree
in 1975; in 1977, he earned his Juris Doctor
from the Brandeis School of Law
at the University of Louisville
. After graduation, he returned to Burkesville, where he began a law practice.
In 1976, Williams married the former Elaine Grubbs. The couple had no children. In 2001, Williams left his wife and filed for divorce, claiming their marriage was "irretrievably broken".
Williams is currently married to Robyn Williams of Russell County, Kentucky, a former district judge. They are raising her children Madeline and Andrew.
had a 3-to-1 voter registration advantage in the county, Williams lost the election. His next run for public office came in 1984, when he challenged incumbent legislator Richard Fryman in the Republican primary election
to represent Kentucky's 53rd district (Clinton
, Cumberland and Wayne
counties) in the Kentucky House of Representatives
. In an election where a myriad of local issues resulted in ten incumbents in the House of Representatives losing their respective primaries statewide, Williams garnered 2,450 votes to Fryman's 1,804; a third candidate, Kirby R. Ringley, got 1,519 votes. With no Democratic
challenger, Williams took the seat. At age thirty-one, he was the youngest member of the House of Representatives at the time.
As a member of the House, Williams served on the Education Committee. His most notable actions were in opposition to an education reform package proposed by Governor Martha Layne Collins
, a Democrat, during a special legislative session in July 1985. Williams opposed a provision of the plan that required county officials to raise additional tax revenue in order to participate in school construction program; he said that counties which were owed large amounts in delinquent taxes would have to raise tax rates above the state minimum in order to collect the requisite funds. He offered several amendments to the plan, including the repeal of a provision to pilot a career ladder
program for educators and a requirement that the state retirement system pay the full health insurance premiums of retired teachers and their spouses. All of Williams' amendments were defeated, except one to maintain the same qualifications for writing aides that were required of kindergarten
aides. After the session, Williams and Representative John Harper charged that Collins delayed approval of public works grant projects in their districts in retaliation for their opposition to the reform plan; Collins denied that.
in 1986. The seat, representing the 16th district (Adair
, Casey
, Cumberland, Green
, Metcalfe
, Russell
and Taylor
counties), was left open by the retirement of incumbent legislator Doug Moseley
of Campbellsville
. In the Republican primary, Williams defeated Taylor County Attorney
Larry Noe, also of Campbellsville, by a vote of 6,695 to 6,032. In the general election, he beat Democrat Willard N. Smith by a vote of 14,461 to 11,534.
In 1987, Williams was named the state organizational chairman for Vice-President George H. W. Bush
's presidential campaign
, and he was a delegate to the 1988 Republican National Convention
. Also in 1988, he became the chairman of the Cumberland County Republican Party.
In December 1988, Governor Wallace Wilkinson, a Democrat, called a special legislative session to consider the creation of a state lottery
. Williams proposed an amendment, which did not pass, to allow counties to decide whether or not to sell lottery tickets, similar to the state's existing local option
liquor laws. Ultimately, Williams was one of only five senators to vote against the lottery bill.
At the General Assembly
's organizational session prior to the 1990 legislative session, Williams announced that he would challenge Jack Trevey for his position as Republican caucus chair
. Williams lost his bid by a vote of 5 to 3.
The major issue of the 1990 legislative session was crafting a new, reformed school system due to a 1988 Kentucky Supreme Court
decision that declared the entire Kentucky public school system unconstitutional. Although Williams was not a voting member of the Assembly's education task force, he regularly attended their meetings and contributed his input. When the Kentucky Education Reform Act was presented on the Senate floor, Williams supported it. His position drew the ire of many in his party not only because he crossed party lines to support the bill, but also because the bill included steep tax increases to pay for the education reforms. The bill passed, and Williams was praised by the Lexington Herald-Leader
as one of the best legislators of 1990.
Following the 1990 session, Republican caucus chairman Jack Trevey died, and Williams gained the support of four of the Senate's seven Republicans to succeed Trevey as interim caucus chairman. Senate minority leader
John Rogers was not among those who supported Williams and did not make the motion to seat Williams on the Legislative Research Commission
, a seat to which Williams' position entitled him.
Williams considered running for lieutenant governor
on a ticket
with Congressman
Larry Hopkins
in 1991, but some within the party worried that Williams' support of the Kentucky Education Reform Act – and its associated tax hike – would hurt Hopkins' ability to campaign on a platform of lowering taxes. Instead, Hopkins named Williams as his campaign manager. Hopkins defeated Larry Forgy
in the Republican primary; Williams resigned as campaign manager following that primary.
During the 1992 legislative session, Williams and fellow Republican Gene Huff walked out of the Senate chambers just before a vote on a prevailing wage
bill. Williams and Huff were protesting the fact that Senator Tim Shaughnessy would not allow testimony about the bill.
Near the end of the session, the House of Representatives sent three bills related to abortion
to the Senate. The bills would have required the consent of a parent or judge for a teenager to receive an abortion, required the distribution of information about abortion alternatives to women seeking an abortion, and imposed additional health regulations on abortion clinics. The bills were assigned to the Senate Judiciary Committee, whose chair refused to bring them up for a committee vote. All eleven Senate Republicans filed a discharge petition
to force the bills onto the floor for a vote by the full senate, but no Democrats voted for the petitions, leaving Republicans well short of the 20 votes needed for approval. Williams and fellow Senator Tim Philpot filed suit to have the Senate rules declared unconstitutional, to force a vote on the bills. The suit was based on a non-binding advisory opinion issued in 1978 by then-Attorney General
Robert L. Stephens
which said that legislative rules could not contradict the state constitution
, and cited a section of the state constitution, "Whenever a committee refuses or fails to report a bill submitted to it in a reasonable time, the same may be called up by any member."
A Franklin County
circuit court
judge ruled that the committee system was not unconstitutional and further, that lawmakers could not be sued for actions taken in their capacity as legislators because of the state constitution's doctrine of separation of powers
. Williams and Philpot appealed to the Kentucky Court of Appeals
who, in a 2–1 decision, stated that "We believe that the appellants have raised a significant question concerning the constitutional validity" of the Senate rules, but added the Court was "not inclined to resolve that question" before the end of the legislative session. The Court of Appeals asked for a full briefing and a hearing at a later date, but Williams and Philpot appealed to the Kentucky Supreme Court
in order to force action before the end of the session. The Supreme Court ruled that the case was rendered moot by the fact that the Senate's rules expire at the end of the session,
During the 1994 legislative session, Williams opposed a bill to change workers' compensation
because he said it was full of loopholes and did not reduce employer costs enough, which he claimed unnecessarily inflated the cost of doing business in Kentucky and cost the state jobs. An amendment offered by Williams that would have reduced the number of claims an employee could file was rejected. Williams also charged that the bill had been unduly influenced by special interests representing doctors and lawyers and made thinly-veiled accusations that legislators in the House of Representatives, including state AFL-CIO
president Ron Cyrus
, may have been motivated by personal interests in crafting it.
. In the Republican primary, Williams faced opposition from Philip Thompson, executive director of the Kentucky Republican Party and a previous president of the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, and Denny Ormerod, a machinist from Louisville
who ran only a limited campaign. Though Williams and Thompson represented opposing factions in the state Republican Party – Williams managed Larry Hopkins' 1991 primary campaign while Thompson worked full-time for Hopkins' primary opponent Larry Forgy – the two virtually ignored each other in the primary campaign, choosing instead to focus their rhetoric against Ford. Thompson did question Williams' conservative
credentials on grounds that he voted in favor of the tax increase associated with the Kentucky Education Reform Act. Ormerod's campaign largely focused on socially conservative
issues, but it was Williams who secured the endorsement of Kentucky Right to Life
, who cited his lawsuit to free three anti-abortion bills from committee in the 1992 legislative session. As a result of the largely uninspiring primary campaigns, there was only an 18% voter turnout in the Republican primary. Williams won the nomination with 49,918 votes to Thompson's 25,017 and Ormerod's 7,158.
