IS THERE A VENTURA IN KENTUCKY'S FUTURE?

Annie Shimp is the stuff of nightmares, or at least insomnia, for Gov. Paul
Patton. She's a swing voter who is highly disgruntled with both major
political parties.

She might vote for a Jesse Ventura-type candidate for governor of Kentucky.
That is, if there were an option comparable to the new Minnesota governor on
this year's ballot.

Shimp, 66, of Prospect, called the newspaper the other day to find out how
to help Gatewood Galbraith obtain the 5,000 signatures he needs to qualify
this fall as an independent candidate for governor.

Shimp, a retired homemaker and keypunch operator, worries Galbraith is "a
loose cannon."

But she thinks his idea of restoring cultivation on Kentucky farms of
commercial hemp - for its oil and its use in fabric and paper - is a good
one, one the state ought to aggressively investigate on behalf of its
troubled tobacco farmers. And the impeachment spectacle in Washington only
underscores her distrust of the two main parties, Shimp said.

"I'd like to see him run and . . . see what his platform's going to be," she
said of Galbraith, who lost two races for governor as a Democrat and last
week mounted a petition drive for a third run, this time as an independent.
"That doesn't mean I'm going to vote for him."

But the deep disaffection of some Kentuckians, such as Shimp, is cause for
worry for Patton. They may turn out to cast protest votes this fall. If so,
and if presumptive Republican nominee Peppy Martin sharpens her performance,
the fond hopes of Patton aides that their man will break all vote-getting
records could evaporate.

And the midnight oil really would burn in the Governor's Mansion if a more
plausible candidate than Galbraith or Martin were to step forward as an
independent or third-party candidate by Aug. 10. The more iconoclastic, the
better - though Kentucky probably isn't ready for a governor who shows up
for his inaugural ball, as Ventura did, wearing earrings and a Jimi Hendrix
T- shirt.

At his petition-drive kickoff last week, Galbraith, 52, didn't mention
either hemp or marijuana - although his web site, which hails him as "The
Last Free Man in America," calls him "one of America's leading
hemp/marijuana advocates."

In fact, the long-legged Lexington lawyer didn't talk issues at all. He said
Friday it would be "premature" to launch a fall campaign now. But he seems
to be angling more for the mainstream, and wooing Ventura's Reform Party.

By selecting as his running mate Kathy Lyons of Murray, an activist with the
Community Farm Alliance, Galbraith signaled he will inveigh against "factory
agriculture" - the advent of large-scale chicken and hog farming in Western
and Southern Kentucky.

Peppy Martin, meanwhile, has sniped at Patton. (She faces token opposition
in the May 25 GOP primary.) But Martin, 52, a former Louisville publicist
who lives in Hart County, is still struggling to find a trenchant sales
pitch.

Neither she nor Galbraith has Ventura's celebrity. But one can imagine how
either might deftly slice Patton:

Begin each speech with a reference to "our governor who likes to quote Karl
Marx." Then, depending on the audience, either lament Patton's support for
collective bargaining for public employees; or the way he let corporate
Kentucky pick his cabinet, and then "took a chain-saw" to workers'
compensation, the safety net for injured workers.

"Paul's philosophy of government," they might say, updating a favorite line
of yesteryear's populists, "is to put the Drano on the lower shelf, where
the little man can reach it."

Patton's richer than either Martin or Galbraith. He's got all the trappings
of power. He tends toward the pedantic in speeches. He's got top advisers
under indictment. There's material there for foes to exploit.

Annie Shimp said she "would like to see another party on the ticket that
would give us more of a choice."

She may get her wish.

Robert T. Garrett's column runs Sundays in Forum. You can reach him in
Louisville at 582-4226.