Tea party sets sights on state legislature

FRANKFORT, Ky. - Nearly a dozen tea party candidates, including one of Kentucky's most recognizable fiscal conservatives, have set their sights on state legislative seats up for election this year.

Louisville businessman Phil Moffett, who finished second in the GOP's three-way gubernatorial primary last year, delivered candidacy papers last week to run for a House seat, hoping to bolster the tea party's foothold in the state Capitol.

Such a move has been slower in coming to Kentucky than other states.

Kentucky tea party activists have been so focused on federal issues in the past, Moffett said, that they're only now beginning to flex their muscle at the state level.

"I'm happy to see it," he said. "A lot of the problems we have at the federal level are mirrored at the state and local level."

The goal is to press elected leaders to cut spending, reduce the size of government, chip away at the state debt, and slash taxes. Moffett said tea party lawmakers, if elected, could collectively push the General Assembly in that direction.