In the general election, Ford, the Senate Majority Whip
and a former governor, raised $2.4 million for his campaign, about eight times the amount Williams raised. Given his limited finances, Williams relied on news conferences and interviews on small town radio stations to get his message out. Williams repeatedly lamented that Ford would not agree to a formal debate; Ford said that could not be arranged because Congress was still in session and he needed to be in Washington
. During the campaign, Williams attempted to paint Ford as too liberal
for Kentucky voters, citing his votes against the Gulf War and Clarence Thomas' confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court
. Both candidates declared their support for a Balanced Budget Amendment
, but Williams said that Ford's support of pork barrel
projects for the state and a procedural vote that kept the amendment from a vote in 1991 were evidence that Ford's support was not genuine. Williams received only 477,002 votes (36%) to Ford's 834,678 (63%).
for the 29th district (Adair, Cumberland, Casey, and Monroe
counties). He was defeated in the Republican primary in May 1993 by his childhood friend, Fred Capps. Williams cited his late start in campaigning due to a special legislative session called by Governor Brereton Jones
as the main factor in his defeat.
At the 1997 organizational session of the General Assembly, Senate Republicans, outnumbered 20–18, banded with four discontented Democrats from Eastern Kentucky
to oust Senate President
John "Eck" Rose in favor of conservative Democrat Larry Saunders. The dissident Democrats said that their region had been ignored by Senate leadership. Republicans agreed to support Saunders in exchange for more seats on the powerful Senate Appropriations and Revenue Committee, majority membership on two unspecified Senate committees, half of the seats on the Senate Education Committee, and chamber rules that reduced the power of the majority party. Under those rules, Saunders said any proposed legislation that had the votes to pass would come to the floor rather than being killed by a committee; with this provision in place, Republicans were able to pass more of their legislative agenda, including the restrictions on abortion that Williams and colleague Tim Philpot sought in the 1992 session. Williams was the only Republican who did not vote for Saunders; having already promised his vote to Rose, he abstained after the alliance of Republicans and Democrats was revealed.
In 1996, Governor Paul E. Patton
, a Democrat, named Williams to his Task Force on Postsecondary Education. The group was charged with devising ways to reform the state's system of higher education, including reducing the duplication of effort between the state's community college
s and technical school
s. When the plan was presented to the legislature in 1997, Williams successfully pushed for an amendment to earmark $2 million for programs to improve basic literacy education, citing estimates that up to 44% of the state's population was illiterate or not educated enough to take advantage of postsecondary education. During the 1997 session, the Kentucky Center for Public Issues, a private, nonprofit public policy center, conducted a survey of legislators, lobbyists and journalists that showed Williams as the tenth most effective state senator, second among Republicans. The same survey showed Williams as the most admired Republican in the Senate.
In February 1998, Williams was a major player in a power struggle among Senate Republicans. In the middle of the legislative session, he led an attempt to replace Republican minority leader Dan Kelly. When the Republican caucus met, Kelly survived by a vote of 9–9, but his influence was weakened by the challenge. During the caucus meeting, Williams charged Kelly ally and fellow Republican Senator Gex Williams of trying to recruit an opponent for him in the Republican primary. Gex Williams readily admitted to the recruitment, saying primaries were good for the party. The incident was one of several clashes between the two Williams, who are not related. David Williams was regarded as a party moderate
for, among other things, his vote in favor of the Kentucky Education Reform Act and its related tax increase; Gex Williams was a hard-line religious conservative
who spent much of his career trying to repeal or weaken the Act.
In 1998, Gex Williams had entered the race to replace Jim Bunning
as Fourth District
congressman, David Williams backed Rick Robinson, his rival's primary opponent. David Williams claimed he was trying to counter the effect of Gex Williams' endorsements by Gary Bauer
and William Bennett
, who he said were outsiders who didn't really know the candidates. Saying he knew both candidates personally, David Williams characterized Gex Williams as mean-spirited and "a full-time anarchist". Robinson lost the primary, but Gex Williams was defeated by Democrat Ken Lucas
in the general election. When Gex Williams, who did not seek re-election to his Senate seat in order to run for the House, left the chamber at the end of 1998, David Williams blocked a resolution commending his years of service, a traditional honor for long-serving legislators.
In early 1999, weakened by the attempt to remove him as floor leader, Dan Kelly did not seek the post again at the General Assembly's organizational meeting. Williams declared his candidacy for the position, and ally Charlie Borders became a candidate for minority caucus chairman. Williams' leadership team was elected, and Larry Saunders was re-elected unanimously as President of the Senate. As minority leader, Williams negotiated an agreement with Saunders to allow Republicans to hold a majority in three Senate committees and to allow Republicans to chair those committees.
In July 1999, Louisville Senator Dan Seum changed his party affiliation from Democrat to Republican, shifting the balance of power from a 20–18 edge for the Democrats to a tie between Democrats and Republicans. The switch called into question how legislation would proceed through the chamber. Historically, the flow of legislation on the floor had been managed by the majority leader, but with an equal number of Democrats and Republicans, neither Williams nor Democratic floor leader David Karem could be considered the majority leader. Among the options considered were allowing Karem to retain control as before, allowing Williams and Karem to alternate control daily or weekly, allowing members of the chamber to choose between the two, or flipping a coin
to determine who would be in control. Paducah
Senator Bob Leeper rendered the discussion moot when, after talking with Williams, he also switched party affiliations from Democratic to Republican in August 1999, giving Republicans control of that chamber for the first time in state history.
Following Leeper's switch, Williams announced that the Republicans, now in the majority, would oust Senate President Larry Saunders and elect a new president. Williams cited the party's deteriorating relationship with Saunders after he called a Democratic caucus meeting, held before Leeper's switch, in which Democrats pledged to block Republicans from exercising floor leadership during the upcoming legislative session. Williams called the move an act of bad faith by Saunders. Saunders pledged to resist the Republicans' ouster, claiming the state constitution called for the election of the Senate President to a two-year, uninterrupted term during the Assembly's odd-year organizational sessions and made no provision for unseating him in the interim. After requesting an advisory opinion on the issue from Attorney General Ben Chandler
and threatening to take the case to the Kentucky Supreme Court, Saunders backed down in October 1999, announcing he would resign rather than wage a protracted legal battle. The move left Williams, the longest-serving Republican in the Senate and the third-longest serving members in the entire chamber, as Sauders' presumptive replacement.
With Democratic Governor Paul Patton, freed from a constitutional one-term limit by a constitutional amendment in 1992, seeking re-election in 1999
, Williams gave Patton his endorsement, snubbing Republican candidate Peppy Martin
. Martin won the Republican nomination after most of the party's potential high-profile candidates chose not to run, citing concerns that the state's campaign finance laws would make challenging an incumbent difficult. Although Republican Senator Jim Bunning
endorsed Martin and encouraged fellow party leaders to do the same, most Republicans shied away from Martin's candidacy due to her erratic campaign style and open support of abortion rights. In the general election Patton garnered 352,099 votes, 60.6 percent of the total; Martin finished with just 128,788 votes, barely besting Reform Party
candidate Gatewood Galbraith
, who received 88,930 votes.
Williams and Democratic Speaker of the House Jody Richards
both criticized Governor Patton early in the legislative session for presenting his budget and plan for tax reform to the legislature as a single package, rather than separately, as had been customary for previous governors. Elements of the tax plan – in particular, a seven-cent-per-gallon hike in the gasoline tax – were considered unlikely to pass in isolation, and Williams and Richards believed Patton had bundled the budget and tax plan in order to make it harder for legislators to oppose these elements. Senate Republicans remained firmly against enacting any new taxes for most of the session, hampering the General Assembly's ability to pass a bundled budget. Williams was able to hold his caucus together against tax increases until the last few days of the session, when they acquiesced on enacting a six percent tax on out-of-state phone calls. Still, Republicans claimed victory for having defeated Patton's larger tax plan.
