[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 13 (Wednesday, February 9, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1191-S1192]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                TRIBUTE TO REPRESENTATIVE STEVEN J. RUDY

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I rise today to commend a fellow 
Kentuckian who, like all of us, has asked his neighbors for the honor 
of representing them in government. Representative Steven J. Rudy 
speaks for the residents of Ballard, Carlisle, Hickman, Fulton, and 
McCracken Counties in the Kentucky General Assembly. Amazingly, he won 
this honor last November at age 26, in his first bid for public office.
  Representative Rudy has had a passion for politics and government his 
entire life. As a high school student, he once declared to his American 
government teacher that he would hold elective office by age 30. He has 
always been eager to share his ideas about issues, and to listen to 
others. After graduating college he worked as a high school teacher, 
and then at his family's store, Rudy's Farm Center, where he still 
works when not in Frankfort. In this way he keeps in touch with his 
constituents.
  Representative Rudy has accomplished much in a short time, and I have 
no doubt he will continue to excel. I look forward to seeing this 
bright young Kentuckian mature on the political stage. As so many of 
our best and brightest, he has the potential to transform our 
Commonwealth into a worldwide leader in technology, medicine, industry, 
and the cultural arts. I wish him continued success as he follows in 
the tradition of public service carved out by distinguished Kentuckians 
such as Alben Barkley and Henry Clay.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to print in the Record an 
article from The Paducah Sun, ``Politician long in the making,'' about 
Representative Rudy's accomplishments and respect for public service.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                  [From the Paducah Sun, Jan. 9, 2005]

                     Politician Long in the Making

                           (By Matt Sanders)

       Kevil, KY--By his senior year at Ballard Memorial High 
     School, Steven Rudy had developed such a keen interest in 
     government that he once proclaimed during a county fiscal 
     court meeting that he would be elected judge-executive before 
     turning 30.
       Rudy may never get a chance to run the county government 
     because he was elected to the Kentucky House of 
     Representatives on Nov. 2 at age 26. It was his first try for 
     public office.
       ``Politics has been a lifelong career ambition. There was 
     really no clear goal growing up,'' said Rudy, who was sworn 
     in Jan. 4 and will begin his freshman term in the General 
     Assembly on Feb. 1.
       But Rudy doesn't dwell on his upset in the general election 
     or being one of the youngest lawmakers in Frankfort. Since 
     his victory, he has focused on becoming a good public servant 
     and studying the lawmaking process.
       ``I've always liked being involved in open discussions--
     being able to toss around ideas and make decisions that can 
     help people. At times, I haven't minded playing the devil's 
     advocate.''
       In the mid-1990s, Julian ``Whitey'' Elliott was Rudy's 
     American government teacher as well as a county magistrate. 
     Elliott had a front-row seat at the meeting when the teenager 
     made his bold prediction. Elliott recalled that he fully 
     expected his student to make good on his promise and was not 
     surprised on Nov. 2 by the Republican Rudy's 1,642-vote upset 
     of 17-year incumbent Charles Geveden in the 1st District.
       ``I think Steven has always wanted to make things better,'' 
     Elliott said. ``Early on, even at the local level, he was 
     able to see that people could serve and make things better. 
     He never forgot that. Steven saw his chance in this campaign 
     to make things better.''
       As a magistrate, Elliott frequently incorporated county 
     business into his classroom lectures, which sparked lively 
     roundtable discussions. He said Rudy never held back his 
     political views.
       ``I kept the students apprised as what was going on in the 
     county, and I thought it was interesting that Steven was 
     always willing to speak his mind,'' Elliott said. ``I liked 
     for the kids to express opinions, but also to respect the 
     opinions of others who did not agree with you. I tried to get 
     them to look at issues from the other perspective.
       ``I remember Steven leaning toward a Republican stance, and 
     this was when not every Republican was stating his views 
     publicly. There were maybe only 300 Republicans in the county 
     at that time.''
       The county now has 712 registered Republicans, compared to 
     5,154 registered Democrats, according to the Ballard County 
     Clerk's Office.
       Rudy smiled widely and noted that he was the first 
     registered Republican in his family.
       ``My philosophy was always in line with the national 
     (Republican) platform,'' Rudy said.
       In fact, it was through Rudy's persistence that the fiscal 
     court conducted a meeting in the high school cafeteria so the 
     students could see government in action.
       The fiscal court met twice monthly, in the early afternoon 
     and at the same time as the American government class. A 
     substitute teacher took over Elliott's class on fiscal court 
     days, but Rudy always pleaded with his teacher to allow the 
     students to attend a meeting. Instead, Elliott brought the 
     meeting to the students.
       ``It was really interesting to watch the magistrates make 
     decisions on what was right for Ballard County,'' Rudy said.
       His interest in government and debate also was nurtured at 
     Ballard Memorial in the Future Farmers of America chapter, 
     which taught parliamentary procedure.


