Meet Eastern Kentucky heroes Ned Pillersdorf and Janet Stumbo

I'm Hey guys, Lady Luck here. Are you going on any road trips this summer? I know I'm going to be going on a bunch of road trips. And being that I'm going to be passenger princess, I love playing on SpinQuest.com. SpinQuest has all of my favorite slot games, live blackjack, live craps. Head on over to SpinQuest right now and get yourself a $30 coin pack for just $10.00. SpinQuest is a free-to-play social casino. Boydware prohibited, visitspinquest.com for more details. You're with News Radio 840 WHA. I'm Terry Miners here. Happy weekend. Well, I finally met Ned Pillarsdorf. We were talking in it. We're not sure that we've ever been in the same room together. Is that it? First time we met, Terry. Well, these things happen. We've talked many times. We've texted. We've communicated. And then finally, I get to meet you. See, this is life comes full circle. I appreciate your having me on the show. Dude, I call you the Atticus Finch of Eastern Kentucky. When people hear your name, they think, where have I heard that guy's name? You're the guy who helped all those people who were thrown off the security net after Eric Kahn ran his con job on the Social Security Administration. Is that a good summation? It took 11 years of my life, but the Social Security Administration, as a result of Khan doing this thing called bribery, you may have heard of that. Why are you looking at me when you use that word? Well, they went after 4,000 of Eric Khan's former clients, and we had an 11-year battle with the Social Security Administration, which took a number of years off my life. We ended up getting a good result. We got the hearings declared unconstitutional. There was a documentary that came out on Apple TV called The Big Con. I was fascinated by that. It was a decision we made. Generally, I'm a lawyer. Do you let a documentary company talk to your clients? And we made the decision to let the clients tell their stories. And if you want to watch the documentary, the first two hours are, who cares that Eric Khan has been married 16 times? The second two hours tell the story about how they really brought back the days of Joe McCarthy. Every hearing started out, and I believe this was motivated by negative Appalachia's stereotypes. Terry, there's a former, you're a former client of Eric Khan. There's a secret finding of fraud that you can't challenge. And because con was your lawyer, guilt by association, and we got those damn hearings declared unconstitutional, got people back their benefits. And after an 11-year battle, we got a pretty good result. The final scoreboard is, and I'm still mad about 250 of my neighbors lost their benefits. I don't know how many suicides we had, but they terrorized some of the poorest people in the nation.

And what always galled me was, you know, Franklin Roosevelt set up Social Security to help the least among us. And they weaponized that agency to harass my neighbors. And I am convinced to this day. That this was motivated by Beverly Hillbillies, negative Appalachio stereotypes. In other words, if Khan had represented a bunch of big investors and was bribing some, you know, securities and exchange commission judge, would they have gone after them so aggressively? And I'm convinced that these are a bunch of dumb hillbillies. We can bulldoze them. And what I like to talk about is this was the greatest volunteer legal effort in the history of this nation. We did 2,000 individual hearings, all volunteers. We did 250 separate U.S. District Court cases around the country. And at the end of the day... I mean, I don't want to sugarcoat this. There were tough times. Yeah. I mean, I became this suicide hotline for these desperate people. You know, cons in jail serving, what, 27 years? I don't care about him. But at the end of the day, the documentary was so well received because the clients told their story. That was what was so riveting, too, is to see how people's lives were absolutely overturned, and they didn't know how they were going to eat, how they were going to live, and people who can't raise their arm or can't walk, and they're like, how in the world did I get here? You know, the story I tell, and it's true. I was driving home Memorial Day weekend, 2015. I got a phone call from a local lawyer that, hey, a client we represent in an unrelated property case, just got a letter immediately suspending his benefits. And the next phone call is from Bill Astep from the Lexington Hera leader, that about a thousand former con clients are getting letters this weekend, suspending their benefits. And I got back to the lawyer. His name was John Earl Hunt. He said, oh, Ned, there'll be suicides. And 10 days later, the suicides started. Of course. Because this letter immediately suspending benefits didn't go out to a random sample of the population. It went out to, you know, what I learned representing these conclines, most of them had significant mental illness. And suicides, that was the tough part. These people got a letter saying you're losing your benefits, you're losing your health care. and they had mental illness to begin with. But you saved a lot of lives. You've got to remember that side of this story, too. There were a lot of people, you restored their benefits, and it saved lives because people were on the edge. Well, you know, at the end of the day, you know, I had never done a Social Security case in my life. And I wish this had never happened. It changed my law practice. Currently, my congressional opponent, a guy named Hal Rogers, you may have heard of him.