During the session, Williams also forcefully criticized Patton for trying to reverse elements of a workers' compensation
reform package Patton had passed during his first term and opposed a Democrat-backed plan for distributing federal money from the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement to county governments instead of allowing the state government to allocate it toward a centralized plan for reducing the state's dependence on tobacco. Late in the session, Williams accused Patton of approaching two unnamed Republican senators and asking them to vote with the Democratic caucus to oust him as Senate president. Patton acknowledged meeting with "more than two" Republican senators, but insisted that the legislators had initated the meetings to express their displeasure with Williams' leadership and that he never asked them to help oust Williams. After the session, and in the lead-up to the 2000 legislative elections, the strained relationship between Patton and Williams deteriorated when Patton said Williams had pledged to help him pass his proposed gasoline tax increase at a meeting at the Governor's Mansion
in December 1999. Patton claimed Williams had made a list of Republican senators who would support the increase, those who would oppose it, and those who might be persuaded to support it. Williams denied that he ever pledged to help pass the tax and claimed Patton might have been mistaken regarding the details of their December meeting because, during the meeting, he was "drinking liquor and talking big." "He wasn't falling down drunk. He was mouthy drunk," Williams said. The fractured relationship between Patton and Williams endured for the remainder of Patton's term in office.
In the 2000 legislative elections, Republicans maintained their 20–18 advantage in the Senate. Previously limited to 60-day meetings in even-numbered years, the Kentucky General Assembly was allowed a 30-day session in odd-numbered years by a constitutional amendment passed in 2000. As the 2001 session opened, the Republican-controlled Senate and Democrat-controlled House clashed over the makeup of joint committee
s that meet in the interim between legislative sessions to study issues and draft legislation for the upcoming session. Senate Republicans called for equal representation on the committees to reflect their control of that chamber; Democrats insisted that, because the House had more members, the House should be represented by more members on the joint committees. Late in the session, Williams introduced a proposal to the bipartisan Legislative Research Commission
– which was made up of eight Democrats and eight Republicans – that would have allowed each chamber to name their own members to the joint interim committees, helping to resolve the parity issue. The vote was an 8–8 tie along strict party lines, and the issue remained unresolved. The disagreements over committee parity dominated the session, which counted legislation to clean up brownfield land
, to outlaw racial profiling
in police departments receiving state aid, and to designate the Appalachian dulcimer
as the state's official musical instrument among its few accomplishments. In July 2001, Williams and House Speaker Jody Richards reached an agreement to allow committees of four representatives and three senators to meet up to three times in advance of the 2002 legislative session.
One of the items left unaddressed in the 2001 legislative session was approving a redistricting plan for the state based on the 2000 Census. Republicans advocated for Governor Patton to call a special legislative session following the 2001 regular session for the purpose of considering redistricting, but Patton refused to call such a session unless House and Senate leaders had an agreed-upon plan in place first. Republicans charged that Patton was intentionally delaying the redistricting so that the 2002 legislative elections would take place with districts drawn by the Democrat-controlled General Assembly a decade earlier to favor Democratic candidates. Patton denied that charge. In September 2001, a group of Democratic senators claimed that the official census figures underrepresented the state's population by approximately 50,000 people, especially minorities, children, and the homeless. They asked that the Census Bureau
release scientifically-adjusted figures that would account for those underrepresented populations. Williams decried this request as another attempt by Democrats to forestall the redistricting debate until after the 2002 elections. In October 2001, the Census Bureau announced that it believed the adjusted figures were unreliable and refused to release them.
In the opening days of the 2002 General Assembly, House Democrats angered Senate Republicans by submitting maps of proposed districts for the House and Senate. Previously, each chamber had only submitted maps for its own districts. During the ensuing negotiations, Williams promised that Senate Republicans would vote for any redistricting plan the House devised for its districts if House Democrats would agree to do the same for the Senate, but House Speaker Jody Richards refused. After weeks of negotiations, the Assembly approved a plan that gave House Democrats most of what they wanted with regard to House districts and Senate Republicans most of what they wanted with regard to Senate districts. After Senate Democrats complained about the bill, House Majority Leader Greg Stumbo
chided them for "not [accepting] the fact that 20-18 means Republicans control the Senate" and encouraged them to campaign hard to win back the chamber in future elections.
Williams remains President of the Senate, being re-elected to represent his Senate district in November 2002, November 2006, and November 2010. In 2009, he announced that he would remain in the state Senate and not challenge incumbent Jim Bunning in the 2010 Republican senatorial primary. Bunning later announced that he would not seek reelection to a third term.
with state Agriculture Commissioner and former Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball
standout Richie Farmer.
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
. A Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
, he has represented Kentucky's 16th district in the Kentucky Senate
Kentucky Senate
The Kentucky Senate is the upper house of the Kentucky General Assembly. The Kentucky Senate is composed of 38 members elected from single-member districts throughout the Commonwealth. There are no term limits for Kentucky Senators...
since 1987. When Republicans gained control of the state senate in 2000, Williams was chosen as President of the Senate
President of the Kentucky Senate
President of the Kentucky Senate is an office created by a 1992 amendment to the Constitution of Kentucky. The President of the Senate is the highest ranking officer of that body and presides over the Senate.-History of the office:...
, and he has held that post continuously since. In September 2010, he announced he would seek the Republican nomination for governor
Governor of Kentucky
The Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky is the head of the executive branch of government in the U.S. state of Kentucky. Fifty-six men and one woman have served as Governor of Kentucky. The governor's term is four years in length; since 1992, incumbents have been able to seek re-election once...
in the 2011 gubernatorial election
Kentucky gubernatorial election, 2011
The 2011 Kentucky gubernatorial election took place to elect the governor of Kentucky on November 8, 2011. Incumbent Democrat Steve Beshear won re-election, defeating Republican challenger David L...
. On May 17, 2011, David Williams secured the Republican nomination over Tea Party backed Phil Moffet. He lost the general election to incumbent Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
governor Steve Beshear
Steve Beshear
Steven Lynn "Steve" Beshear is an American politician who is the 61st Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. A Democrat, Beshear previously served in the Kentucky House of Representatives from 1974 to 1979, was the state's Attorney General from 1980 to 1983, and was Lieutenant Governor from...
by 20 points.
Early life and family
David Williams was born in Burkesville, KentuckyBurkesville, Kentucky
Burkesville is a city in Cumberland County, Kentucky, United States. Nestled among the rolling foothills of Appalachia and bordered by the Cumberland River to the south and east, it is the county seat of Cumberland County...
on May 28, 1953. He is the only child of Lewis and Flossie Williams. Williams' father was a schoolteacher and basketball coach, but rural Cumberland County High School was unable to pay him a high enough salary to support his family, so he ran for clerk of the Cumberland County
Cumberland County, Kentucky
Cumberland County is a county located in the state of Kentucky in the United States. It was formed in 1799. As of 2000, the population was 7,147. Its county seat is Burkesville, Kentucky...
fiscal court. After his initial election, he never faced any opposition for the office, which he held for 28 years. Because of his father's office, David Williams met several politicians, including Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
John Sherman Cooper and Representative
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
Tim Lee Carter
Tim Lee Carter
Tim Lee Carter was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives for the commonwealth of Kentucky from 1965 till 1981.-Background:...
, early in life, which he credits for his interest in politics. In his teenage years, he became affiliated with the Young Republicans
Young Republicans
The Young Republicans is an organization for members of the Republican Party of the United States between the ages of 18 and 40. It has both a national organization and chapters in individual states....
.
While attending Cumberland County High School, Williams was a strong student and captain
Captain (sports)
In team sports, a captain is a title given to a member of the team. The title is frequently honorary, but in some cases the captain may have significant responsibility for strategy and teamwork while the game is in progress on the field...
of the football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
team. He served as class president and successfully lobbied school administrators to re-instate the senior trip to Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
. After high school, he attended the University of Kentucky
University of Kentucky
The University of Kentucky, also known as UK, is a public co-educational university and is one of the state's two land-grant universities, located in Lexington, Kentucky...
, where he was a member of Kappa Alpha Order
Kappa Alpha Order
Kappa Alpha Order is a social fraternity and fraternal order. Kappa Alpha Order has 124 active chapters, 3 provisional chapters, and 2 commissions...