                            in the beginning

       Rudy's political ambition was born at the side of his 
     grandfather, the late Bill Rudy, who founded the Ballard 
     County agriculture store that would be the forerunner to the 
     family farm supply business, Rudy's Farm Center.
       Nearly every year, Bill Rudy took his grandson to the Fancy 
     Farm Picnic, Kentucky's most important grassroots political 
     event. The often fiery political rhetoric fascinated both 
     elder and younger Rudy, with their only difference being that 
     Bill Rudy was a lifelong Democrat.
       ``I remember my grandfather talking about the days when the 
     Democrats bashed the Republicans during the speaking,'' Rudy 
     said. ``I didn't like that, but I started going to the 
     picnics at the time (U.S. Senator) Mitch McConnell came along 
     and he said the things that made me proud.''
       Bill Rudy also was involved in State politics--he served as 
     manager of the State Department of Agriculture's western 
     Kentucky office in Paducah. He also was a history buff and an 
     avid reader, which gave him a wealth of knowledge about 
     American presidents. He could talk for hours about the 
     presidents and did so at family gatherings.
       But had Bill Rudy lived longer, he probably would have 
     joined his grandson in the Grand Old Party.
       ``Dad was really down on Democrats there at the end,'' said 
     Jack Rudy, Steven's father. ``It may have been what was going 
     on with (President) Bill Clinton, but he told me that he had 
     decided on making a change.''
       But time did not allow Bill Rudy to change parties. He died 
     of a heart attack shortly after that conversation with his 
     son. Bill Rudy's death came in 2000, and ironically on

[[Page S1192]]

     the first Saturday in August--the day of the Fancy Farm 
     Picnic.


                        once a republican . . .

       It seems natural that Rudy recalled one of his earliest 
     memories was, as a 3-year-old, watching televised replays of 
     the 1981 assassination attempt of Republican President 
     Reagan.
       The day he registered to vote was also the day he got into 
     an argument with a deputy county clerk who urged Rudy to 
     register as a Democrat. Republicans, Rudy said he was told, 
     rarely were able to vote in primary elections because it was 
     rare for Republicans to run for elected office in Ballard 
     County.
       ``I couldn't understand that,'' Rudy said. ``Why would 
     anyone care how you're registered? Voting is what is 
     important.''
       While in college, Rudy wore his Republican feistiness on 
     his chest during the 1996 presidential campaign. He often 
     wore a Robert Dole-Jack Kemp T-shirt to classes at the then-
     Paducah Community College, much to the displeasure of his 
     classmates. The Dole-Kemp ticket lost when Democrat Clinton 
     won a second term.
       Rudy's Spartan office at the farm store could resemble the 
     GOP archives. Atop his filing cabinet is a bottle of red-
     white-and-blue labeled ``W'' ketchup, a souvenir from the 
     2004 presidential race that poked fun at Democrat 
     presidential nominee John Kerry's wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, 
     and stepchildren, who are heirs to the Heinz ketchup fortune. 
     The bottle stands next to a hardbound copy of ``The Faith of 
     George Bush.'' Not far away is a photo of Rudy with the 
     State's three most powerful Republicans, Senators McConnell 
     and Jim Bunning and Governor Ernie Fletcher.
       In fact, business photos and a St. Louis Cardinals' 2005 
     baseball schedule stand among the few nonpartisan mementos.
       But Rudy said his thinking does not always follow partisan 
     lines. He mentioned two Democrats--former State agriculture 
     commissioner Billy Ray Smith and 2nd District Rep. Frank 
     Rasche of Paducah--whom he admired.
       ``The Republicans aren't perfect and I don't support 
     everything within the party,'' Rudy said. ``Billy Ray is a 
     real down-to-earth guy who would do what was right for all 
     Kentucky farmers. Frank is someone I feel I can rely on (in 
     the General Assembly). As chairman of education, he does what 
     is right for the children of Kentucky.''


