ATTORNEY GENERAL CANDIDATE SAYS HE WILL MAKE DRUG DEALERS PAY

Democrat Greg Stumbo says he's running for state attorney general because he
wants to make drug pushers pay.

Stumbo, in an interview with The News-Enterprise Editorial Board, said he
would establish a Kentucky Bureau of Investigation within the state police
and fully staff branch offices in the eastern and western parts of the
state.

"There are really two types of people that are in this system," Stumbo said
of his plan to combat illegal drugs, which he calls "Make Pushers Pay."

"There's the pushers and then there are the victims, and sometimes the
victims are street-level peddlers because they have to peddle the drug to
support their habit. Those aren't the people we need to be putting in jail.
Those are the kind of people we need to find rehabil-itative services for.
We need community support."

Stumbo has made fighting illegal drugs, principally prescription abuse in
Eastern Kentucky and methamphetamines, also known as crank, in Western
Kentucky his priority.

Stumbo said there are already regional drug task forces that have been
successful in busting drug rings, but they are not permanent entities.

"The problem with them is they run out of money," he said.

And when they are disbanded, he said, oftentimes much of the information
they have gathered is lost.

Stumbo also said he plans to be more proactive in litigation against
companies as part of the consumer protection role of the attorney general.
He also said he would emphasize environmental protection.

Stumbo is in a three-way race with Republican Jack Wood and Independent
Gatewood Galbraith.

Wood has drawn attention to Stumbo being sued over support for a child he
fathered with a woman out of wedlock.

"He doesn't know what he's talking about," Stumbo said of Wood.

Stumbo said he has made child support payments faithfully and has never
violated a court order.

He said he felt his opponents had turned to negativity in the campaign, and
that he would not. Stumbo then accused Wood of being fired from the post of
assistant county attorney in Jefferson County.

Stumbo said if he is elected, he will make drug pushers pay, not only with
time in jail but out of their pocket books.

"We go after pushers not only criminally, but civilly," he said. "I intend
to sue them. I intend to pursue confiscation of their assets. I intend to do
the same thing Elliot Ness did when he went in to Chicago. He made it so
expensive on the mob to do business that they finally got out of business."