Fraternity. He earned a Bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
in 1975; in 1977, he earned his Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...
from the Brandeis School of Law
Louis D. Brandeis School of Law
The Louis D. Brandeis School of Law is the law school of the University of Louisville. Established in 1846, it is the oldest law school in Kentucky and the fifth oldest in the country in continuous operation. The law school is named after Justice Louis Dembitz Brandeis, who served on the Supreme...
at the University of Louisville
University of Louisville
The University of Louisville is a public university in Louisville, Kentucky. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one of the first universities chartered west of the Allegheny Mountains. The university is mandated by the Kentucky General...
. After graduation, he returned to Burkesville, where he began a law practice.
In 1976, Williams married the former Elaine Grubbs. The couple had no children. In 2001, Williams left his wife and filed for divorce, claiming their marriage was "irretrievably broken".
Williams is currently married to Robyn Williams of Russell County, Kentucky, a former district judge. They are raising her children Madeline and Andrew.
State representative
Immediately after finishing law school in 1977, Williams challenged the incumbent county judge in Cumberland County. Although RepublicansRepublican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
had a 3-to-1 voter registration advantage in the county, Williams lost the election. His next run for public office came in 1984, when he challenged incumbent legislator Richard Fryman in the Republican primary election
Primary election
A primary election is an election in which party members or voters select candidates for a subsequent election. Primary elections are one means by which a political party nominates candidates for the next general election....
to represent Kentucky's 53rd district (Clinton
Clinton County, Kentucky
Clinton County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. It was formed in 1836. As of 2000, the population was 9,634. Its name is in honor of the seventh Governor of New York State, DeWitt Clinton. Its county seat is Albany, Kentucky, and it is a prohibition or dry county...
, Cumberland and Wayne
Wayne County, Kentucky
Wayne County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of 2000, the population was 19,923. Its county seat is Monticello. The county was named for Gen. Anthony Wayne. It is a prohibition or dry county.-History:...
counties) in the Kentucky House of Representatives
Kentucky House of Representatives
The Kentucky House of Representatives is the lower house of the Kentucky General Assembly. It is composed of 100 Representatives elected from single-member districts throughout the Commonwealth. Not more than two counties can be joined to form a House district, except when necessary to preserve...
. In an election where a myriad of local issues resulted in ten incumbents in the House of Representatives losing their respective primaries statewide, Williams garnered 2,450 votes to Fryman's 1,804; a third candidate, Kirby R. Ringley, got 1,519 votes. With no Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
challenger, Williams took the seat. At age thirty-one, he was the youngest member of the House of Representatives at the time.
As a member of the House, Williams served on the Education Committee. His most notable actions were in opposition to an education reform package proposed by Governor Martha Layne Collins
Martha Layne Collins
Martha Layne Collins is a politician from the US state of Kentucky. From 1983 to 1987 she was the 56th Governor of Kentucky, having served the previous four years as lieutenant governor. She was Kentucky's first and only female governor to date...
, a Democrat, during a special legislative session in July 1985. Williams opposed a provision of the plan that required county officials to raise additional tax revenue in order to participate in school construction program; he said that counties which were owed large amounts in delinquent taxes would have to raise tax rates above the state minimum in order to collect the requisite funds. He offered several amendments to the plan, including the repeal of a provision to pilot a career ladder
Career ladder
The term "career ladder" is a metaphor or buzzword used to denote vertical job promotion. In business and human resources management, the ladder typically describes the progression from entry level positions to higher levels of pay, skill, responsibility, or authority. This metaphor is spatially...
program for educators and a requirement that the state retirement system pay the full health insurance premiums of retired teachers and their spouses. All of Williams' amendments were defeated, except one to maintain the same qualifications for writing aides that were required of kindergarten
Kindergarten
A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...
aides. After the session, Williams and Representative John Harper charged that Collins delayed approval of public works grant projects in their districts in retaliation for their opposition to the reform plan; Collins denied that.
First term
After only one term in the House, Williams announced his candidacy for the state senateKentucky Senate
The Kentucky Senate is the upper house of the Kentucky General Assembly. The Kentucky Senate is composed of 38 members elected from single-member districts throughout the Commonwealth. There are no term limits for Kentucky Senators...
in 1986. The seat, representing the 16th district (Adair
Adair County, Kentucky
Adair County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of 2010, the population is 18,656. Its county seat is Columbia, Kentucky. The county is named for John Adair, then Speaker of the House in Kentucky and later Governor of Kentucky ....
, Casey
Casey County, Kentucky
Casey County is a county located in the U.S. Commonwealth of Kentucky. It was formed in 1807. As of 2010, the population was 15,955. Its county seat is Liberty, Kentucky. The county is named for Colonel William Casey. It is the only Kentucky county entirely in Knobs region. Casey County is home to...
, Cumberland, Green
Green County, Kentucky
Green County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. It was formed in 1793. As of 2000, the population was 11,518. Its county seat is Greensburg. The county is named for Nathanael Greene...
, Metcalfe
Metcalfe County, Kentucky
Metcalfe County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of 2000, the population was 10,037. Its county seat is Edmonton. The county is named for Thomas Metcalfe, Governor of Kentucky from 1828-32...
, Russell
Russell County, Kentucky
Russell County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. The population was 17,565 in the 2010 Census. Its county seat is Jamestown. The county is named for William Russell...
and Taylor
Taylor County, Kentucky
Taylor County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of 2000, the population was 22,927. Its county seat is Campbellsville. The county is named for President Zachary Taylor, who served from 1849 to 1850. Taylor is a moist county...
counties), was left open by the retirement of incumbent legislator Doug Moseley
Doug Moseley
Douglas Dewayne Moseley, known as Doug Moseley , is a retired United Methodist minister and author who served as a Republican member of the Kentucky State Senate from 1974 to 1986...
of Campbellsville
Campbellsville, Kentucky
Campbellsville is a city in Taylor County, Kentucky, United States. The population within city limits was 10,498 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Taylor County, and the home of Campbellsville University...
. In the Republican primary, Williams defeated Taylor County Attorney
County attorney
A county attorney in many areas of the United States is the chief legal officer for a county or local judicial district. It is usually an elected position...
Larry Noe, also of Campbellsville, by a vote of 6,695 to 6,032. In the general election, he beat Democrat Willard N. Smith by a vote of 14,461 to 11,534.
In 1987, Williams was named the state organizational chairman for Vice-President George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
's presidential campaign
United States presidential election, 1988
The United States presidential election of 1988 featured no incumbent president, as President Ronald Reagan was unable to seek re-election after serving the maximum two terms allowed by the Twenty-second Amendment. Reagan's Vice President, George H. W. Bush, won the Republican nomination, while the...
, and he was a delegate to the 1988 Republican National Convention
1988 Republican National Convention
The 1988 National Convention of the Republican Party of the United States was held in the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana from August 15 to August 18, 1988. It was the second time that a major party held its conclave in one of the five states known as the Deep South, coming on the...
. Also in 1988, he became the chairman of the Cumberland County Republican Party.
In December 1988, Governor Wallace Wilkinson, a Democrat, called a special legislative session to consider the creation of a state lottery
Kentucky Lottery
The Kentucky Lottery, consisting of various games of chance, is a government-regulated form of gambling. The Lottery began in April 1989 after a November 1988 vote in which over 60% of voters cast ballots in favor of it. On April 4, 1989, ticket sales began with first day sales of over $5 million...
. Williams proposed an amendment, which did not pass, to allow counties to decide whether or not to sell lottery tickets, similar to the state's existing local option
Local Option
Local Option is a term used to describe the freedom whereby local political jurisdictions, typically counties or municipalities, can decide by popular vote certain controversial issues within their borders. In practice, it usually relates to the issue of alcoholic beverage sales...
liquor laws. Ultimately, Williams was one of only five senators to vote against the lottery bill.
At the General Assembly
Kentucky General Assembly
The Kentucky General Assembly, also called the Kentucky Legislature, is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Kentucky.The General Assembly meets annually in the state capitol building in Frankfort, Kentucky, convening on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in January...