I think he's 88 now. The Republican committee is attacking me for being a criminal defense lawyer. And I tell people, watch the documentary of the big con and I'll let you know what I've been doing for the last 11 years. it's worth everyone in America seeing that because they need to know how the system gets violated by people who have ill intentions. So anyway, good for you in doing that, but you are running for Congress. Let's get to that point. Let me say hi to your wife, by the way. She's sitting over here patiently, and she's a Kentucky legend. Hello, Janet Stumbo. Hello. How are you, Terry? Thanks for your service to the Commonwealth of Kentucky. You're very welcome. It was a pleasure. You're on the Court of Appeals and then ultimately the Kentucky Supreme Court? I served 26 years combined on the Court of Appeals and Supreme Court. I was the only woman on the court for 11 years and the first woman to be elected to the Supreme Court. That's a great story that's from like 91, 92. 93 is when I was elected to the Supreme Court, 89 for the Court of Appeals. Did you get pushback? I mean, sort of quiet pushback from some of the other justices who didn't think a woman should be there with them? Or were they collegial? I saw, I never got that from the judges. I will have to say that. They were, I never, just never experienced that because they need my vote. You know what? Courts are both collegial courts. Three, you got three judges sitting. Two of them got to agree. So if they're going to insult my intelligence, they're certainly not going to get my book. So I never had any problem with that. I mean, in general, in the court system, I mean, the year I was admitted to the bar. was the first time, I think, that UK ever had 50-50 male-female graduation rate. Wow. And so... There was a sea change in the law practice and the Constitution of the courts. Well, I'm just glad to get to meet you because I've read about you for many decades. So congratulations. That makes me feel terribly old. That's okay. I've been here many decades. Ned, you'd like to be the Congress member representing Kentucky's 5th District. You already referenced your opponent is Hal Rogers. He's 88 and in a wheelchair. What are we doing now? With people that are in office that are, you know, obviously at a certain stage in life, you are in, I mean, you're in touch with people I know in the community. So tell me about your vision for if you could win that office. I'm running the fifth congressional. And what you need to understand is Appalachia. We are now, we have passed the Bronx. We are now the poorest congressional district in the nation.