                             house hunting

       The new year will continue to be busy. In addition to 
     beginning his freshman term in the General Assembly in 
     February, Rudy and his fiancee, Jessica Patton, are planning 
     a May wedding. Rudy grinned and said he called Fletcher for 
     assurance that there would be no special session, which is 
     usually convened in May.
       Searching for a home also presented a challenge. By law, 
     Rudy must reside within his district, which consists of 
     Ballard, Hickman, Carlisle and Fulton counties, and nine 
     western McCracken County precincts. Patton is a receptionist 
     with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at Barkley Dam, and the 
     soon-to-be newlyweds decided to live in McCracken County, 
     which would be between their work places. That limits their 
     search to the precincts of Ragland, Woodville, Grahamville, 
     Lamont, Maxon, Lang, Lone Oak 3, Massac-Milan and Melber.
       Rudy pointed to a large map of the nine precincts, covering 
     nearly one wall in his office. ``Every time she calls and 
     tells me she found a house, I ask for the location and check 
     it on the map to see if it's an option,'' Rudy said.


                          Reluctant Candidate

       Despite his early boasting of political ambitions, there 
     was not much planning by Rudy prior to announcing his 
     candidacy. As a small businessman, Rudy said, ``I have seen 
     things that make Kentucky an unfriendly business state, like 
     the tax structure.'' He also said he heard much frustration 
     in the community over the inability of lawmakers to pass a 
     budget.
       Rudy had been active within the party during several 
     campaigns, including Fletcher's gubernatorial bid, and he 
     received what he called an unlikely phone call from state 
     party leaders wanting him to challenge for the 1st District 
     seat. ``If you would have asked me 18 months ago, it would 
     have seemed unlikely that I would run. I was very reluctant. 
     I thought I was too young to be taken seriously,'' Rudy said. 
     ``But then I figured it was a win-win situation, so I gave it 
     a shot. If I won the election, great. If I didn't win, the 
     campaign would have given me plenty of name recognition and I 
     would have met a great deal of people, which would benefit my 
     next campaign.''


                          The Family Business

       Inside Rudy's Farm Center, customers are treated like 
     family. They are greeted with a smile and a handshake. 
     Conversations easily flow over a variety of topics--planting 
     and harvest, weather, church, community events and, of 
     course, politics.
       Retired Barlow farmer Bobby Myers was a frequent customer 
     and the day was never too busy to pass up discussing current 
     events with Rudy.
       ``We always talked about what was happening, around here 
     and in Frankfort. He always seemed to know what was going 
     on,'' Myers said.
       Although Myers admitted he never thought then of Rudy as a 
     future politician, he's confident the freshman lawmaker will 
     prosper in his new position.
       ``I knew his daddy and his granddaddy and Steven is just 
     like them, good and honest and fair,'' Myers said. ``Those 
     are the kind of people we need in Frankfort.''
       The store--which offers farm, home, hardware and industrial 
     merchandise--is a family business started in 1986 by his 
     parents, Jack and Jeanette Rudy. His brother, Matt, also 
     works at the store. Another brother, Jeff, is a seminary 
     student.
       Steven Rudy handles the center's industrial sales, which 
     keeps him on his cell phone and behind a computer for much of 
     his work day.
       Rudy took his agriculture education degree from Murray 
     State University in 2000 and became an agriculture instructor 
     at Lyon County High School in Eddyville. He used 
     parliamentary procedure to start the same kind of classroom 
     debates that he loved as one of Elliott's students.
       But his father had always told Rudy there was an opening 
     for him in the family business. After much prayer and 
     realizing he could jump-start the store's industrial sales, 
     Rudy left the classroom, came home and never looked back.
       The store lies on the border in both McCracken and Ballard 
     counties. The front acreage is lined with large merchandise, 
     but there also is room for a soccer field, complete with two 
     goals, which the Rudys set up for a local youth league.
       Transactions at the farm store typically are finalized with 
     a bag of freshly popped popcorn, Jack Rudy's favorite snack. 
     A theater-style popper stands behind the counter, and the 
     Rudys hand out 50 pounds of the snack every two to three 
     weeks.
       ``Everyone tells me that I eat more than half of it, but 
     it's a way of saying thanks,'' Jack Rudy said.


                             Going To Work

       Since his election, Rudy splits his time by attending 
     sessions in Frankfort for freshmen legislators, working at 
     the farm store and helping plan the wedding.
       The General Assembly will convene Feb. 1 for 25 working 
     days to consider and act upon legislation.
       ``I'm proud of him and I hope he does well,'' Elliott said. 
     ``The state needs people in Frankfort who care about 
     people.''

                          ____________________