's organizational session prior to the 1990 legislative session, Williams announced that he would challenge Jack Trevey for his position as Republican caucus chair
Caucus chair
A caucus chair is a person who chairs the meetings of a caucus. Often, the caucus chair is assigned other duties as well.-Commonwealth Nations:...
. Williams lost his bid by a vote of 5 to 3.
The major issue of the 1990 legislative session was crafting a new, reformed school system due to a 1988 Kentucky Supreme Court
Kentucky Supreme Court
The Kentucky Supreme Court was created by a 1975 constitutional amendment and is the state supreme court of the commonwealth of Kentucky. Prior to that the Kentucky Court of Appeals was the only appellate court in Kentucky...
decision that declared the entire Kentucky public school system unconstitutional. Although Williams was not a voting member of the Assembly's education task force, he regularly attended their meetings and contributed his input. When the Kentucky Education Reform Act was presented on the Senate floor, Williams supported it. His position drew the ire of many in his party not only because he crossed party lines to support the bill, but also because the bill included steep tax increases to pay for the education reforms. The bill passed, and Williams was praised by the Lexington Herald-Leader
Lexington Herald-Leader
The Lexington Herald-Leader is a newspaper owned by The McClatchy Company and based in the U.S. city of Lexington, Kentucky. According to the 1999 Editor & Publisher International Yearbook, the Herald-Leaders paid circulation is the second largest in the Commonwealth of Kentucky...
as one of the best legislators of 1990.
Following the 1990 session, Republican caucus chairman Jack Trevey died, and Williams gained the support of four of the Senate's seven Republicans to succeed Trevey as interim caucus chairman. Senate minority leader
Floor Leader
Floor Leaders are leaders of their political parties in each of the houses of the legislature.- Senate :In the United States Senate, they are elected by their respective party conferences to serve as the chief Senate spokesmen for their parties and to manage and schedule the legislative and...
John Rogers was not among those who supported Williams and did not make the motion to seat Williams on the Legislative Research Commission
Legislative Research Commission
The Legislative Research Commission is an agency of Kentucky state government that supports the state legislature, the Kentucky General Assembly.The LRC was originally created in 1948 with the Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky as its head....
, a seat to which Williams' position entitled him.
Second term
After being re-elected in November 1990 without opposition, Williams challenged Rogers for the post of minority leader. The Republican Senate caucus, which gained three members in the 1990 elections, voted to retain Rogers, 6–5. Williams was subsequently stripped of several key committee positions.Williams considered running for lieutenant governor
Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky
The office of lieutenant governor of Kentucky has existed under the last three of Kentucky's four constitutions, beginning in 1797. The lieutenant governor serves as governor of Kentucky under circumstances similar to the Vice President of the United States assuming the powers of the presidency...
on a ticket
Ticket (election)
A ticket refers to a single election choice which fills more than one political office or seat. For example, in the U.S., the candidates for President and Vice President run on the same "ticket", because they are elected together on a single ballot question rather than separately.A ticket can also...
with Congressman
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
Larry Hopkins
Larry Hopkins
Larry Jones Hopkins represented Kentucky's Sixth Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives. He was the Republican nominee for Governor of Kentucky in 1991 and lost to Brereton C. Jones....
in 1991, but some within the party worried that Williams' support of the Kentucky Education Reform Act – and its associated tax hike – would hurt Hopkins' ability to campaign on a platform of lowering taxes. Instead, Hopkins named Williams as his campaign manager. Hopkins defeated Larry Forgy
Larry Forgy
Lawrence E. Forgy, known as Larry Forgy , is a Republican politician and former candidate for office from Lexington, Kentucky....
in the Republican primary; Williams resigned as campaign manager following that primary.
During the 1992 legislative session, Williams and fellow Republican Gene Huff walked out of the Senate chambers just before a vote on a prevailing wage
Prevailing wage
In government contracting, a prevailing wage is defined as the hourly wage, usual benefits and overtime, paid to the majority of workers, laborers, and mechanics within a particular area. Prevailing wages are established by regulatory agencies for each trade and occupation employed in the...
bill. Williams and Huff were protesting the fact that Senator Tim Shaughnessy would not allow testimony about the bill.
Near the end of the session, the House of Representatives sent three bills related to abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
to the Senate. The bills would have required the consent of a parent or judge for a teenager to receive an abortion, required the distribution of information about abortion alternatives to women seeking an abortion, and imposed additional health regulations on abortion clinics. The bills were assigned to the Senate Judiciary Committee, whose chair refused to bring them up for a committee vote. All eleven Senate Republicans filed a discharge petition
Discharge petition
A discharge petition is a means of bringing a bill out of committee and to the floor for consideration without a report from a Committee and usually without cooperation of the leadership. Discharge petitions are most often associated with the U.S. House of Representatives, though many state...
to force the bills onto the floor for a vote by the full senate, but no Democrats voted for the petitions, leaving Republicans well short of the 20 votes needed for approval. Williams and fellow Senator Tim Philpot filed suit to have the Senate rules declared unconstitutional, to force a vote on the bills. The suit was based on a non-binding advisory opinion issued in 1978 by then-Attorney General
Attorney General of Kentucky
The Attorney General of Kentucky is an office created by the Kentucky Constitution. . Under Kentucky law, he serves several roles, including the state's chief prosecutor , the state's chief law enforcement officer , and the state's chief law officer...
Robert L. Stephens
Robert L. Stephens
Robert L. "Silver Fox" Stephens was an American United States Air Force test pilot who set several speed and altitude records while testing the Lockheed YF-12 and SR-71.-Early years:Robert L...
which said that legislative rules could not contradict the state constitution
Kentucky Constitution
The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Kentucky is the document that governs the Commonwealth of Kentucky. It was first adopted in 1792 and has since been rewritten three times and amended many more...
, and cited a section of the state constitution, "Whenever a committee refuses or fails to report a bill submitted to it in a reasonable time, the same may be called up by any member."
A Franklin County
Franklin County, Kentucky
As of the census of 2000, there were 47,687 people, 19,907 households, and 12,840 families residing in the county. The population density was . There were 21,409 housing units at an average density of...
circuit court
Circuit court
Circuit court is the name of court systems in several common law jurisdictions.-History:King Henry II instituted the custom of having judges ride around the countryside each year to hear appeals, rather than forcing everyone to bring their appeals to London...
judge ruled that the committee system was not unconstitutional and further, that lawmakers could not be sued for actions taken in their capacity as legislators because of the state constitution's doctrine of separation of powers
Separation of powers
The separation of powers, often imprecisely used interchangeably with the trias politica principle, is a model for the governance of a state. The model was first developed in ancient Greece and came into widespread use by the Roman Republic as part of the unmodified Constitution of the Roman Republic...
. Williams and Philpot appealed to the Kentucky Court of Appeals
Kentucky Court of Appeals
The Kentucky Court of Appeals is the lower of Kentucky's two appellate courts, under the Kentucky Supreme Court. Prior to a 1975 amendment to the Kentucky Constitution the Kentucky Court of Appeals was the only appellate court in Kentucky....
who, in a 2–1 decision, stated that "We believe that the appellants have raised a significant question concerning the constitutional validity" of the Senate rules, but added the Court was "not inclined to resolve that question" before the end of the legislative session. The Court of Appeals asked for a full briefing and a hearing at a later date, but Williams and Philpot appealed to the Kentucky Supreme Court
Kentucky Supreme Court
The Kentucky Supreme Court was created by a 1975 constitutional amendment and is the state supreme court of the commonwealth of Kentucky. Prior to that the Kentucky Court of Appeals was the only appellate court in Kentucky...
in order to force action before the end of the session. The Supreme Court ruled that the case was rendered moot by the fact that the Senate's rules expire at the end of the session,
During the 1994 legislative session, Williams opposed a bill to change workers' compensation
Workers' compensation
Workers' compensation is a form of insurance providing wage replacement and medical benefits to employees injured in the course of employment in exchange for mandatory relinquishment of the employee's right to sue his or her employer for the tort of negligence...
because he said it was full of loopholes and did not reduce employer costs enough, which he claimed unnecessarily inflated the cost of doing business in Kentucky and cost the state jobs. An amendment offered by Williams that would have reduced the number of claims an employee could file was rejected. Williams also charged that the bill had been unduly influenced by special interests representing doctors and lawyers and made thinly-veiled accusations that legislators in the House of Representatives, including state AFL-CIO
AFL-CIO
The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, commonly AFL–CIO, is a national trade union center, the largest federation of unions in the United States, made up of 56 national and international unions, together representing more than 11 million workers...
president Ron Cyrus
Ron Cyrus
Ronald Ray "Ron" Cyrus was a Democrat politician and public servant in Greenup County, Kentucky. He was the father of American country music singer/actor Billy Ray Cyrus and the grandfather of Christopher Cyrus, Miley Cyrus, Braison Cyrus and Noah Cyrus.- Early life :Cyrus was born in Flatwoods,...