We have widespread poverty, and we have a real problem with access to health care. Janet and I live in the big city of Van Lear, Kentucky, which is in Floyd County. Three of the counties that border Floyd, Martin, McGoffin, and not have no hospitals. Those are large counties geographically. We already have a health care crisis. The moment I decided to run for Congress, was the moment Hal Rogers voted for a big, ugly bill. There is no congressional district in the country who will be hurt worse than these massive Medicaid cuts. They won't hit until after the midterms than the fifth congressional. We're already seeing hospitals closing, and there's a study saying that Kentucky will actually lead the nation in hospitals closing. The number is 35. Sixteen of them are in the fifth congressional. And at the moment that Hal Rogers voted for that, and he cast a deciding vote along with Andy Barr. That's when I decided to run. I've made about 100 stops throughout the district. It's a huge district from Tennessee to Ohio. And what I've learned is, you know, some of the counties I run, and I've spent most of my time in some very red Republican counties. The anecdote I tell is I was in Clay County, probably 50, 60 people there. If you're in Clay County, 90% of the people are Republicans. And I say six, eight months ago, I was there, and I talked about rural hospitals closing, and they're concerned about that. But Terry, you know, I may be looking through the world through rose-colored glasses. I've noticed a sea change lately. People's affection, I think, for Trump is going downward in even these congressional counties. And I noticed, you know, let me go back to my Manchester experience, that's Clay County. I mentioned the fact that Hal Rogers voted to pay these January 6 rioters, idiots, whatever they're going to call them, the 1.8 billion. People stood up in their chairs, the profanity. These are Republicans. And, you know, my original reason for running with the Big Ugly Bill, I think it'll be absolutely catastrophic on so many levels for these poverty-stricken counties. But I have noticed a different atmosphere about Trump, accommodation of the Iran War, the affordability, the gas prices. And like I said, it's a North-South race. I don't expect to carry these heavy Republican counties. If I win the race, I don't want to say this too loud, but when the Republicans gerrymandered, they gave me Boyd and Carter. I'm happy to have those. Yeah, that's helpful for you. Those are very good counties for me. But I've spent most of my time into southern counties, and I have noticed a different atmosphere. For example, I went to Bell County, another 90% Republican county. The only thing they wanted to talk about was, is the Middlesboro Hospital going to close? Of course. And do we have to go to Harlan if my daughter gets pregnant? And I've also got Lincoln County, and they actually already closed the birthing center there. Those people now have to go to Danville. To me, the issue is health care.

I've got a tough race in a sense that the Democratic Party is not perceived well in East Kentucky. And Hal Rogers has been there for a lifetime. Forty years, he really hasn't had an opponent of any time, I think since 92. Last time he had an opponent who actually spent any money. He no longer makes appearances. Hal Rogers' last appearance, as best I can tell, was in February. He showed up in Ashland at a sewer plant infrastructure project. He conveniently mentioned he actually voted against the money for that project as part of the Joe Biden 2022 infrastructure bill. He no longer makes appearances. KET, as I guess unofficially told me, he's not appearing. So I'm running against a guy who's doing a disappearing act. You know, the bottom line is this. I tell people, look, somebody is going to get sworn in to represent the fifth congressional in 2007. Will it be an 89-year-old in the minority? It's pretty clear the Democrats, we're going to have a good year. Or will it be myself, and I hold myself, as a rural Democrat, and we're a vanishing breed. You know, the issues are different than even here in Louisville. We have large areas of not County, Floyd County. You still don't have access to drinkable water. People have to rely on well water. I'm also the executive director of the David School. a school where just about every kid is below the poverty line. I've been the basketball coach. My kid's got to go to McDonald's to get on the internet. We still have large areas of East Kentucky who don't have internet. Aren't you also the animal shelter guy as well? I also... When Jan and I got married, the guy who performed our wedding was Judge Executive John M. Stumbo, your cousin, right, Jan? Oh, yeah, John M. And I had an argument with him at the wedding. I said, why don't we have an animal shelter here? We got dogs running loose. And I said, you know, Judge Stumbo, there's a law, Judge John Stumbo, that every county shall have a shelter. And he gave me a runaround, and I met with the Floyd County Humane Society, and they didn't want to do anything. So I formed the Dewey Dam Dog and Cat Protection Society. And I sued my wife's cousin, and I got an injunction, and we run the Floyd County Animal Shelter, where a no-kill shelter. And people ask me, well, the Dewey Dam Dog and Cow Protection Society is the shelter at Dewey Dam. It's 12 miles away in West Prestonburg. We're a no-kill shelter. And our most famous guest was Tyler Childers, who showed up. Oh, that is awesome. Yeah. Fantastic. We're going to run out of time here. I want people to know they can meet you on Sunday. Four to six p.m. No? Yeah, we're going to have a local fundraiser. We are on our way to Fancy Farm. Okay. People can donate to my campaign. It's nedfor congress.com. Okay. Ned for Congress.com. That works out. It's great to meet you in person. Thanks for having us, sir. I appreciate you. I appreciate you having there. And have a good time at Fancy Farm. Janet, you're the best, too. Nice to meet you. You betcha. Back in a minute on News Radio 840 WHA.

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