Add this notable group to the growing list of Rand Paul critics and opponents: the Kentucky Senate. On Friday, the lawmakers in that state’s Senate passed a resolution rebuking Rand Paul, the GOP candidate for Kentucky’s open US Senate seat, for his questioning of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 while expressing their full support for the landmark piece of legislation. The resolution said in part, “Suggestions have appeared recently that we retreat from the core values of the protection of equal rights of the citizens of the United States”; the resolution characterizes these suggestions as “outside the mainstream of American values” and believed by only an “extreme minority of persons in the United States.”
The resolution attacks Paul for his remarks last month in which he blanched when asked whether he fully supported the Civil Rights Act, which banned segregation. Paul’s wavering caused a firestorm in political circles and in the media, and likely led to a recent shake-up on Paul’s campaign staff, with the replacement of his campaign manager. While a little behind the news cycle, the Kentucky Senate’s resolution further compounds the fallout from Paul’s gaffes, which appear to have taken a toll on Paul’s support. Yesterday, a Rasumussen survey in Kentucky reported that Paul’s lead over Democratic opponent Jack Conway had shrunk to 8 points, with Paul earning 49 percent and Conway 41 percent. That’s a precipitous drop from a few weeks ago, before Paul’s civil rights comment, when he led Conway by 25 percent.
Here’s more from McClatchy on the Kentucky resolution:
In interviews with national media outlets, Paul has cited this part of the law as an example of the government overreaching, although he also has said that he would have voted for the law if he were in the U.S. Senate at the time.
“Here is an individual from Kentucky speaking nationally on a fundamental value, a fundamental right enshrined in our laws, and there had been no official response on behalf of Kentucky,” Neal said. “I felt it was important for our institution to say that not everybody here agrees with the ideological positions put forward by Mr. Rand Paul.”
Neal said he filed his resolution last Wednesday under a procedure that listed all senators present as co-sponsors unless they objected. Nobody objected over the next two days, he said.
“Senate leadership clearly knew what was going on, they were paying attention,” Neal said. “I talked to the majority floor leader. There was no opposition.”
Williams, the top Republican in Frankfort, did not return a call seeking comment Tuesday. Williams last week said Paul is not a racist, but he is too young to remember the history that made the Civil Rights Act necessary.
“When the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed, Rand Paul was 2 years old,” Williams said. “Those of us who lived during that time period — I wasn’t very old, but I was old enough to know that some things in the United States had to be changed.”