, may have been motivated by personal interests in crafting it.
1992 U.S. Senate bid
In 1992, Williams announced he would seek the Republican nomination to challenge incumbent Democratic Senator Wendell H. FordWendell H. Ford
Wendell Hampton Ford is a retired politician from the U.S. state of Kentucky. He served for twenty-four years in the U.S. Senate and was the 53rd Governor of Kentucky. He was the first person to be successively elected lieutenant governor, governor, and U.S. senator in Kentucky history...
. In the Republican primary, Williams faced opposition from Philip Thompson, executive director of the Kentucky Republican Party and a previous president of the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, and Denny Ormerod, a machinist from Louisville
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
who ran only a limited campaign. Though Williams and Thompson represented opposing factions in the state Republican Party – Williams managed Larry Hopkins' 1991 primary campaign while Thompson worked full-time for Hopkins' primary opponent Larry Forgy – the two virtually ignored each other in the primary campaign, choosing instead to focus their rhetoric against Ford. Thompson did question Williams' conservative
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
credentials on grounds that he voted in favor of the tax increase associated with the Kentucky Education Reform Act. Ormerod's campaign largely focused on socially conservative
Social conservatism
Social Conservatism is primarily a political, and usually morally influenced, ideology that focuses on the preservation of what are seen as traditional values. Social conservatism is a form of authoritarianism often associated with the position that the federal government should have a greater role...
issues, but it was Williams who secured the endorsement of Kentucky Right to Life
Right to life
Right to life is a phrase that describes the belief that a human being has an essential right to live, particularly that a human being has the right not to be killed by another human being...
, who cited his lawsuit to free three anti-abortion bills from committee in the 1992 legislative session. As a result of the largely uninspiring primary campaigns, there was only an 18% voter turnout in the Republican primary. Williams won the nomination with 49,918 votes to Thompson's 25,017 and Ormerod's 7,158.
In the general election, Ford, the Senate Majority Whip
Assistant party leaders of the United States Senate
The Assistant Majority and Minority Leaders of the United States Senate are the second-ranking members of the party leadership of the United States Senate....
and a former governor, raised $2.4 million for his campaign, about eight times the amount Williams raised. Given his limited finances, Williams relied on news conferences and interviews on small town radio stations to get his message out. Williams repeatedly lamented that Ford would not agree to a formal debate; Ford said that could not be arranged because Congress was still in session and he needed to be in Washington
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
. During the campaign, Williams attempted to paint Ford as too liberal
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
for Kentucky voters, citing his votes against the Gulf War and Clarence Thomas' confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court
Clarence Thomas Supreme Court nomination
On July 1, 1991, President George H. W. Bush nominated Clarence Thomas for the Supreme Court of the United States to replace Thurgood Marshall, who had announced his retirement...
. Both candidates declared their support for a Balanced Budget Amendment
Balanced Budget Amendment
A balanced-budget amendment is a constitutional rule requiring that the state cannot spend more than its income. It requires a balance between the projected receipts and expenditures of the government....
, but Williams said that Ford's support of pork barrel
Pork barrel
Pork barrel is a derogatory term referring to appropriation of government spending for localized projects secured solely or primarily to bring money to a representative's district...
projects for the state and a procedural vote that kept the amendment from a vote in 1991 were evidence that Ford's support was not genuine. Williams received only 477,002 votes (36%) to Ford's 834,678 (63%).
Commonwealth Attorney race, 1993
After his loss in November 1992, Williams declared his candidacy for Commonwealth's AttorneyCommonwealth's Attorney
Commonwealth's Attorney is the title given to the elected prosecutor of felony crimes in Kentucky and Virginia. Other states refer to similar prosecutors as District Attorney or State's Attorney....
for the 29th district (Adair, Cumberland, Casey, and Monroe
Monroe County, Kentucky
Monroe County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of 2000, the population was 11,756. Its county seat is Tompkinsville. The county is named for President James Monroe. It is a prohibition or dry county.-History:...
counties). He was defeated in the Republican primary in May 1993 by his childhood friend, Fred Capps. Williams cited his late start in campaigning due to a special legislative session called by Governor Brereton Jones
Brereton Jones
Brereton Chandler Jones is a horse breeder and politician from the US state of Kentucky. From 1987 to 1991, he served as lieutenant governor of Kentucky and from 1991 to 1995, he was the state's 58th governor...
as the main factor in his defeat.
Third term
Williams was re-elected to his Senate seat without opposition in November 1994.At the 1997 organizational session of the General Assembly, Senate Republicans, outnumbered 20–18, banded with four discontented Democrats from Eastern Kentucky
Eastern Mountain Coal Fields
The Eastern Mountain Coal Fields is part of the Central Appalachian bituminous coal field, covering all or parts of 30 Kentucky counties and adjoining areas in Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia and Tennessee. It covers an area from the Allegheny Mountains in the east across the Cumberland Plateau and...
to oust Senate President
President of the Kentucky Senate
President of the Kentucky Senate is an office created by a 1992 amendment to the Constitution of Kentucky. The President of the Senate is the highest ranking officer of that body and presides over the Senate.-History of the office:...
John "Eck" Rose in favor of conservative Democrat Larry Saunders. The dissident Democrats said that their region had been ignored by Senate leadership. Republicans agreed to support Saunders in exchange for more seats on the powerful Senate Appropriations and Revenue Committee, majority membership on two unspecified Senate committees, half of the seats on the Senate Education Committee, and chamber rules that reduced the power of the majority party. Under those rules, Saunders said any proposed legislation that had the votes to pass would come to the floor rather than being killed by a committee; with this provision in place, Republicans were able to pass more of their legislative agenda, including the restrictions on abortion that Williams and colleague Tim Philpot sought in the 1992 session. Williams was the only Republican who did not vote for Saunders; having already promised his vote to Rose, he abstained after the alliance of Republicans and Democrats was revealed.
In 1996, Governor Paul E. Patton
Paul E. Patton
Paul Edward Patton was the 59th governor of Kentucky, serving from 1995 to 2003. Because of a 1992 amendment to the Kentucky Constitution, he was the first governor eligible to succeed himself in office since James Garrard in 1800...
, a Democrat, named Williams to his Task Force on Postsecondary Education. The group was charged with devising ways to reform the state's system of higher education, including reducing the duplication of effort between the state's community college
Community college
A community college is a type of educational institution. The term can have different meanings in different countries.-Australia:Community colleges carry on the tradition of adult education, which was established in Australia around mid 19th century when evening classes were held to help adults...
s and technical school
Technical school
Technical school is a general term used for two-year college which provide mostly employment-preparation skills for trained labor, such as welding, culinary arts and office management.-Associations supporting technical schools:...
s. When the plan was presented to the legislature in 1997, Williams successfully pushed for an amendment to earmark $2 million for programs to improve basic literacy education, citing estimates that up to 44% of the state's population was illiterate or not educated enough to take advantage of postsecondary education. During the 1997 session, the Kentucky Center for Public Issues, a private, nonprofit public policy center, conducted a survey of legislators, lobbyists and journalists that showed Williams as the tenth most effective state senator, second among Republicans. The same survey showed Williams as the most admired Republican in the Senate.
