Rep. Ken Lucas (D): Dirty Dozen 2002
Kentucky's 4th District

2001 LCV rating = 21 %

Lifetime LCV rating = 27 %

Ken Lucas has ignored the environmental issues facing his northern Kentucky district by amassing one of the worst voting records among House democrats on issues relating to the protection of the public's health and Kentucky's quality of life. His poor lifetime rating of 27 percent shows that Lucas is out of touch with the concerns of Kentucky families and makes him a fitting candidate for designation as a member of the League of Conservation Voter's 2002 Dirty Dozen.

Voting Against Clean Rivers and Streams
According to a report released this year by the Kentucky Division of Water, 949 waterways in the state are pollutedùmore than twice the number of waterways that the state listed as impaired in 1998. That year, the state reported that watersheds throughout the 4th Congressional District, including the Ohio, Salt and Licking river systems, were contaminated by harmful bacteria and other pollutants that may make fishing and swimming a health hazard. In this year's report, the state found that fecal coliform, a bacteria found in human and animal waste, has contaminated rivers and creeks in northern Kentucky, including much of the Licking River. Combined storm and sanitary sewer systems in Ohio and Kentucky communities dump raw sewage into the Ohio River following heavy rains, adding to the contamination of the river. 

Yet Ken Lucas in 2001 voted against legislation that would have helped farmers to reduce pollution from animal waste and improve water quality. In 1999 he supported a bill that would have allowed cities to delay fixing combined sewer problems and undermined ongoing efforts to improve water quality. 

Voting Against Safe Drinking Water
Ken Lucas has also failed to protect drinking water quality for Kentucky families. According to the National Academy of Sciences, arsenic in drinking water can cause cancer and reproductive problems. In 2001 the Environmental Protection Agency issued a new, more protective standard of 10 parts per billion (ppb) for arsenic in drinking water. The Kentucky Division of Water reports that fifteen water systems in the state tested at greater than 10 ppb of arsenic. 

Yet, despite this threat to the public's health in his state and District, Ken Lucas voted twice against reducing arsenic levels in drinking water.

Against Clean Air
Communities throughout the 4th District suffer from poor air quality. Suburban Cincinnati counties including Boone, Kenton and Campbell, have experienced numerous days with unhealthy levels of ozone pollution in recent summers. Air quality in the Cincinnati metropolitan area is so poor that the state of Ohio is in danger of losing its federal highway funds. Communities in the 4th District, including Boyd, Greenup and Oldham counties suffer from unhealthy levels of ozone pollution, which puts thousands of 4th District children and adults with asthma at risk for respiratory problems.

Representative Lucas has voted against efforts to improve northern Kentucky's air quality. In 2000 he voted to prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from letting the public know about the air quality in their communities as a first step in carrying out new rules concerning ozone levels, designed to better protect the public's health. 

Against Protecting Kentucky Farms and Communities from Sprawl and Overdevelopment
According to Governor Paul Patton, Kentucky's Bluegrass region developed 46 acres of land per day between 1982 and 1997. Cropland in Kentucky decreased by 12.7 percent between 1982 and 1997. Between 1987 and 1997, the percentage of land in agriculture in the six Northern Kentucky counties of Boone, Campbell, Gallatin, Grant, Kenton and Pendleton dropped by 7.8 percent. 

Ken Lucas has opposed legislation that would protect farmland and preserve the ability of Kentucky communities to limit sprawl and overdevelopment. In 2001, Lucas voted against legislation that would have helped to protect farmland near cities from development by expanding the federal Farmland Protection Program (FPP), which buys development rights from farmers in suburban fringe areas facing development pressures. Overall, this amendment to the 2002 Farm bill would have meant an increase of 54 percent in funding for farm conservation programs, including FPP, the Wetlands Reserve Program, and the Conservation Reserve Program. And in 2000, Lucas voted for legislation that would have allowed developers to sue communities for zoning restrictions and other potential ôtakingsö directly in federal court. This would have seriously undermined the ability of communities in his district to plan growth and limit sprawl.

The District
Redistricting did not significantly change Kentucky's 4th Congressional District. Its major cities are Covington, Ashland, Florence and Erlanger, and half of the 4th's residents live in the Cincinnati suburbs. Boone, Campbell, and Kenton counties, the three northern counties across the river from Cincinnati, saw rapid population and economic growth in the 1990s. While most of the rural counties are Democratic, such as Elliott County (64%-35% for Al Gore in 2000), Oldham County near Louisville and areas surrounding Covington and Ashland are becoming more Republican with the decline in blue-collar jobs. The three northern Kentucky have also become heavily Republican, and Bush won here with 61%-37%. 

Rep. Lucas won the general election in 1998 by 6 percent, sticking to a conservative platform and raising money for hard-hitting ads. In 2000, Lucas won the district 54%-44%, against a nominal opponent, a retired Secret Service agent named Don Bell, who won Oldham and Shelby Counties outside of Louisville 56%-41%. Lucas is a member of the Blue Dog Coalition and is one of the most conservative Democrats in the House on issues such as abortion, guns, and the environment.

His opponent, Geoff Davis, enlisted in the army at age 17 and a year later was accepted into the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He then served as an Army Ranger, an Assault Helicopter Flight Commander, and the Director of U.S. Army Aviation Operations for Peace Enforcement between Israel and Egypt. In 1992, Davis started Capstone, Inc., a manufacturing consulting firm specializing in lean manufacturing and high technology systems integration. He is a member of the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce Executive Advisory Board, and a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association.