In February 1998, Williams was a major player in a power struggle among Senate Republicans. In the middle of the legislative session, he led an attempt to replace Republican minority leader Dan Kelly. When the Republican caucus met, Kelly survived by a vote of 9–9, but his influence was weakened by the challenge. During the caucus meeting, Williams charged Kelly ally and fellow Republican Senator Gex Williams of trying to recruit an opponent for him in the Republican primary. Gex Williams readily admitted to the recruitment, saying primaries were good for the party. The incident was one of several clashes between the two Williams, who are not related. David Williams was regarded as a party moderate
Moderate
In politics and religion, a moderate is an individual who is not extreme, partisan or radical. In recent years, political moderates has gained traction as a buzzword....
for, among other things, his vote in favor of the Kentucky Education Reform Act and its related tax increase; Gex Williams was a hard-line religious conservative
Christian right
Christian right is a term used predominantly in the United States to describe "right-wing" Christian political groups that are characterized by their strong support of socially conservative policies...
who spent much of his career trying to repeal or weaken the Act.
Fourth term
Despite the attempts to recruit an opponent, Williams was unopposed in his 1998 re-election bid.In 1998, Gex Williams had entered the race to replace Jim Bunning
Jim Bunning
James Paul David "Jim" Bunning is an American former Major League Baseball pitcher and politician.During a 17-year baseball career, he pitched from 1955 to 1971, most notably with the Detroit Tigers and the Philadelphia Phillies. When he retired, he had the second-highest total of career...
as Fourth District
Kentucky's 4th congressional district
Kentucky's 4th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Kentucky. Located in Northern Kentucky, it is a long district that follows the Ohio River...
congressman, David Williams backed Rick Robinson, his rival's primary opponent. David Williams claimed he was trying to counter the effect of Gex Williams' endorsements by Gary Bauer
Gary Bauer
Gary Lee Bauer is an American politician notable for his ties to several evangelical Christian groups and campaigns.-Biography:...
and William Bennett
William Bennett
William John "Bill" Bennett is an American conservative pundit, politician, and political theorist. He served as United States Secretary of Education from 1985 to 1988. He also held the post of Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy under George H. W...
, who he said were outsiders who didn't really know the candidates. Saying he knew both candidates personally, David Williams characterized Gex Williams as mean-spirited and "a full-time anarchist". Robinson lost the primary, but Gex Williams was defeated by Democrat Ken Lucas
Ken Lucas
Kenneth Ray "Ken" Lucas is an American politician. Lucas, a Democrat, was a U.S. Representative from Kentucky's 4th congressional district from 1999 until 2005....
in the general election. When Gex Williams, who did not seek re-election to his Senate seat in order to run for the House, left the chamber at the end of 1998, David Williams blocked a resolution commending his years of service, a traditional honor for long-serving legislators.
In early 1999, weakened by the attempt to remove him as floor leader, Dan Kelly did not seek the post again at the General Assembly's organizational meeting. Williams declared his candidacy for the position, and ally Charlie Borders became a candidate for minority caucus chairman. Williams' leadership team was elected, and Larry Saunders was re-elected unanimously as President of the Senate. As minority leader, Williams negotiated an agreement with Saunders to allow Republicans to hold a majority in three Senate committees and to allow Republicans to chair those committees.
In July 1999, Louisville Senator Dan Seum changed his party affiliation from Democrat to Republican, shifting the balance of power from a 20–18 edge for the Democrats to a tie between Democrats and Republicans. The switch called into question how legislation would proceed through the chamber. Historically, the flow of legislation on the floor had been managed by the majority leader, but with an equal number of Democrats and Republicans, neither Williams nor Democratic floor leader David Karem could be considered the majority leader. Among the options considered were allowing Karem to retain control as before, allowing Williams and Karem to alternate control daily or weekly, allowing members of the chamber to choose between the two, or flipping a coin
Coin flipping
Coin flipping or coin tossing or heads or tails is the practice of throwing a coin in the air to choose between two alternatives, sometimes to resolve a dispute between two parties...
to determine who would be in control. Paducah
Paducah, Kentucky
Paducah is the largest city in Kentucky's Jackson Purchase Region and the county seat of McCracken County, Kentucky, United States. It is located at the confluence of the Tennessee River and the Ohio River, halfway between the metropolitan areas of St. Louis, Missouri, to the west and Nashville,...
Senator Bob Leeper rendered the discussion moot when, after talking with Williams, he also switched party affiliations from Democratic to Republican in August 1999, giving Republicans control of that chamber for the first time in state history.
Following Leeper's switch, Williams announced that the Republicans, now in the majority, would oust Senate President Larry Saunders and elect a new president. Williams cited the party's deteriorating relationship with Saunders after he called a Democratic caucus meeting, held before Leeper's switch, in which Democrats pledged to block Republicans from exercising floor leadership during the upcoming legislative session. Williams called the move an act of bad faith by Saunders. Saunders pledged to resist the Republicans' ouster, claiming the state constitution called for the election of the Senate President to a two-year, uninterrupted term during the Assembly's odd-year organizational sessions and made no provision for unseating him in the interim. After requesting an advisory opinion on the issue from Attorney General Ben Chandler
Ben Chandler
Albert Benjamin "Ben" Chandler III is the U.S. Representative for , serving since a special election in 2004. He is a member of the Democratic Party.-Early life, education and career:...
and threatening to take the case to the Kentucky Supreme Court, Saunders backed down in October 1999, announcing he would resign rather than wage a protracted legal battle. The move left Williams, the longest-serving Republican in the Senate and the third-longest serving members in the entire chamber, as Sauders' presumptive replacement.
With Democratic Governor Paul Patton, freed from a constitutional one-term limit by a constitutional amendment in 1992, seeking re-election in 1999
Kentucky gubernatorial election, 1999
The 1999 Kentucky gubernatorial election took place on 9 November 1999 for the post of Governor of Kentucky. Democratic incumbent Governor Paul E. Patton defeated Republican nominee Peppy Martin to win a second term.-Results:-Results:-Results:...
, Williams gave Patton his endorsement, snubbing Republican candidate Peppy Martin
Peppy Martin
Peppy Martin is a politician in Kentucky. She was the Republican nominee for Governor of Kentucky in 1999.-Early career:Peppy Martin served as an intern for United States Senator Thruston B. Morton and worked in the office of Governor Louie B. Nunn in 1971...
. Martin won the Republican nomination after most of the party's potential high-profile candidates chose not to run, citing concerns that the state's campaign finance laws would make challenging an incumbent difficult. Although Republican Senator Jim Bunning
Jim Bunning
James Paul David "Jim" Bunning is an American former Major League Baseball pitcher and politician.During a 17-year baseball career, he pitched from 1955 to 1971, most notably with the Detroit Tigers and the Philadelphia Phillies. When he retired, he had the second-highest total of career...
endorsed Martin and encouraged fellow party leaders to do the same, most Republicans shied away from Martin's candidacy due to her erratic campaign style and open support of abortion rights. In the general election Patton garnered 352,099 votes, 60.6 percent of the total; Martin finished with just 128,788 votes, barely besting Reform Party
Reform Party of the United States of America
The Reform Party of the United States of America is a political party in the United States, founded in 1995 by Ross Perot...
candidate Gatewood Galbraith
Gatewood Galbraith
Louis Gatewood Galbraith is an American lawyer and author from the U.S. state of Kentucky. He has been a perennial candidate for governor of Kentucky as an outspoken proponent of education as well as privacy rights and other civil liberties...
, who received 88,930 votes.
President of the Senate, 2000 to present
On January 5, 2000, Larry Saunders' promised resignation became official, and Williams was elected President of the Senate. The transition was generally regarded as cordial and smooth, although Democratic minority leader David Karem asked that the Senate journal reflect that the shift in majority was due to party defection, not a vote of the people. Democrats were also upset that Williams removed a minority seat from the powerful rules committee, giving the majority party a 5–3 advantage in representation. Williams defended the move, saying it was a return to the traditional composition of the committee; a 5–4 split between the majority and minority was part of a deal brokered with Saunders by Republicans for the 1998 session only, Williams said.Williams and Democratic Speaker of the House Jody Richards
Jody Richards
Jody Richards is a Democratic member of the Kentucky House of Representatives, representing the 20th District since 1976 and former speaker of the Kentucky House of Representatives.-Biography:...
both criticized Governor Patton early in the legislative session for presenting his budget and plan for tax reform to the legislature as a single package, rather than separately, as had been customary for previous governors. Elements of the tax plan – in particular, a seven-cent-per-gallon hike in the gasoline tax – were considered unlikely to pass in isolation, and Williams and Richards believed Patton had bundled the budget and tax plan in order to make it harder for legislators to oppose these elements. Senate Republicans remained firmly against enacting any new taxes for most of the session, hampering the General Assembly's ability to pass a bundled budget. Williams was able to hold his caucus together against tax increases until the last few days of the session, when they acquiesced on enacting a six percent tax on out-of-state phone calls. Still, Republicans claimed victory for having defeated Patton's larger tax plan.
During the session, Williams also forcefully criticized Patton for trying to reverse elements of a workers' compensation
Workers' compensation
Workers' compensation is a form of insurance providing wage replacement and medical benefits to employees injured in the course of employment in exchange for mandatory relinquishment of the employee's right to sue his or her employer for the tort of negligence...
reform package Patton had passed during his first term and opposed a Democrat-backed plan for distributing federal money from the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement to county governments instead of allowing the state government to allocate it toward a centralized plan for reducing the state's dependence on tobacco. Late in the session, Williams accused Patton of approaching two unnamed Republican senators and asking them to vote with the Democratic caucus to oust him as Senate president. Patton acknowledged meeting with "more than two" Republican senators, but insisted that the legislators had initated the meetings to express their displeasure with Williams' leadership and that he never asked them to help oust Williams. After the session, and in the lead-up to the 2000 legislative elections, the strained relationship between Patton and Williams deteriorated when Patton said Williams had pledged to help him pass his proposed gasoline tax increase at a meeting at the Governor's Mansion
Kentucky Governor's Mansion
The Kentucky Governor's Mansion is an historic residence in Frankfort, Kentucky. It is located at the East lawn of the Capitol, at the end of Capital Avenue...
in December 1999. Patton claimed Williams had made a list of Republican senators who would support the increase, those who would oppose it, and those who might be persuaded to support it. Williams denied that he ever pledged to help pass the tax and claimed Patton might have been mistaken regarding the details of their December meeting because, during the meeting, he was "drinking liquor and talking big." "He wasn't falling down drunk. He was mouthy drunk," Williams said. The fractured relationship between Patton and Williams endured for the remainder of Patton's term in office.
In the 2000 legislative elections, Republicans maintained their 20–18 advantage in the Senate. Previously limited to 60-day meetings in even-numbered years, the Kentucky General Assembly was allowed a 30-day session in odd-numbered years by a constitutional amendment passed in 2000. As the 2001 session opened, the Republican-controlled Senate and Democrat-controlled House clashed over the makeup of joint committee
Joint committee
A Joint Committee is a term in politics that is used to refer to a committee made up of members of both chambers of a bicameral legislature. In other contexts, it refers to a committee with members from more than one organization.-Republic of Ireland:...
s that meet in the interim between legislative sessions to study issues and draft legislation for the upcoming session. Senate Republicans called for equal representation on the committees to reflect their control of that chamber; Democrats insisted that, because the House had more members, the House should be represented by more members on the joint committees. Late in the session, Williams introduced a proposal to the bipartisan Legislative Research Commission
Legislative Research Commission
The Legislative Research Commission is an agency of Kentucky state government that supports the state legislature, the Kentucky General Assembly.The LRC was originally created in 1948 with the Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky as its head....
– which was made up of eight Democrats and eight Republicans – that would have allowed each chamber to name their own members to the joint interim committees, helping to resolve the parity issue. The vote was an 8–8 tie along strict party lines, and the issue remained unresolved. The disagreements over committee parity dominated the session, which counted legislation to clean up brownfield land
Brownfield land
Brownfield sites are abandoned or underused industrial and commercial facilities available for re-use. Expansion or redevelopment of such a facility may be complicated by real or perceived environmental contaminations. Cf. Waste...
, to outlaw racial profiling
Racial profiling
Racial profiling refers to the use of an individual’s race or ethnicity by law enforcement personnel as a key factor in deciding whether to engage in enforcement...
in police departments receiving state aid, and to designate the Appalachian dulcimer
Appalachian dulcimer
The Appalachian dulcimer is a fretted string instrument of the zither family, typically with three or four strings. It is native to the Appalachian region of the United States...
as the state's official musical instrument among its few accomplishments. In July 2001, Williams and House Speaker Jody Richards reached an agreement to allow committees of four representatives and three senators to meet up to three times in advance of the 2002 legislative session.
One of the items left unaddressed in the 2001 legislative session was approving a redistricting plan for the state based on the 2000 Census. Republicans advocated for Governor Patton to call a special legislative session following the 2001 regular session for the purpose of considering redistricting, but Patton refused to call such a session unless House and Senate leaders had an agreed-upon plan in place first. Republicans charged that Patton was intentionally delaying the redistricting so that the 2002 legislative elections would take place with districts drawn by the Democrat-controlled General Assembly a decade earlier to favor Democratic candidates. Patton denied that charge. In September 2001, a group of Democratic senators claimed that the official census figures underrepresented the state's population by approximately 50,000 people, especially minorities, children, and the homeless. They asked that the Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
release scientifically-adjusted figures that would account for those underrepresented populations. Williams decried this request as another attempt by Democrats to forestall the redistricting debate until after the 2002 elections. In October 2001, the Census Bureau announced that it believed the adjusted figures were unreliable and refused to release them.
In the opening days of the 2002 General Assembly, House Democrats angered Senate Republicans by submitting maps of proposed districts for the House and Senate. Previously, each chamber had only submitted maps for its own districts. During the ensuing negotiations, Williams promised that Senate Republicans would vote for any redistricting plan the House devised for its districts if House Democrats would agree to do the same for the Senate, but House Speaker Jody Richards refused. After weeks of negotiations, the Assembly approved a plan that gave House Democrats most of what they wanted with regard to House districts and Senate Republicans most of what they wanted with regard to Senate districts. After Senate Democrats complained about the bill, House Majority Leader Greg Stumbo
Greg Stumbo
Gregory D. "Greg" Stumbo is the Speaker of the Kentucky House of Representatives. Stumbo, a member of the Democratic Party, is a former Kentucky Attorney General from 2003 to 2007.-Early Career:...
chided them for "not [accepting] the fact that 20-18 means Republicans control the Senate" and encouraged them to campaign hard to win back the chamber in future elections.
Williams remains President of the Senate, being re-elected to represent his Senate district in November 2002, November 2006, and November 2010. In 2009, he announced that he would remain in the state Senate and not challenge incumbent Jim Bunning in the 2010 Republican senatorial primary. Bunning later announced that he would not seek reelection to a third term.
2011 gubernatorial campaign
On September 1, 2010, Williams announced he would seek the governorship in 2011. He ran unsuccessfully on a ticketTicket (election)
A ticket refers to a single election choice which fills more than one political office or seat. For example, in the U.S., the candidates for President and Vice President run on the same "ticket", because they are elected together on a single ballot question rather than separately.A ticket can also...
with state Agriculture Commissioner and former Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball
Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball
The Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team, representing the University of Kentucky, is the winningest in the history of college basketball, both in all-time wins and all-time winning percentage. Kentucky's all-time record currently stands at 2058–647...
standout Richie Farmer.
External links
- Campaign website
- Kentucky Legislature - Senator David L. Williams official government site
- KentuckyVotes.org - David L. Williams bills introduced and voting record
- The Lane Report - One-On-One with David L. Williams